Biography
Spotify : 7,2 millions monthly listeners
Youtube : 313 millions views
Instagram : 30k followers
(Updated 11/05/2023)
Nestor Alexander Haddaway, Trinidad & Tobago, West Indies.
A pop music artist licensed to BMG Music, Haddaway scored a huge crossover hit throughout Europe with the anthemic ‘What Is Love’ in 1993, followed by the equally captivating ‘Life’.
What is love, is more than a song, it’s the question that resonates across generations,
speaking about the strongest emotion of the human beings. The unique, everlasting hit,
remains a glorious tribute to the enthralling spirit of the 90s. Still captivating, moving and
bringing together people across the world – the anthem remains the memorable, stand
alone hymn that transcends through generations & time.
The artist grew up in Washington, DC, USA, before relocating to Cologne, Germany.
Backed by the songwriting and production expertise of Trime, Halligan and Turello,
‘What Is Love’, originally written as a ballad, reached fastly number 1 globally,stormed
the charts from the Billboard Charts to the Eurocharts.
« What is love| » appertained up to 52 weeks at world-wide Top 10 Charts and even today
is part of the Top 100 Airplaycharts of the USA. Not only that but the song reached top 2
in Canada, while being number 1 in the European & Zimbabwe top charts.
His debut album achieved gold status and reached the UK Top 10.
Follow-up single Life was a big U.S. and European dance hit. His debut album spawned
two more European hit singles: « I Miss You » and « Rock My Heart. »
« What is love » quickly became a standard popular request – and still is today – in every
club, not just in Europe but globally. Twice winner of the Echo prize, and, with sales of
over 28 million, the owner of numerous platinum, gold and silver records, Haddaway is
one of the pop music world’s global players. It later reached number 11 on the Billboard
Hot 100.
His second single « Life » hit number 2 in Germany, number 6 in the UK and number 41 in
the USA; « I Miss You » and « Rock My Heart » were also top 10 smashes across Europe
and established him as a successful Eurodance artist. His first LP The Album was also a
multi-million seller.
In 1995, he released his second album The Drive, which spawned the UK top 20 hit « Fly
Away », as well as « Catch a Fire » and « Lover Be Thy Name ».
« What Is Love » enjoyed a resurge in popularity as the theme music for the head bobbing,
nightclubbing addicted Butabi brothers (Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan) on Saturday Night
Live and the subsequent film A Night at the Roxbury. The song was also featured in a
2008 PEPSI commercial (for diet Pepsi Max) which parodied the Leitmotif and included
several stars including LL Cool J, Missy Elliot, and Busta Rhymes.
The music of Haddaway can be defined as a boomerang, as it always comes back with
its iresistible hooklines, moods and sounds – that are still so recent and adaptable to
nearly all stages, discos & clubs and remains in the top 40 of the Austrian Charts,
Belgium Ultratop, official German charts and much more.
On the 2010 Eminem album Recovery, a sample of the song « What Is Love » is used for
the track « No Love » featuring Lil Wayne.
The latest use of the song has been in the movie Black Panther by actor Andy Serkis.
In 2023 it is David Guetta who remixes the hit « What is love » by releasing the track « Baby Don’t Hurt Me », in collaboration with Anne-Marie and Coi Leray.
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