Rafał Stanisław Kamiński (born November 8, 1990), known professionally as Ralph Kaminski, is a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

singer-songwriter experimenting with musical styles, including

alternative pop Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...

and

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

. He is the recipient of the Grzegorz Ciechowski Artistic Award of the City of Toruń (2020) and two Fryderyk Awards during the 28th Fryderyk Awards Gala (2022).

Early life

Kaminski was born and raised in

Jasło Jasło is a county town in south-eastern Poland with 36,641 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2012. It is situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (since 1999), and it was previously part of Krosno Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is located in Lesse ...

. His mother is a teacher. He has a younger brother, Wiktor. His cousin is a fellow singer

Michał Szpak Michał Szpak (born 26 November 1990) is a Polish singer who found fame on the X Factor (Polish season 1), inaugural season of the Polish ''X Factor (Polish TV series), X Factor'' in 2011. On 12 May 2016, Szpak represented Poland at the Eurovisi ...

, Ralph himself confirmed this on the ''

Kuba Wojewódzki Jakub Władysław Wojewódzki known as Kuba Wojewódzki (; born 2 August 1963 in Koszalin, Poland) is a Polish journalist, TV personality, drummer, and comedian. Career Wojewódzki was a judge on the Polish ''Idol''. He also was the Polish repre ...

'' talk show. He developed an interest in music as a child. At the age of 11, Kaminski started attending vocal classes at the Jasło Cultural Centre. He studied art and music before embarking on a professional career as a musician in 2010. Kaminski graduated from the Jazz and Popular Music Department at the

Stanisław Moniuszko Stanisław Moniuszko (; May 5, 1819 – June 4, 1872) was a Polish composer, conductor and teacher. He wrote many popular art songs and operas, and his music is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish–Lithuania ...

Academy of Music in

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

. He also studied at the Pop Department of

Codarts University for the Arts Codarts University for the Arts ( nl, Codarts hogeschool voor de kunsten) is a Dutch vocational university in Rotterdam that teaches music, dance and circus. It was established in its present location in 2000. History Codarts can trace its origin ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. In 2010, he composed his first song entitled "The Hill". In 2011, he performed the song at the International Carpathia Festival and won the Grand Prix. In 2012, he released his first single "Don't Know Why" and one year later started performing with his band consisting of seven members called My Best Band in the World.

Career

Talent shows

In 2009, he appeared in one of the episodes of

TVP2 TVP 2 (TVP Dwa, ''Program II Telewizji Polskiej'', ''"Dwójka"'') is a Polish public mainstream TV channel operated by TVP. Launched in October 1970, its varied line-up contains a variety of programming (documentary, history, talk-shows, game-sh ...

programme '' Szansa na Sukces'', performing a song by Perfect "Objazdowe nieme kino". In 2012 he took part in the second edition of the

TVN TVN may refer to: * TVN (Australian TV channel), a former horse racing channel * Televisión Nacional de Chile, a public broadcaster * TVN (Indonesia), a former television station; predecessor of Rajawali Televisi * TVN (Norway), or TVNorge, a comm ...

talent show ''

X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

''; he performed

Norah Jones Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and as of 2012, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. ''Billboard'' named her the ...

' song "

Don't Know Why "Don't Know Why" is a song written and composed by Jesse Harris that originally appeared on his 1999 album, ''Jesse Harris & the Ferdinandos.'' A cover of the song was the debut single of American singer Norah Jones from her debut studio album, ...

" during the auditions. He was eliminated at the bootcamp stage.

Breakthrough

2019 - Pol’and’Rock - Ralph Kaminski (21)

On June 6, 2016, he performed at the "Alternative Stage" concert during the 53rd National Festival of Polish Songs in Opole. On November 14, he released his debut studio album entitled "Morze". The album was promoted with the singles: "Podobno", "Zawsze", and "Meybick Song". In 2017, he performed at the

Open'er Festival The Open'er Festival is a music festival which takes place on the north coast of Poland, in Gdynia. It is one of the biggest annual music festivals in Poland. The first edition of the festival was organized in Warsaw in 2002 as ''Open Air Festi ...

