AMARU is an internationally acclaimed independent recording artist, a trained actor, a published author, a filmmaker, a photographer and a model.
He studied acting in Los Angeles, U.S.A. and in Amsterdam, The Netherlands for about 8 years, and he has amassed numerous acting credits in film, television, commercials and print.
His big European TV debut came when he was cast to portray the late opera legend Luciano Pavarotti in the intro of the Dutch game show “Now Or Never”, a show in which people were offered money to do something they were afraid of in an attempt to overcome their fears.
In the summer of 2007, he headed to Chicago (U.S.A.) to work on his first EP, which generated the reggae infused (digital) debut single “Put Your Hands Up”. The accompanying video was featured on then music station TMF – The Music Factory and it was the “Hot or Not” single of the week, closing at 86% “Hot” at the end of its run.
While the acting gigs kept coming, AMARU was eager to return to music and in 2014 he did just that, resulting in the synth driven Pop/R&B track “I’m The One You Need”, for which he wrote lyrics in English and Spanish, sang all the vocals and co-produced. He released 3 more singles before starting to work on his biggest musical project yet: his debut album “Champagne Attitude”. The 20-song set was written and co-produced by AMARU, for which he also provided both lead as well as backing vocals.
We caught up with the VERY busy Amaru for this EXCLUSIVE interview…
Hello Amaru! Thank you so much for taking time out to answer some questions for us. You are one busy person, that’s for sure! You are an actor, filmmaker, author, recording artist, model, producer…you do it all! How do you find time to balance all aspects of your career, and do you find time for a personal life, as well? Out of all of your “roles,” which one is your favorite, and why?
Hi there Michael, good to speak to you again, thanks for your time! Well, I am a man of many talents and I try to manage all of them to the best of my ability. You see, the thing about being an independent artist is, you have to be very hands on. At the end of the day your name is on the line and you’re responsible for the quality that you deliver or the product that you release. I can’t blame my record label AMARU MUSIC, because I’m the owner. I can’t blame poor production on my co-producer, because I’m the executive producer, you know? So being somewhat of a control freak comes in quite handy in my case! In addition to that, you simply have to make time. I never sit still, I’m always busy doing something. If I’m not writing new music, I’m on a film set shooting a bit part for a film or commercial or something else or another. But I always keep busy, because you know what they say about idle hands…
I am single by choice Michael, so I don’t really have a personal life. I do have my family that needs me from time to time, but I’m not in a romantic relationship. My work as an independent entertainer is quite full and I don’t think that I would do any romantic relationship justice busy as I am. Mind you, it’s not just creating music and films or photography, it’s also the business aspect of show business. I have to make sure that my music is tagged properly and that it’s registered with the right Performance Rights Organizations, I have to make sure that my creative rights are protected, I have to file my taxes, that sort of thing. It’s a full time job, one that I have chosen over the other full time job: a romantic life.
But recording music, singing, performing my music live, that’s my passion, my first love! And that’s a seed that my maternal grandmother planted just years before she passed back in 1981, but it was a performance by the late Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton on TV that sealed the deal for me. I knew right then and there that I was going to be a singer too! And then I moved to Europe in 1991 and I saw Denzel Washington on television… and I knew right then and there that I was going to be an actor too! And I AM!
Tell us about your new single, “Gentle Giant,” and its anti-bullying message. Why is that an important cause for you?
“Gentle Giant” is a song that appears on my award-winning debut album “Champagne Attitude”. It’s a song that I’ve been meaning to release earlier, but nothing happens before its time. “Gentle Giant” is autobiographical from start to finish. The track is about the perception that most people have of me when they first see me. When you’re tall and large in stature, people tend to keep away from you, because you’re not “tiny and cute”, you’re “scary”. At least, that has always been my experience. But when they do take the time to get to know me, they see that beneath the surface there is an actual person with feelings and emotions and a big heart to match! It’s easier for a lot of people to have pre-conceived notions as opposed to making a serious effort to try to get to know a person. And in 2022 even more so, I dare say, since most everybody seems to be living in and on their cell phone… Eye contact let alone direct contact is almost alien to so many these days, at least, that’s how I see it.
