Biography
Stefan Raab was born in Cologne on October 20th, 1966, began his studies in law and became a master butcher at his parents' butcher shop.
He started his television career in 1993 with the music video broadcaster VIVA. He hosted the show "Vivasion" until 1996 and received the prestigious "Goldenen Löwen" award in the Best Youth Program category.
His first single "Ein Bett im Kornfeld", which was a hip-hop version of the crooner song by Jürgen Drews, became a commercial success in 1995 and Raab produced the album "Stefan Raab & die Bekloppten". He received the "Goldene Schallplatte" award (over 400,000 records sold) for "Hier kommt die Maus". Stefan Raab also produced the album "Dicke Dinger" by rap artist Bürger Lars Dietrich.
His own album "Schlimmer Finger" appeared in 1997. Stefan Raab has received several Gold and Platinum awards as a music composer and producer.
From May of 1997 to December of 1998, Raab hosted the radio show "WDR Eins Live Raabio".
His unique passion for the Eurovision Song Contest was seen for the first time in 1998: As producer and composer "Alf Igel", he caused quite a stir at the Grand Prix with the Guildo Horn song "Piep, piep, piep, Guildo hat Euch lieb". In 2000 he participated in the European song contest himself with the song "Wadde hadde dudde da" and came in 5th in Sweden. In 2004 Max Mutzke was discovered in the TV total special show "Stefan sucht den super Grand Prix Star" - "SSDSGPS – Ein Lied für Instanbul" and came in 8th in Turkey with the song written by Stefan Raab. 2010 marked the height of Stefan Raab's "Eurovision Song Contest" career: In Oslo Lena Meyer-Landrut was the first German to win the Eurovision Song Contest in 28 years - with the song "Satellite". Meyer-Landrut, who was 19 at the time, had been selected by the audience in the ESC pre-selection show "Unser Star für Oslo", which had been initiated by Raab and produced by ARD together with ProSieben. Stefan Raab evaluated the musical performances of the 20 candidates as president of the jury together with alternating celebrity jury partners. In 2011 Lena again took part in the ESC as titleholder. Her contribution "Taken by a stranger" was again chosen by the audience in the show "Unser Song für Deutschland" and Stefan Raab was again chairman of the jury. Together with Anke Engelke and Judith Rakers, Stefan Raab hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf. All three of them together with the responsible team received the 2011 German Television Award in the Best Entertainment category.
Stefan Raab has hosted the entertainment show "TV total" on ProSieben since March of 1999.
Numerous great German and international performers have talked with him, sang and danced on the show.
The list of participants in the numerous TV total events is no less impressive. Since 2002 Stefan Raab has entered competitions alone or in teams in various athletic disciplines. Whether "Wok World Cup", "Stock Car Crash Challenge" or "High Diving", Stefan Raab ambitiously faces up to the challenges in every event.
The athletic all-rounder has been demonstrating his limitless ambition since 2006 especially in the Saturday evening show "Schlag den Raab". The show idea has already been sold to multiple foreign broadcasters and attracts the same high ratings with the "audience vs. host" concept as in Germany.
In 2006 Stefan Raab animated audience members to vote in national elections one day before the official election date – and many representatives of the German political parties took part in a meeting at the TV total studio including Guido Westerwelle, Franz Münterfering, Günther Beckstein, Jürgen Trittin and Christian Wulff. Stefan Raab hosted the evening together with Peter Limbourg and received the "Goldene Prometheus" award in the "Coup of the Year" category for "TV total Bundestagswahl – wir wählen schon heute!".
In the "TV total pokerstars.de night" Stefan Raab has been regularly betting significant amounts with celebrities since 2006. Among the more or less successful candidates thus far were Boris Becker, Moritz Bleibtreu, Bully Herbig, Heike Makatsch, Charlotte Roche, Kai Pflaume, Florian Silbereisen and the regular guest Elton.
"Schlag den Star", an altered form of "Schlag den Raab" has become an establishment in German entertainment since 2006. A celebrity competes against an unknown challenger. Stefan Raab serves as the joker that the challenger can use against the star in a particular challenge. Boris Becker, Joey Kelly, Guido Cantz and others have taken part.
In 2011 audience members honoured the entertainer's activity once again with a television award and named him Best Entertainer in Germany.
