LaFee

Christina Klein (born 9 December 1990), better known by her stage name LaFee, is a German singer who has sold more than one million records worldwide. She is most famous in mainland Europe, particularly in German-speaking countries.

LaFee
LaFee in 2014
Background information
Birth nameChristina Klein
Born (1990-12-09) 9 December 1990
Büsbach, Stolberg, Germany
GenresPop rock
Occupation(s)Singer, Songwriter, Actress, Author
Years active2004–present
LabelsEMI (2005–2009)
Capitol Records (2010-2012)
Fairay Music (2012-2017)
Comude (2018)
TELAMO (2020-present)
Associated actsJohnny Kelvin, Falco, Lucas Cordalis
Websitehttps://www.lafee.de

Since 2006, LaFee released four studio albums, three of them with her band. They all made it into the German charts.[1] Both the debut album and the successor Jetzt erst recht (2007) reached the top of the album charts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Early life

Klein was born in Büsbach, a district in the town of Stolberg. Her father, Bernd Klein, is German while her mother, Keriakoulla, is Greek.[2] She is the younger of two children. She has an older brother, Andreas.[2][3]

At the age of nine, she began sending out demo tapes to television shows leading her to perform on three of them.[4] She participated in Kiddy Contest, an Austrian children's TV singing competition, in September 2004 at the age of thirteen, performing Handy, a parody of Barry Manilow's Mandy.[5][6] It was this television appearance that led to her being discovered by German music producer Bob Arnz. Then she worked on her first album.[4]

Career

2005–2008: Successful debut and second album

LaFee's first single Virus was released in 2006 from her debut album LaFee. Since the start of her career LaFee was supported by the magazine Bravo and the music channel VIVA. Virus reached fourteen on both the German and Austrian singles chart and her second single, Prinzesschen (Little princess), reached rank 11 in the German charts. Was ist das (What is that) and Mitternacht (Midnight) were charted in the German and Austrian charts, too.[7][8]

LaFee in 2006

She released her second album, Jetzt erst recht (Now more than ever) on 6 July 2007, and the album's lead single, Heul doch (Keep crying), in 2007. Shortly afterwards Heul doch was translated into English as Shut Up for her third studio album. The song reached the German top 10. The album "Jetzt erst recht" charted in the Italian albums chart at No. 94 and in the French albums chart at No. 79. It went Platinum in Germany and Gold in Austria. Her acting debut was on Nina's Welt which was broadcast from November 2006 until the spring of 2007. Later she made an appearance on the German daily soap Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten (Good times, bad times). Her biggest gig was on 31 December 2006 New Year's Eve at the Brandenburg Gate, with more than one million viewers. On 25 August 2007 Klein had a gig as a part of the open-air events at the Brandenburg Gate in front of 119,000 people. The second single was Beweg dein Arsch (Move your ass) which charted at No. 21 on the German charts. On 16 November 2007, she released the third single Wer bin ich (Who am I) which reached No. 25 on the German singles chart and No. 41 on the Austrian singles chart. In addition, she has received the Echo award for Best Female Singer, Bravo Gold Otto for Best Pop Female Singer and the Jetix Kids' award for Best Solo Act. The album was also re-released as a Bravo special edition with bonus songs on 27 November 2008.

2008–2009: First English album and Ring Frei

Her first English album, Shut Up, was released in 2008. It includes songs from the album LaFee and Jetzt erst recht in English. The first single Shut Up is the English version of Heul Doch. The single Shut Up reached number 93 in the German singles chart, which was the lowest chart entry by LaFee. The album, however, with more than 100,000 copies at the time was also the weakest LaFee album. The album reached No. 21 the German albums chart at No. 31 on the Austrian albums chart. The song Shut up was first performed on 30 May 2008, at the music festival The Dome. LaFee's first single, Ring frei (Clear the ring), from her fourth studio album, Ring frei, was released on 21 November 2008 and reached No. 22 in Germany. The album Ring frei was released in Germany on 2 January 2009 and reached No. 6 on the German albums chart, No. 21 on the Swiss albums chart and No. 5 on the Austrian albums chart.[9] The album has also received gold status in Austria and has worldwide more than 100,000 sales. She went on a tour in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 2009. After the promotion of the tour she took a break for the first time briefly.

Appeared without any weave LaFee's first greatest hits collection, Best Of – LaFee, was released in November 2009. The album is available as day edition with one CD and as night edition with two CDs. The album was a clear failure. A re-recorded version of Der Regen fällt, which originally appeared on her second studio album, Jetzt erst recht, was released as the lead single of the compilation. The song only reached rank 94 in the German singles chart. In Austria and Switzerland, it wasn't listed in the charts. LaFee left her manager Bob Arnz. Her musicians left the group in December 2009 with an announcement on their websites to form a new project, due to different musical orientations. Now she's produced by Jörg Fischer.

2011–2012: Ich bin, Frei, Playboy shoot and musical debut

On 4 June 2011, Christina presented the new single Ich bin (I Am) at the German show The Dome. It was available on 10 June 2011, and EMI has stated on its official site that the new album Frei was released on 1 July 2011.

