Arash

Arash, born Arash Labaf (آرش لباف), is a Swedish singer and producer of Iranian origin, born in 1977 in Tehran. He moved to Sweden at age ten and lives in Malmö.

An internationally successful artist, he is the only artist of Persian heritage to have released four albums and thirty singles that reached the top of the charts worldwide; his records have been certified gold or platinum in numerous countries.

His debut self-titled album ‘Arash’ was released by Warner Music Sweden in June 2005. The singles Boro Boro and Temptation entered charts across Europe and their videos were aired on more than thirty-five MTV channels worldwide. Boro Boro was also featured in the successful Bollywood film ‘Bluffmaster’, which included Arash in a cameo role.

In 2005 he won the International Music Market award in Cannes. In 2006 his ‘FIFA World Cup ballad’, the official song for the Iranian national football team, was ranked among the three best songs of its kind that year by Sports Illustrated. The same year he won two Grammys in Russia and was recognized as the leading imported artist in the Russian Federation.

In 2008 he released his third studio album ‘Donya’, blending Western production with Mediterranean harmonies. The lead single, Donya, is a collaboration with Jamaican-American reggae singer Shaggy. The album also features Kandi with Lumidee, Dasa Bala with Timbuktu, and Pure Love, a duet with Helena that became the best-selling single of the year in Russia.

In 2009 Arash participated in the Eurovision Song Contest with Always, finishing third. In 2010 Broken Angel, a follow-up to ‘Pure Love’, reached number one on the Hot 100 and became the best-selling single of 2010 in Eastern Europe. In December he released the official song for the 2011 Men’s World Handball Championship, Glorious.

Honored by numerous industry organizations, he is a recipient of the EBBA (European Border Breaker Awards), was named ‘Best International Artist’ at the Big Apple Awards and has won two Russian Grammys.