Born Marlon Knauer on August 19, 1987, in Berlin, Germany, he began his recording career at age 14 under the guidance of music industry veteran Rolf Brendel, the former drummer of Nena (of "99 Luftballons" fame). Success came quickly for Marlon when his second single, "Lieber Gott," rose to number six on the German singles chart in 2002. Billed to "Marlon + Freunde," the song is a collaboration between Marlon and several well-known German musicians (Peter Maffay, Nena, Udo Lindenberg, Herbert Dreilich, Joachim Witt, Rolf Stahlhofen) and was released as a charity single to raise money for victims of the 2002 European floods. Marlon's follow-up single, "Fragen, Fragen, Fragen," was greeted with relatively little fanfare, charting for only three weeks and rising no higher than number 77. His debut album, Hallo Liebes Leben (2002), was also at best a minor success, peaking at number 64 on the albums chart. Four years later Marlon returned with his second album, Herzschlag (2006). The album features the Top 20 hit single "Was Immer Du Willst," which finished sixth in the 2006 Bundesvision Song Contest. ~ Jason Birchmeier