In school and mostly as a teenager I was bullied relentlessly. I have always been the biggest or largest kid in school, in more ways than one, so I was the object of everybody’s ridicule. And mind you, it wasn’t just in school. I vividly remember scathing words from certain family members pertaining to my looks, my exterior, my shell! Anything that could be wrong with a person, was wrong with me, in their opinion. When the bullying continues long enough, you start to believe that you’re not worthy of living! When you’re young and impressionable, it takes a toll on your self-esteem. And to be honest with you Michael, it took me 20+ years to overcome all of that. I stopped existing for people and I started to LIVE for ME! These days there’s nothing anyone can say or throw at me to make me question my value as a human being, a productive citizen of the world! And that’s exactly what my new single “Gentle Giant” is all about. Live and let live for this life lasts but a minute!
You’ve got a new award-nominated cookbook out. What is it called, where can we find it? What got you into cooking? What kind of recipes will we find in the book?
In 2015 I started to write my first cookbook. I had no idea that it was gonna turn out the way it did, but I did have big dreams of someday having my book available at “Barnes & Noble’s” in the U.S.A. And it is! My love for cooking started at a young age and as an adult I decided to create a cooking show. That lead to my culinary web series “Food & The Single Guy” on Youtube, which has won a total of 4 awards to date for “Best Web Series” at many international film festivals. On “Food & The Single Guy” I mostly share authentic recipes from my native country, the Republic of Suriname, South America. The success of the culinary web series prompted me to continue to write the book, which I wasn’t really paying any attention to anymore. But the pandemic re-directed my focus and in December 2020 I released my first cookbook “AMARU COOKS – A Touch Of Suriname Through Food & Anecdotes”! And you touched on it just now, but yes, my cookbook was a finalist at the International Book Awards in California and it is also nominated for the highly prestigious Gourmand International Cookbook Awards in Spain in November 2022! I’m nominated in the “Celebrity Chef” category among a very popular South African entertainer! Can ya dig it?! I am extremely proud of that, because my cookbook is the only available Surinamese cookbook in English up until now and I’m not gonna lie to you: I wanna win! But the book is available worldwide at many online bookstores, such as the aforementioned Barnes & Noble in the U.S.A. And of course I have a wealth of information about the cookbook on my website https://www.amaru.nl.
Tell us about your 20-track album, “Champagne Attitude”. And are you working on new music?
“Champagne Attitude” was my debut album. It is an eclectic mix of songs and the thought process behind that was to showcase my versatility as a singer and a songwriter. The album is a pop album overall, but it does touch on various genres, such as R&B, Neo-soul, Spoken Word, Rap, Latin… It was and still is very difficult for especially radio people to categorize the album. And I like that, because every song tells a different story, a part of the story of me and the man that I have become, you know. And to tell one’s story through song, a story as diverse as mine, one has no choice but to travel various avenues to convey said story, so hence. I am very proud of my award-winning debut album “Champagne Attitude”. As I mentioned earlier, I am an independent artist to the letter, so not only did I write, co-produced and performed all of the songs, I also designed and created the artwork, the graphics and the packaging of both versions of the album as well as the artwork for all of the singles!
I am currently working on my second album, the working title is “The Melanin Project”. This new album will be a concept album, focusing more on one or similar genres of music, which will be a more cohesive body of work, if you will. So far we’ve finished 4 songs and hopefully we will have the album ready by the summer. Twelve to thirteen tracks at the very max, that’s what I’m thinking.
How, if at all, did the global pandemic affect your career? Are you seeing a return to normalcy at all? How did you deal with COVID on a personal level
The pandemic has definitely affected me severely, as I has at long last managed to book two gigs in London, which I was quite looking forward to. Both were cancelled and I knew that those shows were going to open doors for me. But again, nothing happens before its time, so I continued to work on other things, among which the cookbook, music videos, photography projects… all of which have earned me various international accolades. I do hope things will return to normal soon, although I think people are so paranoid about almost anything these days, I think it will take a long time before things get back to some kind of normal. On a personal note, I did have a couple of family members who acquired COVID, but they all have a clean bill of health as we speak. But I also know many people who have lost loved ones to the disease… We can only hope for better times, right?
Do you have any outside interests when you are not working? What do you enjoy doing to unwind?
I do actually… I enjoy traveling… haven’t been able to do that because of you know what, but hopefully I’ll be able to jet to some far away land again very soon! I also enjoy walking! I walk a lot, seriously! If I’m not at the gym working out, I’m out and about walking. And then I come home and I collapse in my lazy chair after a hot shower… a nice cup of tea staring at me, because I have fallen asleep before even taking a sip… heaven!
Thanks again for your time…good luck with all aspects of your amazing career!
Michael, it’s been a pleasure, thank YOU!
For more information on Amaru, please visit https://www.amaru.nl/biography.