Ike Moriz grew up in Wentorf near Hamburg, West Germany. The son of the jewellers Kai and Waltraud Moriz attended the Wentorf primary school from 1978 and thereafter from 1982 the Wentorf grammar school, where he was also head boy from 1988 to 1989. During this time he acted in theatre plays directed by Hans Bittner, who was also his piano teacher. After graduating in 1991, he completed his compulsory one-year military service. From 1992 to 1993 he went to South Africa to work on his uncle's citrus farm in Clanwilliam in the Western Cape.[5]
Ike Moriz lived in London from late 1999 to early 2005. Initially, he performed as a street musician, then as the lead vocalist and keyboard player of the indie rock band Stunt Double and eventually as a solo singer with a backup band. In 2002 Moriz played his first leading role in the American musical Saving Anne at the Greenwich Theatre.[8][9] He founded his record company, Mosquito Records London Pty Ltd., and recorded his first hit single Fall Into The Sun at Tin Pan Alley Studios in 2002 with producer Steve Kent. This was followed by his first two solo albums, which he recorded and produced at Motion Studios from 2002 to 2005. They were mixed and mastered by Alan van Kleef. Moriz's songs reached number one on various radio stations in the UK, the Netherlands, South Africa and Germany and were played on the radio in seventeen countries around the world. British singer David Bowie voted Ike Moriz's songs 'Top Song of the Week' several times on his website.[10][11][12] In 2004 Moriz performed at the Ukkasie Arts Festival in London with several other South African artists such as Heinz Winckler, Nianell and Steve Hofmeyr.[13]
Moriz has been living officially in South Africa since May 2005, where he immediately received a lot of media coverage with his second album Play Me and its single releases I Feel Real and Play Me.[16] With national television and radio interviews, music videos, appearances in Cape Town and Johannesburg, and articles in magazines and daily newspapers, he quickly became known nationwide and was voted one of the country's top five singers in 2006.[17][18]
This was followed by another album in the pop-rock genre, All Around The World (2007), which he presented for the first time with launch concerts at FashionTV cafés in both Johannesburg and Cape Town. The album launch in Cape Town took place at the same time as CD launch parties in Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain.[19]
In 2008, Moriz, who was previously known mainly as an indie pop and rock singer, began to explore a variety of other styles, starting with the release of his Stardust trilogy (2009), which consisted of three albums in the swing and jazz genre. The new style opened the door to an even larger audience, especially in the so-called African capital of jazz, Cape Town, where the fourth largest jazz festival in the world has been held annually since 2000.[22] In the same year he published the Christmas album Starry Night, for which he also filmed a music video in Germany at the Hamburg observatory where he also performed several times at the vision sternwARTe' festival on occasion of its 100-year anniversary.[23][24][25]
Since moving to South Africa, Moriz has recorded all of his albums and singles at Paris Recording Studios in Fish Hoek, Cape Town, where he has also produced other artists (such as Brothers With Voices Cape Town).[26] Between 2010 and 2016, seven more jazz and swing albums followed, as well as albums in the easy listening, Latin, lounge, blues and pop-rock genres, such as his swing albums Siren Terpsichore (2012) and Love Swings (2015) and the blues album At Last (2014).[27][28][29] In 2018, after his album Gold Rush (2017), Moriz, for the first time, released a ‘best-of’ compilation album entitled Millennium Hits 2002-2018. In April of the same year, Moriz's first Afrikaans-language single was released, a cover of the Louis van Rensburg song Voshaarnooi.[30] Moriz's latest album, Dragons, was released on his birthday on May 14, 2020, during the South African COVID-19lockdown, along with the music video of his song Say Your Name. Moriz did embark on a short 'Dragons Tour' with saxophonist Kurt Buschmann in Germany in late 2021 and in summer 2022 to promote his new album. During the tour he performed at castle Vietgest, St. Michael's Church, Hamburg as well as castle Reinbek where he performed Billy Joel's anti war song Leningrad during an interview on the German TV channel NDR 3.[31][32][33] Moriz returned to Northern Germany for another tour from late June to early August 2023 performing with saophonists Kurt Buschmann and Leandro Saint-Hill as well as South African pianist Charl Du Plessis.[34][35][36]
Ike Moriz on the channel NDR 3 stage at the Bergedorf city festival, Germany, July 2018
The versatile songwriter sings in English, but has also sung songs in German, Afrikaans, Spanish, Xhosa and French.[37] Since 2010 he has been touring in Germany every year.[38][39][40][41] In South Africa, Moriz collaborates, plays and tours with renowned studio musicians and music groups such as the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra,[42] the Ike Moriz Swing Band, saxophonist Willie Van Zyl, guitarists Willem Moller, Gregory Schoeman, Gorm Helfjord, Alvin Dyers and David Leadbetter, drummers Kevin Gibson, Paul Tizzard, Ivan Bell, Shaun Michau, Barry van Zyl (Johnny Clegg Band) and Tony & Frank Paco, pianists Andrew Ford, Charl Du Plessis, Amanda Tiffin, Muriel Marco, Jason Reolon and the bass players Robert Nel, Wesley Rustin, Emilio Gassibe, Dave Ridgeway, and Charles Lazar.[43][44] Other South African singers such as Judith Sephuma, Monique Hellenberg, Elana Afrika and Melanie Scholtz have also performed or recorded songs with him.
