The Megasztár (The Hungarian Idol) contest started three years ago in our country, and instantly grew hugely popular, watched by millions. Caramel was first noticed during these shows for his unique talent in singing; he delighted the public with his performances on TV, and ended up winning the contest to become the Hungarian Idol, the voice of the year 2005.
Born in 1982, Caramel grew up in a country village. As a teenager, he was devastated by the loss of his beloved brother. He decided to live a life on his own, and during these hard years he started writing his songs on a stripped down acoustic guitar. The contest then brought him fame and a chance to release his songs for the public. It also brought him love, as another contestant, Eszter Bartók and he fell in love during these shows.
The singer’s solo record, ‘Nyugalomterápia’ (‘Chill Therapy’) spent several weeks in the number one position of the Hungarian charts. All songs are original compositions by Caramel himself, apart from a cover of ‘Jégszív’ (Ice Heart), a hit song from the Seventies. The music was also arranged by Caramel, and recorded with the help of well-known artists (István Lerch, György Ferenczi, József Balázs). The genre ranges from R’n’B to jazz and blues, but always with a touch of Caramel’s personality and unique voice.
The second album came a year later, in 2006, with the title ‘Újrahangolva’ (Retuned). Caramel took the fans further on the path of the first release with groovy R’n’B tunes spiced up with some other genres. On the song ‘Ne ébressz fel’ (Don’t wake me up), Caramel gets all bluesy with authentic harmonica solos, while ‘Micsoda éjszaka’ (What a night) evokes the 80’s disco music. Caramel also sings a few songs in English on this record with an amazing ease, just if it was in Hungarian.
In 2010, Caramel released ‘Lélekdonor’ (Soul donor), his much-anticipated follow-up to his first two albums, and it was definitely worth the wait to enjoy such a deep and diverse music produced with such maturity. Caramel puts all his heart and thoughts into the songs, and also reflects on his career and fame. We are glad though that most of his lyrics are still about love and passion, and he concludes the topic so well in the track title: ‘Love is the only soul donor’