Alexander Klaws was the winner of the first season of the Pop Idol spin-off Deutschland Sucht den Superstar. He was born in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia in 1983 and grew up in Sendenhorst. Klaws was an early bloomer; he sang Haddaway's "What Is Love?" on national television when he was ten years old and he had a voice coach by the time he was 13. In 2002, he sang his way up through the ranks of Deutschland Sucht den Superstar and was signed to Sony BMG once the show was over. Klaws' debut album, Take Your Chance, came out in 2003; it peaked at number one on the German charts and yielded three more Top Ten singles.