Giovanni Zarrella

Giovanni Zarrella, born on March 4, 1978 in Hechingen (Baden-Württemberg), is an Italian musician, pop singer and television presenter. He became famous in 2001 as the lead singer of the band Bro’Sis. He has been a member of the swing band Vintage Vegas since 2013. The Giovanni Zarrella Show on ZDF since 2021.

Career of Giovanni Zarrella

In October 2001, Zarrella took part in a casting for the show “Popstars” in Stuttgart, together with around 1,700 other applicants. He won over the jury with “How Deep Is Your Love” by the Bee Gees. He was successful in the re-call with “You Remind Me” by Usher and won the re-call with “Way to Mars” by Somersault & Xavier Naidoo to test his band skills.

At the airport show in Düsseldorf, the candidates first had to undergo dance training with Detlef Soost and then vocal training with vocal coach Artemis Gounaki before it was decided who would be allowed to take part in the two-week workshop in Ibiza. Of the 33 candidates, three women and five men remained at the end of the workshop and moved into a loft in Munich. In November 2001, Zarrella was selected by jury members Soost and Christensen as the final candidate for the band Bro’Sis. The band existed until 2006.

Zarrella’s first solo single “Ticket to the Moon”, a cover version of the ballad of the same name from the ELO album Time, was released in July 2006, his album “Coming Up” followed a month later.

After a two-year absence from the music business, his second solo single Wundervoll was released in October 2008, a German-Italian cover version by Robin Grubert, which entered the German singles charts at number 9 and reached number 84 in the annual charts. His second solo album Musica was released in November 2008. In February 2009, Zarrella appeared in the music video Forgive Me by Mario Venezia.

In January 2010, the title song of the program “I Can’t Dance Alone”, a duet with his former band colleague Ross Antonywas released as a single together with the song “Il Mondo”. This was followed in February by the re-release of his second album Ancora Musica with five new songs, which reached number 32. In May 2012, Zarrella’s fourth solo single Viva La Mamma, an Italian-German cover by Edoardo Bennato, was released as a download. In June, he released the song Forza Italia on YouTube to mark the 2012 European Football Championship.

The single Buona Sera Signorina was released as a download in July 2012. In 2013, Zarrella founded the swing band Vintage Vegas with former Popstars contestants Inan Lima and Tom Marks. The group covers pop songs with a swing twist.

A cover version of Bella Ciao by Mauro Mondello feat. Giovanni Zarrella, released in 2014, was re-released in June 2018 after the song gained popularity that year thanks to the series House of Money. Zarrella signed a record deal with 221 Music at the beginning of 2019. The singles Santa Maria and Il più buono were released in March 2019 as pre-releases from his Italian-language pop album La vita è bella. The latter is an Italian version of the Roland Kaiser-hit Es kann der Frömmste nicht in Frieden leben. The next single was Dammi, an Italian version of Wolfgang Petry’s Wahnsinn.

With the third single release Senza te (Without you), a duet with Pietro Lombardihe made it into the singles charts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The album reached number 2 in the German album charts as well as the top 10 in Austria and Switzerland and was awarded a Golden Record award in November 2019. La vita è bella reached number 25 in the 2019 album charts based on sales figures.

At the end of 2020, Zarrella took part in the music project Hand in Hand and recorded the song of the same name, which was released as a single in November. With her second successful album Ciao!, Zarrella reached the top of the album charts in Germany and Austria. In the album charts, which are determined by sales figures in Germany, Ciao! ranked 13th.

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Giovanni Zarrella on TV

In April 2005, he took part in the TV show Devil’s Kitchen, which he had to end prematurely due to an injury. Together with his wife Jana Ina he filmed the documentary soap Just married! – Frisch verheiratet!, which showed the couple’s everyday life in ten episodes. In August 2005, Zarrella married the Brazilian model; the wedding ceremony took place in September at St. Matthäuskirche in Bad Sobernheim. This series was extended for a new season.

From October 2005 to July 2007, he presented the program Bravo Sport TV on DSF and from August to December 2006 the program screen-shot – die eSport Bundesliga. In October 2005, he and his wife took part in Das große ProSieben Tanzturnier. In August 2008, Jana Ina & Giovanni – Wir sind schwanger started on ProSieben and accompanied the couple until the birth of their son in September 2008. Zarrella also took part in the TV Total Autoball European Championship in June 2008, where he represented Italy.

