Kevin James Borg (born 9 June 1986, in

Floriana Floriana ( mt, Il-Furjana or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a fortified town in the South Eastern Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014. Floriana i ...

, Malta), is a Maltese pop

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

who lives and works in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Borg rose to fame as the winner of the fifth series of the Swedish television singing competition ''

Idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...

'' in 2008. He was the third male winner and the first in the show's history to be born outside of Sweden, having moved there exactly one year before he was declared winner.

Biography

Early life

Borg was born and raised in Floriana, Malta. He was a

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, playing for

Floriana FC Floriana Football Club is a Maltese professional football club in the town of Floriana that currently plays in the Maltese Premier League. In all, Floriana F.C. has won 26 national leagues and 21 FA Trophies (present and longest surviving main k ...

. His grandfather, Lolly Debattista, was the first Maltese footballer to win the ''Footballer of the Year'' Award.

''Idol'' 2008

In December 2007, Borg moved to

Arvidsjaur Arvidsjaur (; sju, Árviesjávrrie; ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Arvidsjaur Municipality in Norrbotten County, provinces of Sweden, province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland, Sweden with 4,635 inhabitants in 2010. Arvidsjaur ...

, Sweden, to live with his Swedish girlfriend. In autumn 2008, he auditioned for the fifth season of the Swedish singing contest ''

''. Although he made it through to the final 12 live finals, Borg was not originally among the competition's front-runners. However, his strong performances caused a rapid growth in his popularity with viewers week by week. After making it to the final two and performing at Stockholm's

Globen Arena Avicii Arena, originally known as Stockholm Globe Arena and previously as Ericsson Globe, but commonly referred to in Swedish simply as Globen (; "the Globe"), is an indoor arena located in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov district of Stockh ...

before a live audience of 16,000 people, Borg was declared the fifth Swedish Idol on 12 December 2008, defeating

Alice Svensson Alice Cecilia Linh Svensson (born 11 July 1991) is a Vietnamese-born Swedish singer. At the age of ten months, Svensson was adopted from her home country Vietnam, and moved to Sweden with her family, and she has since lived in Hedesunda. She fin ...

. Throughout the live finals, Borg had never fallen into the bottom three contestants.

''Idol'' performances

*Top 11 Idol 5 years celebration: "

Natalie Natalie may refer to: People * Natalie (given name) * Natalie (singer) (born 1979), Mexican-American R&B singer/songwriter * Shahan Natalie (1884–1983), Armenian writer and principal organizer of Operation Nemesis Music Albums * ''Natal ...

" by

Ola Svensson Ola Nils Håkan Svensson (born 23 February 1986) is a Swedish artist and songwriter, known professionally by the mononym Ola until 2014, and as Brother Leo from 2018 to present. Born in Lund, Skåne, his career began in 2005, when he finished ...

(Safe) *Top 10 '90s: " All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You" by

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

(Safe) *Top 9 ABBA: "

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" is a song by Swedish band ABBA. It was recorded in August 1979 in order to help promote their North American and European tour of that year, and was released on ABBA's '' Greatest Hits Vol. 2'' album ...

(Safe) *Top 8 Schlager: " Lyssna till ditt hjärta" by

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

(Safe) *Top 7 Rock:

Livin' on a Prayer "Livin' on a Prayer" is a song by the American rock band Bon Jovi, and is the band's second chart-topping single from their third album '' Slippery When Wet''. Written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Desmond Child, the single, released in ...

" by

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...

(Safe) *Top 6 Soul & Duets: "

Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)" is a soul song, by American musician Stevie Wonder, released in June 1970 as a single on Motown's Tamla label. It spent six weeks at number one on the U.S. R&B chart and peaked at number three on the U.S ...

" by

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

(Safe) *Top 6 Soul & Duets: "

(I've Had) The Time of My Life "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" is a 1987 song composed by Franke Previte, John DeNicola, and Donald Markowitz. It was recorded by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, and used as the theme song for the 1987 film ''Dirty Dancing''. The song has won ...

" by

Bill Medley William Thomas Medley (born September 19, 1940) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as one half of The Righteous Brothers. He is noted for his bass-baritone voice, exemplified in songs such as "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". Med ...

Jennifer Warnes Jennifer Jean Warnes (born March 3, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter. She has performed as a vocalist on a number of film soundtracks. She has won two Grammy Awards, in 1983 for the Joe Cocker duet "Up Where We Belong" and in 1987 fo ...

(Safe) *Top 5 Love: "

If Tomorrow Never Comes "If Tomorrow Never Comes" is a song by American country music artist Garth Brooks. Written by Brooks and Kent Blazy, it was released in August 1989 as the second single from his album '' Garth Brooks'' and also appears on ''The Hits'', ''The Lim ...

" by

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop group Boyzone. His solo career start ...

(Safe) *Top 5 Love: " In the Shadows" by

The Rasmus The Rasmus is a Finnish rock band that formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the band members were in upper comprehensive school.Main source of the band's history: The original band members were Lauri Ylönen (lead singer-songwriter), Eero Heinonen ...

(Safe) *Top 4 Gospel: " Higher and Higher" by

Jackie Wilson Jack Leroy Wilson Jr. (June 9, 1934 – January 21, 1984) was an American singer and performer of the 1950s and 60s. He was a prominent figure in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. Nicknamed "Mr. Excitement", he was considered a mas ...

