Paul Thomas Leo Marazzi (born 24 January 1975) is a British musician. He is the oldest member of

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

A1. Marazzi was the first to join A1, a British/Norwegian

whose first single, "

Be the First to Believe "Be the First to Believe" is the debut single of British-Norwegian boy band A1, released on 21 June 1999 from their debut album, '' Here We Come'' (1999). The song peaked at 6 on the UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titl ...

", was released in 1999. Together with Marazzi were Britons Mark Read,

Ben Adams Benjamin “Ben” Edward Stephen Adams (born 22 November 1981) is a British singer and songwriter from Ascot, England, best known as a member of the British-Norwegian boy band A1. Early life Born in Ascot, Adams attended Westminster Under ...

and Norwegian

Christian Ingebrigtsen Christian Ingebrigtsen (born 25 January 1977) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter and musician. He is a member of the pop group A1. Biography Ingebrigtsen was born in Oslo, Norway, into a musical family. His father Stein Ingebrigtsen was the ...

. They were formed by band manager Tim Byrne, who also formed Steps, and signed to

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

by A&R manager Fran de Takats. A1 won a

BRIT Award The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

for "British Breakthrough Act" in 2001. Their third album, '' Make It Good'', featured a sound closer to traditional rock music, but was to be their last studio project with Marazzi. In October 2002, Marazzi took a break from the band citing personal reasons. Marazzi never gave a proper explanation on why he left the band letting fans wonder why he really left the band. In 2005, he started a band called Snagsby. He left Snagsby in January 2009 to pursue a career as a club DJ in The George Hotel in

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

.
A1 Singer's Relief as Ben Escapes Big Brother Loot

Early life

Marazzi was born on 24 January 1975 in

Wanstead Wanstead () is a town in East London, England, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It borders South Woodford to the north, Redbridge, London, Redbridge to the east and Forest Gate to the south, with Leytonstone and Walthamstow to the west. It is ...

, London, to Ivan and Maria Marazzi. He is of Italian descent. Marazzi went to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

with his family and lived there until 2007. He recorded a demo for a German producer which led him to audition for A1 in 1997.

A1

Marazzi said that he originally auditioned for Steps (group), Steps, however, he was placed in a1 in 1997. He was then later joined by

, Mark Read and

. They released their first album Here We Come in late 1999. Two years after their first single release in the

2001 BRIT Awards Brit Awards 2001 was the 21st edition of the annual pop music Brit Awards awards ceremony in the United Kingdom. They are run by the British Phonographic Industry and took place on 26 February 2001 at Earls Court in London. Performances Winne ...

, the band received the award for Best British Breakthrough. In 2002, few months after their appearance in the US soap

The Young and The Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...

, Paul then announced his departure from a1 with a statement that read: "After a lot of thought and deliberation, I have made the difficult choice to leave the band due to personal reasons." In an interview on YouTube, Marazzi stated he left the band as he knew their ''Make It Good'' album was not that great, and that he might as well jump off the sinking ship.

Post A1

After a1, Marazzi hosted the Andy Cole Children's Foundation (now All Star Kids) on 26 April 2003 together with

Jo Good Jo Good is a British broadcaster. Career A radio 'anorak' since her early teens, Jo joined the radio industry straight out of school, aged 17. At this point she moved from Alnwick, Northumberland to Manchester. Working first as a travel reporte ...

. From Eva Cassidy Tributes article Charlotte gethin live He turned down the offer to appear in I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here! in 2004. In mid-2005, Paul was interviewed in Spain for Fame Games where he talked about the life being in a1. The interview was aired on 31 July 2006 and also played (partly) two of his unreleased songs namely If I Could Be King and Lifted. Marazzi also revealed that he will be touring

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

with Spencer Davis Group. In late 2011, Marazzi was rehearsing/recording with Nobby in his previous bands (Snagsby now known as Audio Tracer) studio in Sunderland and Paul has formed a new band called Blue Eyed Soul. His father announced the news to his fans on Facebook. Just recently, he just become a Patron for MACY (Music and Arts for Creative Youth). In August 2009, A1 reunited as a trio in Norway for a TV show after Marazzi refused to rejoin the band. In 2013, he was invited to take part on

