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He is not a well-known face on the music circuit, but his cover of the song Africa by 80s group Toto, has brought R&B singer Karl Wolf name, fame and a lot of money. Africa rose to the number two spot on iTunes and stayed there for a considerable amount of time, launching the Lebanese-Canadian singer’s career worldwide. Karl’s songs have a variety of influences from dancehall to Arabic sounds, bringing something new to the music world, says VERUS FERREIRA.
Carl Abou Samah, better known by his stage name Karl Wolf, was born on April 18, 1979. He is a singer, songwriter and producer now based in Montreal, Quebec. Karl was born in Beirut, Lebanon, but his family moved to Dubai a few years later because of the civil war. Music played an important Part in Karl’s life from the very beginning. His mother was a piano teacher and his father played the guitar, drums and a traditional Arabic instrument called the Oud. As a powerful songwriter, producer and singer of serious skill and originality, Karl actually began his musical career “behind the scenes”.
In Canada he began by working on small projects. Within no time he participated as a songwriter, composer and producer on many multi-platinum albums, such as Gabrielle Destroismaisons, that generated two solid hit singles. He was awarded the Felix Award in 2001 for ’Best Mix and Sound of the Year’ for his work on Gabrielle Destroismaisons album. Wolf went on to work on the hit TV show Star Académie, (Quebec’s answer to Canadian Idol), co-writing and producing the songs for the show. The first Star Académie album was the biggest-selling album in Canada in 2003, notching phenomenal sales of half a million copies and earning Wolf a SOCAN award for Most Popular Song. A Star Académie II sequel in 2004 was another big success, the album going double-platinum. He was even a member of two platinum-selling bands, the rap band Dubmatique and pop rock band Sky. Karl was also in a trip-hop band called Ten Zen at one time. But all this didn’t really excite Karl, for he wanted to do something on his own.
Released on Valentine’s Day 2006, his debut effort Face Behind The Face turned Karl into an instant mega-star in the Middle East and Canada, with his hit song Butterflies spending straight weeks at #1 in Canada. Butterflies was later remixed to include the vocals of Quebec pop-princess Eve, and the song climbed the charts again peaking at #3. Karl’s follow-up single Summer Days And Summer Nights in Beirut, which recalls the beauty of Beirut before the civil war, was also a huge success on radio.
He released his second album Bite The Bullet in November 2007 which featured his latest hit Africa, the video which had the honour of being the first-ever music video played on the newly-launched MTV Arabia. The song became an instant success across the country and garnered double platinum status sales for the album.
Karl won a Sounds of Blackness Award (SOBA) in 2007 as the ’Best R&B Soul Artist of the Year’ for Face Behind The Face and was nominated for a 2007 Juno Award (Canada’s music awards) for ’Best R&B/Soul Recording’. He has also been crowned winner of the ’MTV Arabia New Act’ at the EMA’s (MTV’s European Music Awards), one of the most prestigious music awards in the world. Wolf was a part of the opening act for the launch of MTVArabia alongside Akon, Ludacris and UAE’s Desert Heat.
Rayban Vh1 Global Music Xpress brought Karl Wolf for an India tour which started in Pune, and went on to Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi (Noida). Seated at Hard Rock Café in Mumbai sipping a Coke, the strapping young singer was dressed in a white T-shirt and blue quarter pants. 30-year-old Karl has a tattoo on each hand — ’Lone’ on his right hand and ’Wolf’ on his left, besides other tattoos on his left arm.
Sunglasses and a stubble complete the man who talks as though there is no tomorrow. Excerpts from his chat with The Teenager.
Welcome to Mumbai. Is this your first visit to India?
Yes. I am so excited to be in India. I have made many great friends in the past 8 years. I love the food and the Indian culture too. I feasted on tandoori chicken and biryani in Pune.
What is your knowledge of Indian artists and have you seen any Bollywood movies?
I cannot say anything about Bollywood movies, but in the little time I have had, I have watched TV and have seen Indian film songs. I like them very much. About the music, well I had worked on some songs for Sukbir as well as produced an album for my Canadian counterparts Josh.
Why the name ’Karl Wolf’?
Well, actually it was a nickname which stuck. I was a soccer player and due to my slightly short stature I would run around the ground and somehow manage to get the ball. I was so fast that the other guys would label me to a wolf running around. For the better part of my life I was known just as Carl Abou Samah which was a long name, but when I started singing and playing in the band, I needed a stage name and I decided to take Karl and use the nickname my friends use to call me as my surname which came to be known as Karl Wolf.
You did a cover of Toto’s Africa…
These days kids don’t remember old songs of the 70s, 80s, they are so caught up with the new music — hip-hop and rap, that the real music is totally forgotten. I wanted to take this song and turn it into a whole new sound. I gave it a dash of Arabic flavour, an R&B groove and a pop sound, all in one. The result was great. Now when kids hear this, they think it’s a new song, and only later learn that it was Toto’s — a 70’s cult song that is loved even today.
Has music always been a part of your life and when did you decide to make a career out of it?
Growing up, it’s not like I knew I was going to be a musician or singer for the rest of my life, but I just loved it so much that I grew to persist and excel in it. After our family left Lebanon, we moved to Canada and there I realised that I wanted to do music. I also come from a musical family. I played in a band called Sky which I joined in 2002. I also co-wrote and co-produced Sky’s third album Picture Perfect. In this rock band, I was never paid for my work there. They compensated me by giving me studio time instead. I never really learnt anything, but being with them, working with them and seeing what they were doing and getting the little experience has got me to the place that I am today. So no regrets really.
Do you put a part of your Lebanese (Arabic) influences in your music?
Very much. I was fed up working for other people. I wanted to make my own music. After I parted ways with Sky, I knew I had to make my own work. Initially I wanted to keep away from my Arabic roots, as I was very Americanised. But when I grew up I wanted to get back and take in all I could for I knew that’s how I came up in life from Lebanon to America, and so you have Lebanese sound and American R&B. I wanted to change stereotypes that people had about Arabic people. This was my goal as an artiste and I think I have achieved it.
Why are you releasing Bite The Bullet, a 2007 release, in 2009?
I am not well-known here at all. This part of the globe has not heard me. I want this album to go out to people like you. My first album was purely experimental. I got the feedback and worked on my second album accordingly. Unlike Face Behind The Face, Bite The Bullet is predominantly An up-tempo album. It is full of club bangers and is an evolution in my musical style and coincides with how I am feeling today... upbeat. My listeners will not stop dancing on this album.