(Safe) *Top 4 Gospel: "

The Way You Make Me Feel "The Way You Make Me Feel" is a song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released by Epic Records on November 9, 1987, as the third single from his seventh studio album, '' Bad''. It was written and composed by Jackson, and pro ...

" by

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

(Safe) *Top 3 Judge's Choice: "

Livin' la Vida Loca "Livin' la Vida Loca" () is a song recorded by Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin for his fifth studio album and English-language debut, ''Ricky Martin'' (1999). The song was written by Draco Rosa and Desmond Child, while the production was handl ...

" by

Ricky Martin Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography spanning ...

(Safe) *Top 3 Judge's Choice: "

Hot In Herre "Hot in Herre" is a song by American rapper Nelly, released as the first single from his second studio album ''Nellyville'' (2002). It was released on May 7, 2002, by Universal Records. It was written by Nelly, Charles Brown, and the producers ...

" by

Nelly Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, actor and entrepreneur. He embarked on his music career with the hip hop group St. Lunatics in 1993 and signed to Universal ...

(Safe) *Top 2 Grand Finale: "

You're the Voice "You're the Voice" is a song written by Andy Qunta, Keith Reid, Maggie Ryder and Chris Thompson, and recorded by the Australian singer John Farnham and released as a single in September 1986 ahead of his album ''Whispering Jack''. "You're the V ...

" by

John Farnham John Peter Farnham Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 1 July 1949) is a British born Australian singer. Farnham was a Teen idol, teen pop idol from 1967 until 1979, billed then as Johnny Farnham, but has since forged a career as an Adu ...

(Winner) *Top 2 Grand Finale: "

" by

(Winner) *Top 2 Grand Finale: " With Every Bit of Me" by Kevin Borg - ''Declared 5th Swedish Idol'' (Winner)

After ''Idol''

2008: Debut single

After having won the Swedish Idol 2008 Borg signed a recording contract with

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

. Borg's coronation song With Every Bit of Me was released one week after he had won the contest. The song was a hit in Sweden, where it debuted at number one and stayed on top of the charts for two consecutive weeks.

2009: First album: ''The Beginning''

On 4 March 2009 Borg officially released his album ''The Beginning'' in Sweden. The album reached number 3 in the charts in Sweden and was certified gold. Borg also released his second single titled ''Street Lights''. The single reached number 10 in Sweden. The album was originally slated for release in February, but Borg was working on a music video for ''Street Lights'' and the album was postponed by a week. Borg made a nationwide tour in early-to-mid-2009 in Sweden. In November 2012 Borg's music single "Christmas Time" was placed at number one on Malta's iTunes chart. He co-wrote with Marcos Ubeda and produced the song "Mental Breaker" for the South Korean K-Pop group, Block B. The song reached number 10 on Billboard and other charts.

After 2013: Back in Malta

Borg participated again in the Maltese national selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2013 The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the 58th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Euphoria" by Loreen. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EB ...

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

with the song "

Needing You "Needing You" is a song by Maltese singer and Idol 2008 winner Kevin Borg with which he hoped to represent Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Sca ...

", which he co-wrote and co-produced with Simon Gribbe, Danne Attlerud, Thomas Thörnholm and Michael Clauss, coming in second place. Borg also co-wrote and co-composed the song "Storyline" with Gribbe, Alin Văduva and Aidan O'Connor as was with in the Romanian Eurovision Song Contest 2013 selection. In 2016, Borg was cast in the role of Danny Zuko in a production of ''

Grease (musical) ''Grease'' is a musical with music, lyrics, and a book by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Named after the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as greasers, the musical is set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School (based on ...

'', with Maxine Aquilina playing the part of Sandy Dumbrowski at Teatru Astra in

Gozo Gozo (, ), Maltese: ''Għawdex'' () and in antiquity known as Gaulos ( xpu, 𐤂𐤅𐤋, ; grc, Γαῦλος, Gaúlos), is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After t ...

, Malta, on Saturday 16 April 2016. On 20 April 2016, he released his single ''Young at Heart'', distributed by Spinnup through

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

. In December 2016, Borg was selected to be part of Malta's national selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2017 The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "1944 (song), 1944" by Jamala. Organised by the European Broadcasting Uni ...

with the song "Follow". He placed third in the national final. In July 2017, Borg co-wrote "

Tsunagu "Tsunagu" is the 52nd single by Japanese boy band Arashi. It was released on June 28, 2017 under their record label J Storm. "Tsunagu" is the theme song for the film ''Shinobi no Kuni'' starring Arashi member Satoshi Ohno. The single sold over 380 ...

", single by a Japanese boyband

Arashi is a Japanese boy band consisting of five members formed under the Johnny & Associates talent agency. The members are Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto. Arashi officially formed on September 15, 1999 ...

with Peter Nord and Hirofumi Sasaki. The single peaked at number one in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and became the twelfth best-selling single of 2017 in the country.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Other charting songs

Musical participation in Malta

Malta International TV Song Festival *2006: Riflessi - 4th place *2007: Jasal il-Jum

Malta Song for Europe Malta has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 34 times since its debut in . The contest is broadcast in Malta on the PBS channel, TVM. Malta has yet to win the contest, but is the only non-winning country to have achieved four top th ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

: You're My Dream - 8th place *

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

: Whenever - 4th place *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

: Needing You - 2nd place *

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

: Follow - 3rd place

References

External links

Kevin Borg Myspace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borg, Kevin 1986 births Living people People from Floriana Idol (Swedish TV series) winners 21st-century Maltese male singers Maltese pop singers