Biography

"Urban Inspirational Pop Music With A Heap Of Latin Soul"

AMARU is an internationally acclaimed independent recording artist, a trained actor, a published author,
a filmmaker, a photographer and a model.

He made his TV debut in his native country on a current affairs high school quiz of which he was the captain.
Moving to Europe in the early nineties and inspired by the sight of his favorite actor Denzel Washington on television
inspired AMARU to pursue acting in addition to music! He studied acting in Los Angeles, U.S.A. and in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands for about 8 years and he has amassed numerous acting credits in film,
television, commercials and print.

His big European TV debut came when he was cast to portray the late opera legend Luciano Pavarotti in the intro
of the Dutch game show “Now Or Never”, a show in which people were offered money to do something they were
afraid of in an attempt to overcome their fears.

In the summer of 2007 he headed to Chicago (U.S.A.) to work on his first EP, which generated the reggae infused
(digital) debut single “Put Your Hands Up”. The accompanying video was featured on then music station
TMF – The Music Factory and it was the “Hot or Not” single of the week, closing at 86% "Hot" at the end of its run.

While the acting gigs kept coming, AMARU was eager to return to music and in 2014 he did just that, resulting in the
synth driven Pop/R&B track “I’m The One You Need”, for which he wrote lyrics in English and Spanish,
sang all the vocals and co-produced. He released 3 more singles before starting to work on his next album “Champagne Attitude”.
The 20-song set was written and co-produced by AMARU, for which he also provided both lead as well as backing vocals.

“Champagne Attitude” went on to win two GOLD awards at the Global Music Awards in September 2019 for
“Best Album” and “Emerging Artist”. The album was released on two CD formats: a full color digi-pack CD album
and a special limited edition CD album with linen packaging.

For a complete list of awards won by AMARU please follow this link.

If the pandemic of 2020 has done anything right, it definitely provided AMARU the time to finish working
on the manuscript of his first book! He made his literary debut on 20 December 2020 by releasing his cookbook
"AMARU COOKS - A Touch Of Suriname Through Food & Anecdotes", a project he had been working on in secret since 2015!
So far the book has garnered quite some accolades, mainly in the U.S.A.

AMARU is currently working on his third album and he hopes for a release in the Spring of 2024.

Career Highlights

2024 - The Taste Awards award-winning chef (U.S.A.)
2023 - NARAS (Latin Grammy Awards ®) voting member (U.S.A.)
2022 - LARAS (Grammy Awards ®) voting member (U.S.A.)
2022 - Published second book "Fiercely Independent: The Stories Behind The Music (A Musical Memoir)
2021 - Humanitarian Award winner Accolade Global Film Competition (U.S.A.)
2021 - 5-time winner Accolade Global Film Competition (U.S.A.)
2021 - Global Music Awards Silver medal winner video "Tell Me" (U.S.A.)
2020 - First cookbook released "AMARU COOKS - A Touch Of Suriname Through Food & Anecdotes"
2019 - First international feature film "Das Dritte Auge" (Germany)
2018 - Global Music Awards Gold medal winner "Emerging Artist" (U.S.A.)
2018 - Global Music Awards Gold medal winner Best Album "Champagne Attitude" (U.S.A.)
2016 - Global Music Awards Bronze medal winner video "Independence Day" (U.S.A.)
2015 - First physical CD-maxi single pressed on the AMARU MUSIC label
2008 - First single & music video release "Put Your Hands Up"
2005 - First international commercial (Prague, Czech Republic)
1996 - Dutch TV debut (The Netherlands)
1987 - Surinamese TV debut (Suriname, South America)
1985 - First published poem (Suriname, South America)