, and in June 2018, he performed at the

Orange Warsaw Festival Orange Warsaw Festival is a Polish annual music festival. The first edition took place in 2008. Since 2010 it has been broadcast on television by TVN. It moved to the National Stadium in May 2013. The 2014 edition took place on 13–15 June 20 ...

. In 2019, he won the final of the 40th Actor Song Review (Polish: Przegląd Piosenki Aktorskiej) in

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

, thanks to his "Welcome To Our Fairytale" performance from the musical based on ''

Academy of Mr. Kleks An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

'', and "On the Corner" written by

Agnieszka Osiecka Agnieszka Osiecka (Polish pronunciation: ; 9 October 1936 – 7 March 1997) was a Polish poet, writer, author of theatre and television screenplays, film director and journalist. She was a prominent Polish songwriter, having authored the lyrics to ...

. In August that year, he performed at the

Pol'and'Rock Festival Pol'and'Rock Festival, formerly known as Woodstock Festival Poland, ( Polish: ''Przystanek Woodstock''; "Woodstock Station"; English-language materials often referred to it simply to the ''Woodstock Festival Poland'') is an annual free rock music ...

. On November 22, he released his second studio album entitled "Młodość" (Youth), which reached number 17 on the official sales list in Poland. The album is seen as a nostalgic journey to the 1980s music and contains autobiographical and

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

elements. He also participated in the Talent Is Not A Crime project recording a song "Czy ty słyszysz mnie?" (Can You Hear Me?) with

Daria Zawiałow Daria Barbara Kaczmarek (''née'' Zawiałow; born August 18, 1992), known professionally as Daria Zawiałow, is a Polish singer-songwriter and composer, as well as a music journalist for Radio 357 from 2021 to 2022. Career 2017-present: Musi ...

, Michał Kush and Schafter. In 2021, he released his third solo album entitled ''Kora'', which is a tribute to

Olga Jackowska Olga Aleksandra Sipowicz (née Ostrowska; 8 June 1951 – 28 July 2018), also known by the mononym of Kora, was a Polish rock vocalist and songwriter. She was the lead singer of the rock band Maanam from 1976 to 2008. Jackowska also provided ...

, a lead vocalist of

Maanam Maanam (Tamil for respect or dignity) was a Polish rock band. History Maanam was formed by Marek Jackowski and Milo Kurtis in 1975 as guitar band M-a-M. In 1976 the band was joined by guitar player John Porter and by Kora (Olga Jackowska) - J ...

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

and an icon of Polish

New Wave music New wave is a loosely defined music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. La ...

who died in 2018. The same year he won the

Paszport Polityki Paszport Polityki (Polityka's Passport) is an annual Polish cultural award presented by the weekly magazine ''Polityka'' since 1993. It is presented in six major categories: literature, film, theatre, classical music, popular music, visual arts ...

conferred by the ''

Polityka ''Polityka'' (, ''Politics'') is a centre-left weekly news magazine in Poland. With a circulation of 200,050 (as of April 2011), it was the country's biggest selling weekly, ahead of ''Newsweek''s Polish edition, ''Newsweek Polska'', and ''Wpr ...

'' weekly news magazine in the Popular Music category. In 2022, he received two Fryderyk Awards for his 2021 album ''Kora''. He won in the Artist of the Year and

Sung Poetry Sung poetry is a broad and imprecise music genre widespread in European countries, such as Poland and the Baltic States, to describe songs consisting of a poem (most often a ballad) and music written specially for that text. The compositions usu ...

categories.

Private life

In the spring of 2017, he fell ill with depression. He talked about the illness and two years of psychotherapy in the song "D Club" from his album ''Młodość''. He is a vegetarian.

Discography

* ''Morze'' (2016) * ''Młodość'' (2019) * ''Kora'' (2021) * ''Bal u Rafała'' (2022)

References

External links

Ralph Kamiński Instagram Site

Ralph Kamiński Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaminski, Ralph 1990 births Living people Polish singer-songwriters 21st-century Polish male singers People from Jasło