“Deutschland sucht den Superstar” is coming to an end this year after 20 years. The final 20th season starts on January 14 at 8:15 p.m. on RTL (and online via RTL ). In 2003, Alexander Klaws (39) was chosen as the first winner of the talent show. But not every win on the show has equated to a successful music career. This is how the previous “DSDS” winners feel today.
Who will inherit Harry Laffontien (22) this year? He took part in the show in 2022 along with his brother Gianni (18), who secured fourth place. Despite the individual victory, the brothers decided to continue making hit music together as the Laffontien Brothers after participating in “DSDS”. A year after the victory, the first cornerstones for a successful career seem to have been laid. Since then they have released three singles and have appeared in Florian Silbereisen’s (41) “The Big Schlager Beach Party 2022” and in the “ZDF TV Garden”. Could the duo follow in the footsteps of successful “DSDS” predecessors?
Alexander Klaws went down in “DSDS” history as the first winner. Almost 20 years later, he is still well known. No wonder, it wasn’t until 2021 that he won the fifth season of “The Masked Singer” as “Mülli”. In 2022 he was seen in the live event “Die Passion” on RTL in the role of Jesus from Nazareth. He has also been a successful musical actor for many years and has appeared in the leading roles in “Ghost – The Musical” and “Tarzan”.
From the “DSDS” victory to the jury, Pietro Lombardi (30) is not going this way for the first time in 2023. Already in the 16th and 17th season of the show he sat as a juror next to his friend Dieter Bohlen (68). More than ten years after winning in 2011, Lombardi continues to enjoy great popularity. In 2020, the artist released his third studio album. In 2022, together with Bohlen and Katja Krasavice (26), he re-recorded the modern-talking song “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul”. The song made it to number 2 on the singles chart.
A year after Lombardi’s triumph, Swiss Luca Hänni (28) won the “DSDS” victory. After participating in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, where he placed fourth for Switzerland, he released his fifth studio album in 2020. In the spring of the same year he made it to third place with his dance partner Christina Luft (32) on “Let’s Dance”. The two announced their relationship in July 2020, and the couple has been engaged since January 2022.
In 2013, victory went to Switzerland again: Beatrice Egli (34) was the first pop singer to win the singing contest. In the course of her career she has already produced ten studio albums and these have regularly reached the top positions in the German and Austrian charts as well as in the charts in her Swiss homeland. Since 2019 she has been considered the most successful Swiss artist.
Ramon Roselly (29) also has a successful music career to this day. He won season 17 in 2020 with 80.82 percent of the viewer vote – a record in the show’s history. He has now released three studio albums, his debut album 2020 even reaching gold status.
Ex-winner Prince Damien (32) is also well known to this day. However, this is less due to his music. Since his victory in 2016 he has shown many other talents: he was a voice actor, finished second in the dance show “Dance Dance Dance” together with Luca Hänni in 2017 and acted as a musical actor. In 2020, the singer also became the king of the jungle on “I’m a star – get me out of here!”.
Other former “DSDS” winners have remained true to the music to this day, but can no longer build on the initial successes. This is what happened to the winners Thomas Godoj (44), Daniel Schuhmacher (35) and Mehrzad Marashi (42). They won the fifth, sixth and seventh season of the talent show and were all subsequently able to achieve great success with their debut albums. But over the years, the singers became quieter. Godoj released his eighth studio album in 2020, the single “Neuland” in 2022. Both failed to place themselves in the charts. Marashi released his last album in 2014 and has been working behind the scenes in his own recording studio since 2016. Schuhmacher founded his own music label in 2020 and would like to represent San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023.
The former winners Severino Seeger (36), Aneta Sablik (33), Davin Herbrüggen (24) and Jan-Marten Block (27) are still following the music to this day. With the exception of Sablik, however, the artists did not manage to achieve comparable success with their debut singles as those of their predecessors. Thus, none of the winners of the 11th, 12th, 16th and 17th season managed to break through as “Germany’s new superstar”.
The situation is different for the winners of the second and third seasons, Elli Erl (43) and Tobias Regner (40). They were able to place themselves in the top 3 of the charts with their debut singles and then dedicated a few years to their music career. Today both work in other professions that still have something to do with music. Erl is a music and sports teacher at a secondary school in Düsseldorf, Regner works as a guitar teacher at two Bavarian adult education centers.
Marie Wegener (21) was the youngest winner of the casting show in 2018 at the age of 16. After the success of her debut single “Königlich” it became quiet around the singer. The reason: In addition to her music career, she is also concentrating on other possible mainstays. She studies music and started training in dance, singing and business in Berlin.
For many years he was considered the most successful winner of the casting show: Mark Medlock (44) was the fourth winner of “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” in 2007. Titled “Bohlen-Favorite”, he celebrated many commercial successes with the “DSDS” juror. The singles “Mamacita” (2009) and “Summer Love” (2008) achieved gold status, “Now or Never” and “You Can Get It” (2007) as well as the first two albums by the Frankfurter even went platinum. In 2011, Medlock ended his collaboration with Bohlen, and two years later he announced his retirement from the music business. The singer now lives privately on Sylt.
The 14th season of “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” won in 2017 Alphonso Williams (1962-2019). But just two years after his victory, sad news shook his fans: the soul singer died at the age of 57 from prostate cancer. After his victory, he had released four singles and an album. In “Celebrity Big Brother” 2018 he took third place. He left behind his wife Manuela and the two children Raphael and Franziska.
