Christina Stürmer

**Christina Stürmer** (born 9 June 1982) is an Austrian pop/rock singer. After working at a bookshop in Linz and singing in several bands, she reached #2 in *Starmania*, an Austrian music casting TV show. Her first song was "Ich lebe" (I'm Alive) released in 2003, which was very successful in Austria and was followed by several #1 hits.

In 2004 the song "Vorbei" (Over) reached the German Top 100, and in April 2005, a new version of "Ich lebe" was produced especially for the German and Swiss market. That song reached very high positions in Germany, Switzerland and Italy, making Christina Stürmer well known in the German-speaking countries. 2006 was her most successful year. She sold more than 1.5 million copies of her CDs in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

## Early life and music career

### Starmania

In 2003, Stürmer won second place in Starmania behind Michael Tschuggnall. Shortly after that she released her first original song, "Ich Lebe" (I Live) which in 2003 occupied the number one spot on the Austrian music charts for nine weeks.

### Beginning her career in Austria

After "Ich Lebe" followed two more highly successful singles: "Geh nicht wenn du kommst" (Don't Go When You Come) and the anti-war song *Mama (Ana Ahabak)* (Arabic for Mama, I Love You) which originated during the war in Iraq. The song represents a little Iraqi girl's perspective of the war, and it also spent nine weeks at the number one spot on the Austrian charts. Her first album, *Freier Fall* (Free Fall), was released exclusively in Austria in May 2003, and it also rose quickly to the top of the charts, where it occupied the number one spot for weeks. In fall of 2003 she did an Austrian tour behind the strength of her first album.

In May 2004 her second album, *Soll das wirklich alles sein* (Is that really everything?) appeared, again only in Austria. The album was even more successful than *Freier Fall*, (Free Fall) but the album's singles had only average sales figures. The *Wirklich alles!* (Really Everything!) tour in Austria followed in the fall. The highlight of this tour was the concert at Vienna city hall in November, which sold out all 11,000 tickets in a very short time. The concert was filmed, and along with some interviews and a short biography, was released in DVD form as *Wirklich alles!* During the club tour that began directly after the Vienna concert, she presented for the first time her own original compositions, which she had written with her band.

### Breakthrough in Germany

At this time, Christina and her managers, Andreas Streit and Bernd Rengleshausen, were working towards breaking through in Germany. The single *Vorbei* was released in Germany in November 2004, but it fell short of expectations. In April 2005 a re-worked version of "Ich Lebe" was released in Germany. This single met with great success; it rose to ninth place on the German charts, and shortly thereafter reached number four.

The album which followed, named *Schwarz Weiss* (Black White) was released in June 2005, in Germany and Switzerland, reached number three on the German album charts, and stayed in the top twenty for more than a year. The majority of the songs on this album, which were mostly already known in Austria, were reproduced and oriented towards the emerging trends in German rock and pop music. The singles were "Engel fliegen Einsam" (Angels Fly Lonely) "Mama (Ana Ahabak)", and "Immer an euch geglaubt" (Always Believed In You). The singles were also re-recorded to be more rock oriented. In late 2005 Christina and her band toured through Germany and Switzerland. The Schwarz-Weiss tour, with just under 40 concerts, lasted two months, in which some concerts had to be relocated to larger halls because of the great demand for tickets. Christina Stürmer and her band had established themselves as a major group.

## Discography

* 2003: *Freier Fall*
* 2004: *Soll das wirklich alles sein*
* 2005: *Wirklich Alles!*
* 2006: *Lebe lauter*
* 2008: *laut-Los*
* 2009: *In dieser Stadt*
* 2010: *Nahaufnahme*
* 2013: *Ich hör auf mein Herz*
* 2015: *Gestern. Heute.*
* 2016: *Seite an Seite*