Alexander Nestor Haddaway was born 1965 on the Carribean island of Trinidad. The son of a Dutch oceanographer and a Trinidadian nurse, Haddaway moved from Trinidad to Holland (oooups, The Netherlands) in the early 1970s with his dad when his parents separated. After his school years, he moved to the US to be with his mum. Discovering a love for music in his high school years in Maryland, US, he was very active in the school's jazz, marching, symphonic, and stage bands.
In 1989, aged 24, Haddaway returned to Europe, settling in Cologne, Germany, where he started playing American football as well as working as a choreographer, and carpet salesman.
Haddaway's break came in 1992 when he was signed by German label Coconut Records. His first single What Is Love rapidly became popular across Europe. Stratospheric Euro Dance stardom led him to record his first album, which turned out to be a multi-million seller. By that time most of Europe (including the UK, don't deny it ;-) was on fire. Euro Dance was the flavour of the day: Snap, Technotronic and the like would literally storm the charts.
But only 2 years later musical tastes started to change: people, at least in the UK, grew tired of it and, similar to Modern Talking in the 1980s, developed a certain cynicysm towards it for its pure commercial intention. That mood soon caught on on continental Europe and already his third single release Rock My Heart 'flopped' by comparison. If you're scoring a #25 with a hyped track in Germany, you know you're in trouble and better adapt. This is where Haddaway's management failed.
Apart from occasional appearances of 'What is Love' on wedding receptions and retro events, there is not much to be heard from Haddaway, musically. Haddaway now lives in Kitzbühel, Austria, which speaks for itself. I mean, Kitzbühel!!!!
What Is Love enjoyed a resurge in popularity as the theme music for the head bobbing, nightclubbing addicted Butabi brothers (Will Ferrell & Chris Kattan) on Saturday Night Live and the subsequent film A Night at the Roxbury. The track was also featured in a 2008 Pepsi commercial, which parodied the Leitmotif and included several stars including LL Cool J, Missy Elliot and Busta Rhymes, but - interestingly - not Haddaway... On Eminem's 2010 album Recovery, a sample of the song What Is Love is used for the track 'No Love' featuring Lil' Wayne.
Haddaway - What Is Love (1993)
FR#1, CH#1, AT#1, IT#1, ES#1, IRL#1, FIN#1, DK#1, NL#1, BE#1, Euro Hot100 #1, DE#2, NOR#1, UK#2, SWE#2, US#11, AUS#12, CAN#17, NZ#48
Haddaway - Life (1993)
ES#1, SWE#1, Euro Hot100 #1, DE#2, AT#2, NL#3, IRL#3, NOR#3, FR#5, UK#6, AUS#34, US#41
Haddaway - Rock My Heart (1994)
UK#9, IRL#9, CH#10, FR#11, AT#12, NL#12, SWE#17, DE#25, US#25, NZ#43, AUS#83
Haddaway - Fly Away
CH#9, NL#9, SWE#14, BE#15, AT#16, UK#20, FR#23, DE#25, IRL#28
Haddaway - Catch A Fire (1995)
BE#6, FIN#14, CH#20, NL#23, AT#30, DE#38, UK#39
