András Kállay Saunders

Early life

András Kállay-Saunders was born in New York City, United States to Hungarian model Katalin Kállay and American soul-singer and producer Fernando Saunders. He is a descendant of the noble Kállay family from his maternal side.

Throughout most of his childhood years Kállay’s father was touring the world and playing his music among legends such Luciano Pavarotti, Jeff Beck, Lou Reed and many more but every now and then Fernando would bring along his son to observe. His father would take him to Detroit and show him how it all started; the corners he sang on, places he played. By doing so, Fernando planted the Motown roots deep within Kallay’s soul.

In 2010 Kállay decided to visit Hungary to spend time with his grandmother who was ill at the time. During his visit in Hungary he noticed a TV commercial urging talented singers to audition for the nations talent competition Megasztár.

Career

Kállay ended up finishing fourth in the contest and shortly after signed to Universal and permanently moved to Hungary. Kállay released two singles under Universal, "Csak Veled" "I Love You" both of which became smash hits in Hungary, peaking respectively #7 and #2 on the Top 40 Hungarian Billboards.

In August 2012 Kállay collaborated with Swedish rapper Rebstar and American producer DJ Pain 1 on Kállays single "Tonight". "Tonight" peaked #4 on the Top 40 Hungarian Billboards, making it Kállay's third hit single to reach the top 10 charts.

In November 2012 Kállay announced his departure from Universal and signed a worldwide record deal with Swedish record label Today Is Vintage.

On 20 December 2012 Kállay released his single "My Baby" which also serves as his contribution in the Hungarian "A Dal" Eurovision Song Contest. On 9 February Kállay performed the song in the contest to critical acclaim, garnering 48 out of a maximum of 50 points voted by the jury. Following the performance, My Baby catapulted to #1 on iTunes (Hungary). The music video for My Baby was released on 8 February 2013 and is directed by Los Tiki Pictures. My Baby peaked #1 on the Hungarian iTunes store on 3 March 2013, and charted #1 on the Hungarian Top 40 Radio Charts on 11 April 2013.

Kállay is currently working on his debut album which was slated for a 2013 release through Today Is Vintage, titled Delivery Boy. It was subsequently released in 2015 on iTunes.

Kállay represented Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He came 5th place with his song "Running".

Since the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, Kállay has since went on to found his own band, Kállay-Saunders Band. He has since then released multiple singles with the band, and collaborated with A Dal 2015 participants, creating acoustic versions of their songs and performing as an interval act in the show. His last album Delivery Boy was one of the 19 records nominated for the IMPALA Album of the Year Award.

He, again, has returned to the 2016 edition of A Dal, this time with his band and vocalist Antonia Vai, performing Who We Are. They made it to the last four finalists, but didn't win. They were again announced to participate in A Dal 2017 with the song Seventeen. They have progressed to the final.