Max Giesinger – 80 Millionen

Getting a bad grade in a subject in school doesn’t necessarily mean that later on you can’t be successful in just this very discipline. Max Giesinger, who now calls Hamburg home, is the best example. He revealed in an interview that because of a D in music class he had to repeat a grade “because I couldn't read the notes.” Max’s career as a singer, however, wasn’t really affected by this repeat in his school days - as you can see with his hit single “80 Million.”

But let’s start with the beginning. Max Giesinger hails from a small town near Karlsruhe. By the age of 13 he was already playing in bands and alongside school he often managed up to 70 performances a year. After graduating he traveled to Australia and New Zealand on a Work and Travel program and earned his money there as a street musician. After he returned to Germany he applied for the Pop Academy in Baden-Württemberg and took part in the casting show “The Voice of Germany” - to great success. He made it up to the final round and in the end got fourth place. He subsequently toured all around Germany with “The Voice” and released his record “Our Summer”. His song “Roof of the World” reached #14 on the German charts.

In 2014 Max separated from his label and started a crowdfunding campaign to finance his debut album. Within only 24 hours he reached his financing goal and thus “Learning to Walk” could be produced and released. Max’s second album “The Boy that Runs” appeared in spring 2016 and made it to the top 20 in the German charts.

With his single “80 Million” the 28-year-old landed at #2 on the charts. He also delivered a slightly altered “soccer” version of the song which became Germany’s fan anthem at the European Soccer Championships. “As a huge soccer fan I wanted to do something to contribute. So I wrote down a few lines. And when I played at the fan zone in Berlin it was totally crazy. So many thousands of people were able to sing the lyrics along with me.”

His song made his fans happy, but it wasn’t quite enough to help Germany win the championship.