Gracia | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gracia Arabella Baur (1982-11-18)18 November 1982 (age 43) |
| Origin | Munich,Bavaria,Germany |
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Labels | BMG (Hansa)(2003–2004) Bros Music(2005–present) |
Gracia Arabella Baur (born 18 November 1982) is a Germansinger and songwriter. She rose to fame as a finalist on thedebut season of thetelevision seriesDeutschland sucht den Superstar, the GermanIdol series adaptation, placing fifth.
Gracia was born inMunich on 18 November 1982 to Roman and Rosemary Baur and was named afterPrincess Grace (Gracia Patricia) ofMonaco, who had died a few weeks earlier. Gracia's identical twin sister was called Patricia after the princess.
During her teenage years, she took vocal lessons to strengthen her voice. To fulfill her dreams of a career as a professional singer, she started recording demos and passed several auditions. In 2000, she even made it through the first round ofPopstars, but was forced out when she forgot the words of her song.
In 2002/2003, she took part inDeutschland sucht den Superstar, the German version ofPop Idol, and eventually reached fifth place. Pushed by the publicity she released her first albumIntoxicated, which peaked at #10 on the German album charts and spawned the hit singles "I Don't Think So" and "I Believe In Miracles". Afterwards, she teamed up with fellowDSDS runners-upDaniel Küblböck, Nektarios Bamiatzis, and Stephanie Brauckmeyer, releasing the charity single "Don't Close Your Eyes" under the name4 United.
Gracia was selected to represent Germany in theEurovision Song Contest with the song "Run & Hide", produced and composed byDavid Brandes. After the German national pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest it was revealed that Brandes had bought thousands of his own CDs to ensure chart placement, a requirement of the pre-selection (the single had actually hit the top 30 on the German charts). In contrast to the Swiss entryVanilla Ninja, who had also had their entry produced by Brandes, Gracia opted to continue her association with the newly controversial figure.
However, "Run & Hide", a modern pop-rock song with heavy use of synthesizers, failed to catch the audience's imagination in the Eurovision Song Contest and ignominiously placed last (24th), with just four points awarded fromMoldova andMonaco. Gracia, however, was not deterred ("Well, somebody has to finish last" was her laconic comment after the show), and went on with her second solo albumPassion, released in November 2005.
In 2004, she recordedGötter der Ewigkeit, part of the German soundtrack of theWalt Disney Feature AnimationBrother Bear.
In December 2006, Gracia released the Song "Cos I believe" together with Marvin Broadie under the name "Xantoo". It charted at #39.
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER [1] | AUT [2] | SWI [3] | ||
| Intoxicated | 10 | — | 67 | |
| Passion |
| — | — | — |
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER [1] | AUT [2] | SWI [3] | |||
| "I Don't Think So" | 2003 | 3 | 20 | 12 | Intoxicated |
| "I Believe In Miracles" | 12 | 42 | 56 | ||
| "Don’t Close Your Eyes" (as part of 4 United) | 2004 | 18 | 50 | — | non-album release |
| "Run & Hide" | 2005 | 20 | 57 | — | Passion |
| "When the Last Tear's Been Dried" | 32 | — | — | ||
| "Never Been" | 2006 | 39 | — | — | |
| "Cos I Believe" (as part of Xantoo) | 39 | — | — | non-album release | |
| Preceded by | Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 | Succeeded by |
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