Tooji Keshtkar: The hard road from Shiraz to music stardom in Norway
Before stardom in Norway, Touraj "Tooji" Keshtkar, known simply as Tooji had to endure years of hard immigrant's life and bullies in school. Tooji was born in Shiraz, Iran but moved to Norway as a refugee when he was one year old, with his single mother Lily and his brothers Toofan and Keyvan.
In 2004, Tooji's mother Lily Bandehy wrote a book about the hard road from Iran to Norway, through Turkey, Serbia, and Austria. Lily shared her difficult life in refugee camps as a single immigrant mother and how Tooji was picked on in school and often bullied. Tooji Keshtkar believes the bullying that resulted in his constant fear and finally a school change, has made him tougher, and a better artist and human being. Tooji calls his mother a role model for survival.
At the age of 16, Tooji started modeling and then working in MTV Norway where he presented "Super Saturday" and "Tooji's Top 10". He was also educated as a social worker and has worked in asylum reception centres.
His first single was called "Swan Song" and it was released in 2008. In 2012, the 24-year-old Shiraz native outperformed more than 800 Norwegian contestants and won Melodi Grand Prix 2012 with his popular song "Stay" (video shown below). He will represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 on May 24 in Baku, Azerbaijan with his entry "Stay".
In Azerbaijan, Keshtkar will be competing against singers from Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Finland and Iceland. Keshtkar is the third Iranian-born singer with Eurovision aspirations. The annual contest features performers representing 42 different European nations. Azerbaijani singer Aysel teamed up with Iranian entertainer Arash for Azerbaijan’s 2009 entry, "Always." Azerbaijan finished 3rd overall that year. Iranian-born singer Cameron Cartio’s "Roma" made it to the semifinals of the 2005 Melodifestivalen competition, Sweden’s annual precursor to the Eurovision Song Contest.
Related:
Beating 35000 Contestants, Iranian-born Mehrzad Marashi is Winner of 2010 German "Deutschland Sucht Den Superstar"
German prodigy of Iranian descent admired for her humility as well as genius
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