In an interview with the German magazine Bild, the singer said that this new album was very important to her because she had changed a lot since her previous album. LaFee further explained the reasons behind this break; saying that she was tired of always being away from home and her friends. She was just a teenager when she began her career and had grown up so fast, without time to think whether she had missed something or not. She was always being told what to do and need to be herself, not mentioning all the gossip that had run between her and her boyfriends. She admitted she could think about nothing but sleeping for days. So she had split with her old team, her old band and her old manager and had asked her label to change her contract and she was lucky because they agreed. Finally, she stated that now she's ready to come back with new songs (she wrote three songs by herself and co-wrote another two), themes closer to her like love and growing up with a new, more mature look.[10]

Until the end of March 2012, LaFee took part in the KiKa show Dein Song as a music sponsor. Her song "Zeig Dich!" was the theme song for the movie "Hanni & Nanni 2". It was released as a single on May 11, 2012. The song did not reach a chart position.

In September 2012, LaFee appeared in the German edition of the men's magazine Playboy. She released the single "Flip Flop (Can't help myself)" vs. Johnny Kelvin. This was a Free Download in September 2012 from The Website of "Playboy".The first 10.000 Visitors of the Site were able to download this 1-Track File for free.

From mid-November to late December 2012, LaFee played the role of Angel and Belle in the musical "Vom Geist der Weihnacht" (A Christmas Carol) in Essen.

2014-2017: "Alles was zählt" role, "Frei" biography, new songs

From October 22, 2014 to October 23, 2017, she played the role of Iva Lukowski in the RTL soap Alles was zählt.

On November 14, 2014 was released her biography Frei, which was co-written with the German author Anne van Straelen.

As of 2015, a total of eight new songs appeared, which were presented in the series Alles was zählt by her series role "Iva Lukowski". Among them was the song "Was bleibt", with which LaFee was able to place in the German single charts for the first time in four years in March 2015.

2018: "Kartenhaus" single

On November 16, 2018, her single "Karthenhaus" was released including a music video. The single did not reach a chart position.

2020-present: Comeback album "Zurück in die Zukunft"

In July 2020, it was announced via LaFee's Instagram account that she is back in the recording studio with the producer Christian Geller.

On February 26, 2021, the single "(Ich bin ein) Material Girl", a cover version of Madonna's Material Girl, was released. Her fifth studio album, titled "Zurück in die Zukunft" (Back to the Future), was initially announced for May 2021 and then postponed until August, and will be distributed by the music label Telamo, which specializes in Schlager and folk music. LaFee made her first official appearance in ten years on February 27 in the ARD show Schlagerchampions.

On April 30, a second single "Halt mich fest" was released. It is a German-language cover version of Take On Me by a-ha. The music video for it premiered on YouTube on the same day and is based on the original video.

On August 20, 2021, their fifth studio album Back to the Future was released after more than ten years. The limited fan box includes merchandising (poster, autograph card) and an additional CD called Zurück in die Vergangenheit (Back to the Past), which contains earlier songs by LaFee in a new sound and modified lyrics. Among them Virus, Prinzesschen and Heul doch, with Virus all the insults were rewritten.

With the album, LaFee was able to reach the top 10 (number 7) of the album charts again after 12 years. Ring Frei last landed at number 6 in the charts in January 2009.

Discography

Filmography

LaFee acted in the German daily soap Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten on RTL. She played a girl who has come back to her ex-boyfriend. The ex-boyfriend is also the boy in her video for Heul doch / Shut Up.

Awards

LaFee at the 2008 Jetix awards in Berlin
  • 2008
    • Echo award for Best female singer
    • Bravo Gold-Otto for Best female pop singer
    • Jetix Kids' award for Best solo act
  • 2007
    • Echo award for Best female singer
    • Echo award for Best female newcomer
    • Bravo Silver-Otto for Best female pop singer
    • Goldene Stimmgabel
    • Kids' Choice award for Favourite singer
    • Jetix Kids' award for Hottest singer

Other

  • 4 July 2007: Book LaFee – Das erste Mal from Michael Fuchs-Gamböck and Thorsten Schatz
  • 11 July 2007: Bravo-LaFee-Special#1

References

  1. "LaFee – Das Comeback des Jahres neues Album Frei". 3 September 2011. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  2. "MTV/Biographie/LaFee" (in German). MTV. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  3. "Pssst! Ganz geheim! LaFee privat", pg. 13, Popcorn, Issue Nr. 7, July 2008. (in German)
  4. "Lafee//Infos". EMImusic.de. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  5. "Krass, wie alles anfing", Bravo DE, Issue No. 38, 2008. (in German)
  6. Werkmeister, Meike, "Das Nr-1-Girl:Wie LaFee wirklick entdeckt wurde", pg. 14, pg. 15 , Bravo DE. Issue No. 30, 2006. (in German)
  7. "Chartverfolgung / LaFee / Longplay" (in German). Musicline.de. Archived from the original on 1 August 2009. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  8. "Discographie LaFee" (in German). AustrianCharts.at. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  9. "Gold & Platin" (in German). IFPI Austria. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  10. "LaFee Interview". Retrieved 29 May 2011.
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