Mark Forster: A superstar with Polish roots

“[In Germany] it is more uncool to be half Polish than half Spanish or half French”, confessed Mark Forster in an interview[1]. The singer, who was born Mark Ćwiertnia in Kaiserslautern on 11 January 1983, recalls how he was confronted with this type of stereotypical attribution in the past. Today, he considers growing up in two cultures an advantage and speaks openly about the fact that he feels both German and Polish.

Music has always been Mark’s passion but, for a long time, there was no real sign that the young boy’s hobby would become his vocation. Forster grew up in Winnweiler in Rheinland-Pfalz, where he lived with his Polish mother, his German father and his younger sister. He also attended the grammar school there and gave his first concerts at which he and his peers only played his own compositions. He has always been keen to point out that covering songs in clubs has never interested him. After his A-levels, Forster moved to Mainz to study law but that subject proved a poor choice and, after four semesters, he gave it up to switch to business administration. He then successfully completed his business administration degree but did not go on to work in this field. After moving to Berlin, he initially composed jingles and soundtracks for various TV formats. During this period, he talent was discovered by Kurt Krömer, the well known German comedian. He suggested that Forster work with him on his stage show. From then on, Forster accompanied Krömer as the “Polish pianist“ at his live appearances throughout Germany. In an interview for the Deutsche Welle, the musician talked about this period: “I appeared as the Polish Balboa. In the band, I was the bloke who never understood what was said to him and always played something other than what the frontman wanted him to play. It was entertaining but it was also an insightful experience that I was able to use for my work on stage and on television”.[2]

After some time, when Mark was no longer satisfied with working as Kurt Krömer’s sidekick, he began to write his own songs and took his first steps towards becoming a solo artist in showbusiness. In the beginning, he performed under his family name Ćwiertnia, but very quickly realised that the Polish surname was a bit of a tongue twister for Germans. He owes his stage name to chance: one day a representative from a record label came to his recording studio in Forster-Straße and wrote the young artist’s telephone number down under the name “Mark Forster”. Shortly after this, the musician’s career began to take off, which placed Forster in a dilemma: on the one hand, he earnt good money from his work on Kurt Krömer’s TV programme but, on the other hand, his desire to concentrate on his own creative work was getting stronger and stronger. During this phase of indecision, Forster went on the Camino de Santiago which helped him make his mind up. After much reflection, the singer decided to give up his job in television and to work as a composer performing his own songs. It didn’t take long to show just what a good decision this was.

In 2010, Mark Forster signed a contract with the Four Music label, founded by the cult band Die Fantastischen Vier, and this label was to produce his début album. His first single “Auf dem Weg” appeared in May 2012 and quickly became a hit. The album “Karton”, which was brought out two months later, was also successful and awarded a Goldene Schallplatte. A year later, the rapper Sido released the single “Einer dieser Steine” with Mark Forster contributing the chorus. The title climbed up the charts and into the “Top Ten” in Germany and in Switzerland. Mark Forster was becoming more and more well known. Soon afterwards, the rapper returned the favour by guest singing on Forster’s song “Au revoir”, which announced Mark’s second album “Bauch und Kopf” (2014). The single reached number two in the charts and collected three Goldene Schallplatten. Quite unexpectedly, Lukas Podolski played a part in the popularity of this song by playing it to his teammates during the World Cup in Brazil. The song was then used as the warm-up song before every game and became the unofficial anthem of the national team. After the German team went on to win the World Cup,  “Au revoir” became the most listened to song on Soundcloud. Over a million singles were sold and earnt Forster the Deutscher Musikautorenpreis.

The musician’s spectacular success completely turned his life upside down. Forster became a superstar more or less overnight. He gave countless concerts, mostly in sold-out halls, and became a teen idol. His popularity was given another push by the casting show “The Voice Kids” on SAT.1, on which he has been a judge since 2015. During his time on the show, Forster met his future wife, the singer Lena Meyer-Landrut, and the couple had a child in 2021.

In 2015, Mark Forster also took part in a competition. He entered the Bundesvision Song Contest for Rhineland-Palatinate, winning with the song “Bauch und Kopf”. In 2016, his third studio album “Tape” was released which again enjoyed great success. His songs were now more optimistic. They were no longer marked by the melancholy and pensiveness which Mark’s fans had become used to. In an interview, Forster admitted: “I’m in a good phase right now, I feel happy and want to share these feelings with my fans.”[3] Given this run of success, it is indeed hard to deny him his happiness. In summer 2016, his song “Wir sind groß” became the official song on ZDF for the broadcast of the Football European Cup in France. The earworm was played before and after every broadcast pairing of the tournament. This was followed a few months later by the song “Chöre”, which again stormed the charts. On the strength of this, Mark Forster was crowned the most popular German singer. He is loved by the public, he has voiced one of the characters in the American animation “Trolls”, and he is involved in a number of TV formats.

In a television programme, which was broadcast in 2017 in the fourth season of “Sing meinen Song – Das Tauschkonzert” , Mark Forster performed the Christmas carol “Lulajże, Jezuniu” (Sleep, baby Jesus, sleep) in Polish, which not only surprised the viewers, it also astonished his own family. This performance resonated with the Polish media who paid tribute to the singer with Polish roots by praising his passionate and emotive performance of the song and his perfect pronunciation. Mark Forster’s fan base in Poland grew even more as a result and he dreams of performing in front of a Polish audience. In interviews, the singer talks opening of his heritage and makes no secret of the fact that he would like to live in Poland for a year or two. In 2018, as an homage to his fans there, he recorded the song “Like a Lion” in Polish. It was previously released as a single with the Reggae musician Gentleman sharing the vocals. Mark also released his fourth album entitled “Liebe”, which achieved gold status in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

During the pandemic when it wasn’t possible to play concerts, Mark Forster used the time to record more songs, including the single “Ich frag die Maus”, which was created for the 50th anniversary of the “Sendung mit der Maus”, the cult TV programme for children. In April 2021, he released the single “Drei Uhr nachts”. This song about loneliness after a separation was recorded as a duet with the singer Lea. And although Forster has been in a happy relationship with Lena Meyer-Landrut for many years, he assures us that his songs tell stories from his life. And perhaps it is precisely this authenticity created by singing about his own experiences and combined with his musical qualities, that is the secret to Mark Forster’s success.

 

Monika Stefanek, June 2021