Nominations & Awards
| 2012 | Eurovision Song Contest 2011 | Nomination Grimme-Award in the category "entertainment / special" | |
| 2011 | Eurovision Song Contest 2011 | German Television Award in the category "Best Entertainment" for the "Eurovision Song Contest 2011" | |
| 2011 | Stefan Raab | German Television Award in the category "Best Entertainer" | |
| 2010 | | 1LIVE Krone: Special price for his extraordinary merits as entertainer and music-producer | |
| 2010 | TV total | German Comedy Prize in the category "Best Late Night Show" for "TV total" | |
| 2010 | | German Television Award "Special Award Entertainment" | |
| 2009 | TV total | Nomination German Comedy Award in the category "Best Late Night" | |
| 2009 | | Goldene Henne Achievement Award "Innovation on Television" | |
| 2009 | Schlag den Raab | Nomination German Television Award in the category "Best Entertainment" | |
| ROMY in the category "Best Show-Idea": "Schlag den Raab" | ||
| 2009 | Das große TV total Turmspringen | Herbert-Award in Bronze | |
| 2008 | Stefan Raab | BAMBI for Stefan Raab in the category "Entertainment" | |
| 2008 | Schlag den Raab | "Golden Camera" in the category "Best entertainment" for "Schlag den Raab" | |
| 2007 | Schlag den Raab | "German Television Award" in the category "Beste Unterhaltungssendung / Beste Moderation Unterhaltung" | |
| 2006 | TV total | "Golden Prometheus" for Stefan Raab in the category "Coup of the Year" for the "TV total Bundestagswahl" | |
| 2005 | | "Echo" in the category "Most Successful Music Producer of the Year" for Stefan Raab | |
| 2005 | Musik-Auszeichnungen | "Max Mutzke-Album" Gold (150 TSD) | |
| 2005 | TV total | "Grimme-Award Special" for Stefan Raab for "SSDSGPS - ein Lied für Istanbul" | |
| "Bronze Otto" for Stefan Raab | ||
| "Echo" for Stefan Raab in the category "Media Partner of the Year" for the "Bundesvision Song Contest" | ||
| Nomination "German Television Award" for "Das große TV total Turmspringen" | ||
| 2004 | Musik-Auszeichnungen | "Can't Wait Until Tonight" Platin (300 TSD) | |
| 2004 | TV total | "Golden Camera" for Stefan Raab in the category "TV Entertainer" | |
| "Golden Otto" for Stefan Raab | ||
| Nomination "German Television Award" for "SSDSGPS - ein Lied für Istanbul" | ||
| Nomination "German Television Award" for "Die 1. offizielle Wok-WM" | ||
| 2003 | TV total | "Golden Otto" for Stefan Raab | |
| 2002 | TV total | "Golden Otto" for Stefan Raab | |
| 2001 | Musik-Auszeichnungen | "Wir kiffen" Gold | |
| 2001 | TV total | "Golden Otto" for Stefan Raab | |
| "Hits total Vol.1" Gold | ||
| "Hits total Vol.2" Gold | ||
| 2000 | Musik-Auszeichnungen | "Maschendrahtzaun" Tripple Gold (750 TSD) and Gold in Austria | |
| "Maschendrahtzaun" Platin in Austria | ||
| "Wadde hadde dudde da" Gold | ||
| "Ho mir ma ne Flasche Bier" Gold | ||
| 2000 | TV total | "Online Star" for www.tvtotal.de | |
| Austrian "Romy" TV award | ||
| "TV total - Das Album" Gold | ||
| 1999 | TV total | German Television Award fpr Stefan Raab | |
| 1999 | Musik-Auszeichnungen | "Ö la Palöma Boys" Platin (500 TSD) | |
| "Maschendrahtzaun" Gold | ||
| "Maschendrahtzaun" Platin (500 TSD) | ||
| 1999 | TV total | "German Comedy Award" for Stefan Raab | |
Nominations & Awards
| 2012 | Eurovision Song Contest 2011 | Nomination Grimme-Award in the category "entertainment / special" | |
| 2011 | Eurovision Song Contest 2011 | German Television Award in the category "Best Entertainment" for the "Eurovision Song Contest 2011" | |
| 2011 | Stefan Raab | German Television Award in the category "Best Entertainer" | |