In 2008, he hosted the final show of Popstars. Also in 2008, he took part in the TV Total Stock Car Crash Challenge. In 2009, he hosted the weekly show Deutschlands schrecklichste … on ProSieben, in which the most terrible drivers, DIY enthusiasts, sportsmen and chefs were sought in four episodes.

In October 2009, he won the Sat.1 dance competition Yes, We Can Dance, in which he danced Smooth Criminal in memory of Michael Jackson. He won 50,000 euros, which he shared with the runner-up Ross Antony. The prize money was donated. In December 2009, Zarrella hosted the semi-final and final of the eighth season of Popstars – Du & Ich together with Charlotte Engelhardt.

In 2010, ProSieben broadcast a program about the couple’s private life after the birth of their first child together and their search for a suitable home under the title “Jana Ina & Giovanni – Pizza, Pasta & Amore”. They were also accompanied at the opening of their restaurant Settantotto, which opened in the same year but has since closed again. In 2010, he won the TV Total Autoball World Championship. He also took part in the game show Schlag den Star and lost to army doctor John Rudat. In 2012, Zarrella won the European Autoball Championship again. He also made a guest appearance as a pizza delivery boy in the movie Frisch gepresst.

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In January 2013, he became the father of a daughter. Since September 2013, Zarrella has been a member of the RPR1 ensemble and supports the daily morning show as the third host. In 2013, he dubbed one of the main roles in the animated film Turbo – Kleine Schnecke, großer Traum.2014 Zarrella won the TV-Total Autoball-WM again. He has been a guest presenter on Sport1 since September 2014.

In 2015, he dubbed the lead role in the animated film Manolo and the Book of Life. In June 2016, he and his wife hosted the broadcast of the wedding of Daniela Katzenberger and Lucas Cordalis. He then went on to present other formats for RTL2 such as Die Hitrekorde, Promis am Herd – Wer kocht besser, Der große RTL II Promi-Curling-Abend and Schätz Dich reich – Das Trödelquiz.

In 2017, he stood in for the injured Pietro Lombardi in the tenth season of Let’s Dance. After four shows, his professional dance partner Christina Luft was injured. Marta Arndt was found as a replacement, with whom he danced his way to fourth place. With Olaf the Viking, Zarrella won the 1st Headis Team World Championship, which was broadcast on ProSieben in March 2019. In the animated film Luca, which was released on Disney+ in June 2021, he dubbed the role of Ercole Visconti. “The Giovanni Zarrella Show on ZDF” started in September 2021.

Giovanni Zarrella was a guest on the TV show in 2022 “Ina’s Night” in Hamburg’s oldest sailor’s pub “Zum Schellfischposten”. The successful combination of the entertaining moderation of Ina Müller and the music of Giovanni Zarrella made this performance an unforgettable moment in the history of “Inas Nacht”.

In 2023 he was alongside Shirin DavidRonan Keating, Bill Kaulitz and Tom Kaulitz as a coach on “The Voice of Germany” (13th season). The season was won by Malou Lovis Kreyelkamp.

On February 24, 2024, Thomas Anders will perform together with numerous celebrity guests such as Kerstin Ott and Beatrice Egli at prime time on “Giovanni Zarrella presents: 50 years of Roland Kaiser” on ZDF. The show will be hosted by Giovanni Zarrella in honor of Roland Kaiser’s 50th stage anniversary. Thomas Anders creates a party atmosphere with the Modern Talking classic “Cheri Cheri Lady”.

Life

Giovanni Zarrella was born in Hechingen as the first child of Clementina and Bruno Zarrella. He grew up bilingual German-Italian, as did his sister and brother Stefano. Zarrella only has Italian citizenship. From an early age, he received lessons in piano and organand singing lessons at the age of 15. In the early 1990s, he lived with his family in Italy. At the age of 16, he founded his first band, Brotherhood. In 1995, he graduated from secondary school in Hechingen. After leaving school, he completed an apprenticeship as an IT systems administrator. He then moved into sales at Hugo Boss.

From 1992 to 1994, Zarrella played for the youth team of AS Roma. After returning to Germany, he joined the youth team of VfB Stuttgart. He later played in the second team of SSV Reutlingen in the Verbandsliga. From 2008, he played with his brother in the Kreisliga A Mittelrhein for Ideal CF Casa de España Köln and later in the Kreisliga B for the third senior team of FC Rheinsüd Köln.

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Studio albums by Giovanni Zarrella

• 2006 Coming Up
• 2008 Musica
• 2010 Ancora musica
• 2019 La vita è bella
• 2021 Ciao!
• 2022 Per sempre
• 2025 Universo