The Big Reunion (series 2) The second series of the British reality-documentary series ''The Big Reunion'' began airing on ITV2 on 6 February 2014 and ended on 27 March 2014. The show features 'teen' bands, some of whom were big names in the UK pop music scene between the ...

with a1 but Marazzi refused again to rejoin the band as he wanted to meet up in private instead. Marazzi made a tweet attacking the band prior to the series. It was after a misunderstanding between him and the band. He later released a song called Eleven Years which states how he really feels about the band. The song was officially released on 25 March 2014 and is available on iTunes. Another song was planned to be released with an accompanying video and was already recorded, but Marazzi later shelved the idea as he prefers live singing. On 30 November 2014, while a1 was performing in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

for Big Reunion Boyband Tour, Paul tweeted to ask everyone to stop saying nasty things about his ex- bandmates. This would make people wonder if they have patched things up. With this tweet it is presumed that he just wanted a1 fans (old and new) to be quiet and to leave him alone. Marazzi was working as a cabinet maker based in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

, and singing part-time with a wedding band called Hip Operations. Marazzi joined after his stint with the band for It's A Disco Night in late 2012. He has recently worked with the

Overtones An overtone is any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency of a sound. (An overtone may or may not be a harmonic) In other words, overtones are all pitches higher than the lowest pitch within an individual sound; the fundamental i ...

Damage Damage is any change in a thing, often a physical object, that degrades it away from its initial state. It can broadly be defined as "changes introduced into a system that adversely affect its current or future performance".Farrar, C.R., Sohn, H., ...

S Club S Club 7 were a British pop group from London, created by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller and consisting of members Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Jo O'Meara, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole, Rachel Stevens and Tina Barrett. The group ...

, and

5ive Five (stylised as 5ive) are a British boy band from London consisting of members Sean Conlon, Ritchie Neville, and Scott Robinson. They were formed in 1997 by the same team that managed the Spice Girls before they launched their career. The gro ...

. In 2016 Marazzi announced the birth of his daughter Sofia with his partner Nathalie. They later went on to have another daughter Amelia in 2018. Marazzi did an interview on BBC Radio Tees just before he went on the Boys are Back tour as he now lives in Trimdon County Durham.

Reunion with A1

On 22 July 2017, Marazzi met with his former bandmates in Newcastle and discussed possibilities of a reunion. The meeting was kept secret until

posted a photo of him and Marazzi taken in Sunderland in September that same year. The band later on revealed that a reunion with Marazzi is happening upon the announcement of their Southeast Asian Tour in October 2018.

Musical influences

Marazzi is a fan of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

. On the official website of Snagsby as well as on his Facebook page, he stated that he is a fan of

Shakin' Stevens Michael Barratt (born 4 March 1948), known professionally as Shakin' Stevens, is a Welsh singer and songwriter. He was the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s. His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, althoug ...

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. His style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop and folk. Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Roc ...

Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea (musician), Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates element ...

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

and

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 ...

Discography

With A1

Albums

* '' Here We Come'' (1999) * '' The A List'' (2000) * '' Make It Good'' (2002) * '' The Best of A1'' (2004) * '' A1 Greatest Hits'' (2009)

Singles

* "

" (1999) * " Summertime of Our Lives" (1999) * " Ready or Not/Everytime" (1999) * " Like a Rose" (2000) * "

Take On Me "Take On Me" is a song by the Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha. The original version, recorded in 1984 and released in October of that same year, was produced by Tony Mansfield and remixed by John Ratcliff. The 1985 international hit version was p ...

" (2000) * "

Same Old Brand New You "Same Old Brand New You" is a song by British-Norwegian boy band A1. It was released on 6 November 2000 as the second single from their second album, '' The A List''. The single was the band's second and final number one single on the UK Singl ...

" (2000) * "

No More No More may refer to: * No More (band), a German post-punk band Songs * "No More" (1944 song), written by Bob Russell and Toots Camarata; covered by Billie Holiday * "No More" (1961 song), a version of "La Paloma" recorded by Elvis Presley an ...

" (2001) * " Caught in the Middle" (2002) * " Make It Good" (2002) * " Nos Differences" (2002)

Solo

* Eleven Years (featuring Rockwool Sari)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marazzi, Paul 1975 births English male singers English pop singers Living people A1 (band) members People from Wanstead Singers from London English people of Italian descent