Eric Khaled Saade (born 29 October 1990) is a Swedish singer-songwriter. He spent two years with the boy band What's Up!, leaving the band in February 2009 to pursue a solo career. Saade represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "Popular", finishing in third place.
Saade was born in Kattarp, a small village in Helsingborg Municipality, Scania, Sweden, to Marlene Jacobsson, a Swede, and Walid Saade, a Palestinian from Lebanon. After his parents divorced when he was four, he lived with his mother. Saade is the second of eight siblings and half-siblings.
Saade began singing after seeing Michael Jackson on television, and his other musical influences are Robbie Williams, Bryan Adams, the Backstreet Boys, and Justin Timberlake.
In 2007, Saade was a founding member of What's Up!, a Swedish boy band which included Robin Stjernberg, Ludwig "hejLudde" Keijser and Johan Yngvesson. Its members were picked from a competition attracting hundreds of applicants. Fifteen finalists (including Saade) competed at the Ericsson Globe, and the four winners became the band's founding members.
What's Up! began touring Sweden in the spring of 2008 and released an album, In Pose, which spent a week on the Swedish Albums Chart at #40. The album spawned two singles: "Go Girl!", released in May 2007, peaked at #5 on the Swedish Singles Chart and "If I Told You Once", released in March 2008, peaked at #16. The band recorded the Swedish version of the theme for Disney's Camp Rock ("Här är jag") and dubbed the characters' voices, appearing in the Disney Channel's Swedish trailer. When Saade left the band to pursue a solo career, he was replaced by Johannes Magnusson.
2008–2009: Solo beginnings and Melodifestivalen debut
Saade's involvement in Camp Rock led to his hosting a show inspired by the movie; he also hosted the nationwide contest, Julia's Shooting Stars. In August 2009, Saade signed with the Swedish record label Roxy Recordings; in December he released his first solo single, "Sleepless", written by Fredrik Kempe and Peter Boström. Distributed on iTunes, the song peaked at #44 in Sweden. Anders Rune directed its music video, which premiered in January 2010.
In February 2010, Saade sang "Manboy", written by Fredrik Kempe and Peter Boström, at the second semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2010 (the Swedish qualifier for the Eurovision Song Contest). He won the semifinal, finishing third overall. "Manboy" was released in March 2010 in Sweden, reaching #1 on the domestic-single and ringtone charts; its music video also premiered that month. The song's acoustic version was released in Sweden in May,
and in June the single went platinum in that country.
In January 2010, Saade won a Scandipop Award as the Brightest New Hope for 2010. In March he was nominated for a Marcel Bezençon Press Award for "Manboy", and won an Artistic Award. Saade released his first solo album, Masquerade, in May 2010. The album reached #2 in Sweden, and went gold. Saade began his first solo tour, known as the Masquerade Tour, playing 24 dates in Sweden from June to September 2010. Saade was Swedish spokesperson for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010.
The third single from Saade's debut album, "Break of Dawn" (written by Saade and Fredrik Kempe), was released in June 2010 and peaked at #45 on the Swedish charts. The song's music video also premiered that month. A remix, "Le Family Remix", was released in July.
In August 2010, Saade was nominated for three Rockbjörnen Awards: Best Swedish Male Live Artist, Best Breakthrough Act and Best Swedish Song of the Year (for "Manboy"). That year, Saade also released the singles "Masquerade" and "It's Gonna Rain". The music video for "Masquerade" premiered in August, and the video for "It's Gonna Rain" premiered in October.
2011: Second Melodifestivalen attempt and Eurovision Song Contest
In February 2011, Saade entered the Melodifestivalen for a second time. This time he made the final, winning with "Popular" (written by Fredrik Kempe and produced by Peter Boström). The song's music video premiered in April.
In May 2011, Saade competed in the second semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, advancing to the final. He finished third in the competition, Sweden's best placing since Charlotte Perrelli won in 1999 with "Take Me to Your Heaven". This was Sweden's fifth third-place finish at the Eurovision. "Popular" was released in Sweden in February 2011, reaching #1 on the Swedish charts. By July it sold over 40,000 copies in Sweden, reaching double platinum. Its music video premiered in April 2011, when the song was also released in Finland. The single was released in Norway on 6 May, in Australia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, the UK and the US on 12 May, in Austria, Germany and Switzerland on 18 May and in Belgium on 20 May. "Popular" reached #4 in the Belgian (Flanders) Ultratip Charts, #17 in Finland, #23 in the Belgian (Wallonia) Ultratip, #29 in Austria, #27 in Ireland, #48 in Germany and #76 in the UK. The song was listed at #3 on PopJustice's list of 45 Best Singles of 2011. The album remix and slow versions of the song were released in Sweden in March 2011. The slow version was named Song of the Day by PopJustice on 15 May 2011, and the SoundFactory remix was released in Sweden on 25 May; another remix was released on 9 June in Greece.
In January 2011 Saade was nominated for six Scandipop Awards: Best Single from a New Artist and Best Male Single (for "It's Gonna Rain" and "Manboy"), Best Male Album (for Masquerade) and Best New Artist, winning Best Album from a New Artist and Best Male.
That month, he was also nominated for a Song of the Year Grammis for "Manboy" and released the first single ("Still Loving It", co-written with Niclas Lundin and Anton Malmberg Hård Af Segerstad) from his second album.
Saade was nominated for a Marcel Bezençon Artistic Award (Melodifestivalen), and won a Press Award for "Popular". In April, he was nominated as Sweden's Favorite Star for a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award. In May, it was announced that Saade would release two new albums, Saade Vol. 1 and Saade Vol. 2. The first was released in Sweden and Norway in June. It topped the Swedish chart, selling 50,000 copies and certified platinum by July, and peaked at #16 in Finland.