The Ayman story has more facets and chapters than it appears at first glance. In the first place there is his extraordinary sensitive voice which touches people’s soul in a wonderful manner. Americans call it Soul. In the second place there is the fabulous success story of the Berliner of Tunisian descent who worked his way up from the bottom and became a star after several years of hard work. The third chapter finally shows a cosmopolitan whose personal story stands for international understanding. In his capacity as wanderer between the worlds, he is a bearer of hope for the future. Let’s take one thing at a time: The 30-year-old early discovered his voice. “At the age of eleven I discovered my passion for singing and simply sang songs. My idols were Keith Sweat, Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston because I always loved English music”, Ayman said.

At the beginning it was not more than a secret passion. “I couldn’t imagine being on stage. I was very, very shy and hadn’t the courage to sing in front of three or four people. After more and more friends had encouraged him, the shy talent began looking for a label. He finally found a label that brought him together with Ricky, the former singer of TicTacToe. “On her first single Schmerz in mir I was already allowed to sing the chorus. The song became a hit which also encouraged my label to have solo studio recordings with me”, remembers the muscular guy with the sensitive vocal chords. This was followed by a six-month tour as backup singer for Ricky who helped him overcome his fears. “This was a new world for me.

I remember the gig in the fully occupied Köln Arena. I stood behind Ricky, my voice, my whole body was trembling”…. At the same time Ayman worked on his debut album “Hochexplosiv” (highly explosive) for which he composed a lot of songs together with his team. The first single “1000 Mal” reached Top 50 but the second single “Mein Stern” fulfilled what the name of the album predicted, so that his career was launched. This song has changed my whole life, he says. Backed by “Mein Stern”, the album “Hochexplosiv” became the most successful German Album of the year 2000 with 350,000 copies sold. The single “Mein Stern” was sold 650,000 times. Shortly afterwards Ayman was awarded the Echo music award twice, one in the category “Best National Rock/Pop Artist” as well as one in the category “Best National Newcomer”.

Furthermore he was awarded the “Goldene Stimmgabel”, the “Goldene Europa” as well as the well-known Fred Jay Prize. For one and a half years the new star was riding the wave of success. Then he started to work on his second album. After a short while he had artistic differences with his label. After having left his old label he looked for new partners and founded his own label AT Records. After this business reorientation he was able to focus on the essentials, his beloved music once again. The name of his second album is “Nicht nur Worte” which is inviting the listener in his world of feelings.” It’s about love and hope. The songs help him to come to terms with his experiences over the last few years, with the good ones but also the bad ones. From the musical point of view “Nicht nur Worte” reflects the taste of the versatile artist that ranges from Soul, to soulful R&B, to multi-faceted Pop music, and to passionate Latin music.

He was born in 1974 in Berlin-Kreuzberg. He had a carefree childhood until the third grade. At this point his father, a long-term employee of Daimler Benz, decided to send his son together with his brother to a residential school in Tunisia. He justified it by saying that we should know our culture and language better. After three years my father didn’t want to live apart from his family anymore and decided to go back to Berlin. Subsequent to the tenth grade, the school-leaver began an apprenticeship as road construction technician, which he had to abandon for health reasons. “Then I worked for a security firm in the field of personal protection for guys such as David Copperfield, MC Lyte and Dru Hill. In my adolescence I did a lot of sports, I played soccer, did Taekwondo and kickboxing. At the beginning I was really skinny but later I preferred to work out at gyms.” Moreover the passionate dancer went to the capital’s night clubs and loved to dance to club hits of U.S. stars.

The German with Tunisian roots was always fascinated by the U.S.A. “I was looking towards America from an early age, R’n’B, Soul and Hip Hop music were invented there. In the course of time I have found my own style which sounds very German to my ears.” Ayman sees himself as a cosmopolitan. “I have friends from very different cultural groups. Nationality or religion isn’t important to me. My circle of friends is very international like my audience”, the pleasant cosmopolitan gladly said, who besides German and Tunisian also speaks French and English. Meanwhile he has other plans than his career “Of course, I want to make music for my fans as an artist in the long term.” Due to his voice he performed a rare, extraordinary feat: Bringing together people of different cultures, colors, and age groups.

And now it’s time for new ideas and new music. “I have improved a lot. I have grown mentally like my hometown Berlin as it were, I have become more mature”, Ayman says. You can feel it in his music. In January 2007 Ayman’s father died unex-pectedly which changed him fundamentally. The artist has come to terms with a lot of experiences in his songs. “The death of my father was the most painful experience of my life which I tried to cope with”, Ayman said. “The best way of doing this is by means of my music.”

He always touched us with his voice and hopeful messages in his songs. Now more than ever he is able to put his finger on the symptoms of our times and we really like to spend our time with him.

There’s got to be time for that!