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András Kállay-Saunders

About

Quick Facts

Name
András Kállay-Saunders

Born
28 January 1985

Nationality
🇭🇺 Hungarian
🇺🇸 American (?)

National Selection
A Dal 2019
A Dal 2017
A Dal 2016
A Dal 2014
A Dal 2013
A Dal 2012

In Eurovision
2014 Copenhagen

Song
Running (2014)

Biography

András Kállay-Saunders is a Hungarian-American recording artist, songwriter and record producer. He was born in New York City to an American soulsinger and a Hungarian model.

For much of Kállay’s early life, his father was globe-trotting, performing music with renowned artists such as Luciano Pavarotti, Jeff Beck, and Lou Reed, among others. Occasionally, Fernando would have Kállay accompany him on these trips, offering his son a glimpse of his musical world. He would take Kállay to Detroit, showing him the birthplace of his career. These experiences deeply embedded the essence of Motown in Kállay’s being.

In 2010, Kállay visited Hungary to care for his ailing grandmother. During his stay, a television advertisement inviting gifted singers to participate in the national talent competition Megasztár caught his attention.

Kállay’s career took off when he finished fourth in Megasztár, subsequently signing a contract with Universal and permanently relocating to Hungary. He released two singles, “Csak Veled” and “I Love You”, under Universal, both of which soared to the top of the Hungarian charts.

In August 2012, Kállay joined forces with Swedish rapper Rebstar and American producer DJ Pain 1 for his single “Tonight”. The song made it to number four on the Hungarian Top 40, marking Kállay’s third top 10 hit.

In November 2012, Kállay announced his split from Universal and signed a global record deal with Swedish label Today Is Vintage. His single “My Baby”, which was also his entry for the Hungarian Eurovision Song Contest “A Dal”, was released shortly after. The song was critically acclaimed, earning a near-perfect score from the jury. Following this performance, “My Baby” climbed to the top of the Hungarian iTunes chart. Its music video, directed by Los Tiki Pictures, was released in February 2013.

Kállay’s debut album, Delivery Boy, was released in 2015 on iTunes. He also represented Hungary in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest held in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he secured fifth place with his song “Running”.

After the 2014 Eurovision, Kállay founded the Kállay-Saunders Band and produced several singles with them. He also collaborated with A Dal 2015 contestants, producing acoustic versions of their songs. His album Delivery Boy was shortlisted for the IMPALA Album of the Year Award.

In the 2016 edition of A Dal, Kállay returned, this time performing “Who We Are” with his band and singer Antonia Vai. They reached the final four but did not clinch the title. They returned for A Dal 2017 with the song “Seventeen”, making it to the final round. In the 2019 edition, Kállay participated again as part of The Middletonz with Dutch rapper Farshad Alebatool, performing the song “Roses” and making it to the final. In the same year, he teamed up with Reni Tolvai for the collaboration in the song “Real Thing”. In June, The Middletonz released a new single. András teamed up with T.Danny for another new single, “Nevemet”. Not even a month later, he teamed up with Miskovits and Holló Fehér for the song “Együtt”. On 18 September 2019, Kállay’s 2nd album “Grind” was released.

On 2 April 2020, in the middle of the COVID19 lockdown, Kállay released a new single: “F*ck yo girl”, in the same month followed by “Light on” and a month later by “Promise”. In September, the song “Drug” was released, in October “Ola é”. He teamed up with Zubi and Alex Torres for the song “She never noticed”. With Zubi, he also released the song “Generous”. With Rackley Darion he released the song “Bag”. Again with Zubi, he released “Too far”.

Under the name Anevemandras he took part in A Dal 2021 with the song “Hazaérek majd”. A Dal was then no longer the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. The song was also released in English as “Coming home”. Together with Ali Bagkor, he released the song “Ocean” in April. The song reached the 1st place in the Greek Heat Top 30. It also reached the 1st place in the Greek Shazam list. He also featured in Dreambody’s song “Taking my time”. With Gabriel Gomez he recorded the song “Bujtsy”.

In March 2022 Kállay teamed up with Coyot and The Prince Karma for the song “Why”. A month later, the video for the song “Sky” followed. In September of the same year he worked together with Young Trabajo on a song “Traka”.

In April 2023, he released a single called “Homesick”. He also started to perform with the Middletonz again.

 

Entries

Song Title

Country
🇭🇺 Hungary

Year
2014

Language
English

Lyrics
András Kállay-Saunders
István Tabár

Music
András Kállay-Saunders
Krisztián Szakos

Backings
Rozina Czelovszky
Kyra Fedor

Dancers
Kata Kelemen
Sándor Kurucz

Results Semi

Points: 127
Position: 3
Running order: 16

Results Finals

Points: 143
Position: 5
Running order: 21