During his career, Ike Moriz has performed in eighteen countries: South Africa, UK, Germany, Namibia, Morocco, Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Portugal, Senegal, Malta, Turkey, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Canary Islands, Botswana and Belgium. All of his musical works have been released through CD Baby and his own record label Mosquito Records London Pty Ltd., distributed by Jassics Music (jazz albums) and Select Music Distribution (first three albums and maxi singles). His catalogue of works is "sub-published" in South Africa by Sheer Publishing.
Charity work
Ike Moriz Swing Band concert in Paarl, South Africa (2020)
Together with the photographer and writer Kiara Worth, Moriz founded and championed the environmental protection interest group 'Fresh Air For Hout Bay' in 2014, for which he wrote, recorded and published the protest song "Lucky Star Ain't What You Are".[45] Moriz and Worth also created and lead the air pollution portfolio of the HBRRA (Hout Bay Residents and Rate Payers Association) in the same year.[46] The group was founded in response to the air pollution of a fishmeal factory in Hout Bay. Moriz and Worth were interviewed in numerous newspaper articles and continued to volunteer as the group's spokespersons for 6 years until the closure of the factory in 2020.[47][48][49]
During the Cape Peninsula mountain fires in March 2015, Moriz composed an anthem for the South African Volunteer Wildfire Services, called Heroes In Red to raise funds for the organisation.[50][51][52]
He has also endorsed the Cape Town animal welfare association D.A.R.G. with free concerts and played at charity events to help fund epilepsy research at the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in Cape Town with the ‘Alexi and Me’ campaign.[53] Moriz regularly performs at Rotarian events in Cape Town to sponsor their community projects.[54][55] In September 2008 Ike Moriz appeared as one of the main acts of the ‘Zimfest’ together with other well-known bands such as Freshlyground and The Rudimentals in order to endorse the work of the NGOPASSOP (People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty).[56] In 2006 Moriz took part in the recording of Greatest Love Of All with thirteen other South African celebrities in order to raise money for the ‘Differently Abled 24/7/365‘ initiative.[57][58] Moriz, an avid runner, also sponsors the NGO Sakhisizwe youth development programme in Imizamo Yethu, Hout Bay, where he volunteers regularly at the local Parkrun.[59] In August 2022, Moriz gave a sold out concert at Hamburg's main landmark, the St. Michaelis Church, in support of the children's aid organisation ‘Plan International, after the concert had first been postponed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.[60][61][62]
In 2012, Ike Moriz married Madri Le Roux-Moriz, the sister of South African singer Nataniël. They live together with their daughters Sofia Marie and Kateline in Hout Bay in the Western Cape.[63] On the famous Chapman’s Peak Mountain, a rock formation was named after Ike Moriz (‘Ike’s Thumb') in 2012.[64][65][66]
Discography
Albums
2004: Mirrors And Shade (catalogue no. MOS0003, UPC: 634479004261)
2005: Play Me (catalogue no. MOS0005, UPC: 634479171659)
2007: All Around The World (catalogue no. MOS0006, UPC: 634479634215)
Eike Moriz: “Darstellung verschiedener stimmbildnerischer Arbeitsmethoden und deren vergleichende Betrachtung”, Wentorf: Eike Moriz, Germany, 2020, (1st edition, 1999, HfM Carl Maria von Weber), ISBN978-1-715-40557-1
^Kennedy, Christina (9 March 2006). "SA's own indie-pop idol". The Citizen (Vibe). Johannesburg. p. 6. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
^Gordon, Romy (1 September 2010). "Ike Moriz - The man behind the voice". Bay Magazine. Cape Town, South Africa. p. cover story. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
^Voigt, Thomas (13 September 2020). "Bergedorfs Stern in Südafrika". www.bergedorfer-zeitung.de (in German). Bergedorfer Zeitung. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
^VWS (23 August 2020). "Heroes In Red (VWS anthem)". Volunteer Wildfire Services Cape Town. Archived from the original on 23 August 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
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