Giovanni Zarrella

Bilingual German/Italian singer Giovanni Zarrella was interested in both sport and music as a child. He played youth football and also had singing and piano lessons. He first appeared on the music scene as a contestant in German `Popstars' in 2001, winning a place in the band Bro'Sis which formed as a result of the show. The band stayed together till 2006, after which Zarrella launched his solo career. His debut single, a cover version of ELO's 'Ticket to the Moon' was released in 2006, followed shortly by his first album, 'Coming Up' in the same year.

Zarrella spent the next couple of years away from music, presenting various sporting TV shows, getting involved with coaching on the German `Popstars' series and participating in a TV dance competition with his wife, Brazilian model Jana Ina. His second single, a German/Italian cover version of the Robin Gruber track 'Wondervoll', was not released until 2008. This was his first chart success, entering the German singles chart at number nine. The song was released to coincide with the launch of a celebrity TV series featuring Zarrella and his wife, showing different aspects of their daily life.

His second album 'Musica' was released later in 2008, reaching number ninety in the German albums chart. In 2009, he won the German TV dance competition 'Yes, We Can Dance', splitting his prize money with the runner up Ross Antony, and donating much of it to charity. Also in 2009, he sang on the music video of 'Forgive Me' by Mario Venezia. In 2010, Zarrella released his third album 'Ancora Musica' which reached number 32 in the German albums chart, number 49 in the Austrian albums chart, and number 22 in the Swiss albums chart. The single 'I Cannot Dance Alone' (2010) featuring Ross Antony, reached number 26 in the German singles chart. Over the next few years, Zarrella was active in various TV shows and music and sporting competitions including participating in the TV Total Autoball World Cup for several years.

He released his next single 'Viva la Mamma' in 2012, a cover of the Edoardo Bennato track. He also released a football song 'Forza Italia' to coincide with the 2012 European Football Championship. His next single 'Buona Sera Signorina' was released later in 2012 as a download only. He featured on the 2014 track 'Bella Ciao' by Mauro Mondello which was re-released in 2018 due to the success of the TV show 'House of Money' on which the track was used.

In 2019, Zarrella signed a record deal with 221 Music and released the Italian language album 'La Vita è Bella' which consisted of Italian cover versions of songs such as single 'Il Più Bono' (2019), a cover version of the Roland Kaiser track 'Es Kann der Frömmste Nicht in Frieden Leben'. The album also contained 'Santa Maria', another Roland Kaiser cover version, and 'Dammi', an Italian cover version of the Wolfgang Petry track 'Madness'.

Also released in 2019 was the single 'Senza Te (Ohne Dich)' which featured Pietro Lombardi. This reached number 68 in the German singles chart, number 69 in the Austrian singles chart and number 86 in the Swiss singles chart.