András Kállay-Saunders (born January 28, 1985), also known as Kállay Saunders, is a Hungarian-American singer, songwriter and record producer. He represented Hungary in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2014 The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Denmark with the song "Running".

Early life

András Kállay-Saunders was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, United States to Hungarian model Katalin Kállay and American soul-singer and producer

Fernando Saunders Fernando Saunders (born 17 January 1957) is an American musician, singer and record producer from Detroit, Michigan. He is perhaps best known for his longtime partnership with rock musician Lou Reed, from 1982 to 1987 and again from 1996 to 20 ...

. He is a descendant of the noble Kállay family from his maternal side. Throughout most of his childhood years Kállay's father was touring the world and playing his music among legends such

Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...

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and many more but every now and then Fernando would bring along his son to observe. His father would take him to Detroit and show him how it all started; the corners he sang on, places he played. By doing so, Fernando planted the Motown roots deep within Kállay's soul. In 2010 Kállay decided to visit Hungary to spend time with his grandmother who was ill at the time. During his visit in Hungary, he noticed a TV commercial urging talented singers to audition for the nations talent competition

Megasztár ''Megasztár – Voice of the Year'' is a Hungarian music talent show that started in 2003 on TV2. While it is widely considered an unlicensed clone of the British television show ''Pop Idol'' (and sometimes even referred to as ''Hungarian Idol ...

Career

Kállay ended up finishing fourth in the contest and shortly after signed to Universal and permanently moved to Hungary. Kállay released two singles under Universal, "Csak Veled" "I Love You" both of which became smash hits in Hungary, peaking respectively No. 7 and No. 2 on the Top 40 Hungarian Billboards. In August 2012 Kállay collaborated with Swedish rapper

Rebstar Rebin Shah (born 4 October 1988), better known by his stage name Rebstar, is a Swedish rapper. He is the founder and CEO of the entertainment company Today Is Vintage and pro-bono Creative Director for World Childhood Foundation founded by Que ...

and American producer

DJ Pain 1 Pacal Alejandro Bayley (born October 21, 1983), better known by his stage name DJ Pain 1, is an American record producer and DJ from Madison, Wisconsin. He has produced for artists including Young Jeezy, 50 Cent, Schoolboy Q, Ludacris, Lil Baby, ...

on Kállays single "

Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...

". "

" peaked No. 4 on the Top 40 Hungarian Billboards, making it Kállay's third hit single to reach the top 10 charts. In November 2012 Kállay announced his departure from Universal and signed a worldwide record deal with Swedish record label

Today Is Vintage Today Is Vintage is an entertainment company founded in 2012 in Malmo, Sweden by music mogul Rebstar. As of 2022, the company represents Grammy winners and artists, songwriters and producers accumulating over 10 billion streams worldwide. Spearhe ...

On December 20, 2012 Kállay released his single "My Baby" which also serves as his contribution in the Hungarian "A Dal" Eurovision Song Contest. On February 9 Kállay performed the song in the contest to critical acclaim, garnering 48 out of a maximum of 50 points voted by the jury. Following the performance, My Baby catapulted to #1 on iTunes (Hungary). The music video for My Baby was released on February 8, 2013 and is directed by Los Tiki Pictures. My Baby peaked #1 on the Hungarian iTunes store on March 3, 2013, and charted #1 on the Hungarian Top 40 Radio Charts on April 11, 2013. Kállay's debut album titled ''Delivery Boy'' was released in 2015 on iTunes. Kállay represented Hungary in the

in Copenhagen, Denmark. He came in 5th place with his song "

Running Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion by which humans and other animals move quickly on foot. Running is a gait with an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is in contrast to walkin ...

". Since the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, Kállay has gone on to found his own band, Kállay-Saunders Band. He has since then released multiple singles with the band, and collaborated with A Dal 2015 participants, creating acoustic versions of their songs and performing as an interval act in the show. His last album ''Delivery Boy'' was one of the 19 records nominated for the IMPALA Album of the Year Award. He, again, has returned to the 2016 edition of A Dal, this time with his band and vocalist Antonia Vai, performing ''Who We Are''. They made it to be the last four finalists, but didn't win. They were again announced to participate in A Dal 2017 with the song ''Seventeen''. They progressed to the final. In the 2019 edition, he participated again as a member of The Middletonz with Dutch rapper Farshad Alebatool with the song ''Roses''. They made it to the final.

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

References

Sources

External links

Official website

András on Facebook (hungarian)
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kallay-Saunders, Andras 1985 births Living people Singers from New York City Hungarian pop singers Hungarian record producers English-language singers from Hungary American emigrants to Hungary Andras American people of Hungarian descent Hungarian people of American descent Eurovision Song Contest entrants