Xavier Naidoo

Xavier Kurt Naidoo is a German soul and R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer born on October 2, 1971. He is a founding member of the German band Söhne Mannheims and established the record labels Beats Around the Bush and Naidoo Records. Alongside his work with groups, Naidoo has maintained a successful solo career. His debut album Nicht von dieser Welt (1998) sold over one million copies, and his subsequent six albums all reached number one on the German album charts. While he records mostly in German, he has also released several English-language songs.

Naidoo was born and raised in the Wallstadt borough of Mannheim, Germany, to Catholic South African parents. His mother was a seamstress of Irish and Egyptian descent, and his father was a welder of Indian Tamil and German ancestry. Naidoo sang in a choir during his childhood. After graduating from Realschule and completing training as a cook, he worked as a bouncer and swimsuit model. He later relocated to the United States and released his first English-language album, Seeing Is Believing, under the stage name Kobra in 1994. Between 1995 and 1998, he also performed in several musicals.

Following work as a backing vocalist for the Rödelheim Hartreim Projekt, Sabrina Setlur, and Illmat!c, Naidoo released his first German-language album, Nicht von dieser Welt, in 1998. The release earned him an ECHO Award and an MTV Europe Music Award, generating six singles including "Sie sieht mich nicht," which served as the theme song for Astérix & Obélix Take on Caesar. After leaving the 3P label, he released Zwischenspiel – Alles für den Herrn in 2002. This led to a 2003 collaboration with producer RZA on the number-one single "Ich kenne nichts (das so schön ist wie du)." He later formed the duo Xavas with rapper Kool Savas, releasing the album Gespaltene Persönlichkeit in 2012, and contributed to Kris Menace's 2013 album Features.

Throughout his career, Naidoo has alternated between solo projects and recording or touring with Söhne Mannheims. He joined music projects such as the Afro-German political collective Brothers Keepers and the charity project Signs of the Times. Musically, his work incorporates Christian, Muslim, and Rastafarian influences grounded in Old Testament narratives and apocalyptic themes. Through his music and work with Glashaus, he contributed to establishing an Afro-German R&B presence.

Naidoo has been the subject of public controversies regarding his lyrics, political statements, adherence to conspiracy theories, and use of homophobic and antisemitic tropes. In November 2015, German broadcaster NDR announced him as Germany's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, but withdrew his selection days later following widespread public opposition. In March 2020, TV station RTL fired Naidoo from his judge role on Deutschland sucht den Superstar after videos circulated showing him singing anti-migrant lyrics.

Naidoo's public statements have included addressing the Reichsbürger movement, denying the legal existence of the Federal Republic of Germany, questioning the September 11 attacks, denying climate change, and opposing COVID-19 pandemic measures. On April 21, 2022, Naidoo posted a video apologizing for past statements and distancing himself from radical and antisemitic views, explaining that Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted him to reconsider his former sources of information.