Samu Haber
A rock star relies on brutal honesty
Rock musician and ex-“The Voice” coach Samu Haber no longer wants to run away from his problems.
© imago/Stefan M Prager
For Samu Haber, all signs point to new beginnings and self-discovery. He fights his inner demons with therapy and music.
In recent years, Finnish singer Samu Haber (47) has obviously not only worked hard on his musical comeback, but also on himself. Shortly after the release of his first English-language solo single “Gimme Your Hand”, the band’s former frontman revealed Sunrise Avenue in one Interview with the “Bild” newspaper that around six years ago he desperately reached out his own hand to organize therapeutic help.
With alcohol, parties and private jets to combat the inner emptiness
In the conversation he explained this decision with the following words: “I was very successful, was in the spotlight – and yet there was always something in me that didn’t feel good, even though I had everything you could dream of.” For many years he tried to compensate for this feeling of dissatisfaction with “alcohol, parties, motorboats, private jets and Rolex watches”, but came to the conclusion: “All of this can only numb this feeling, but never eliminate it.”
Like Haber’s recent Instagram post shows, the singer also needs to discuss the topics of mental health and therapy beyond the interview. In order to remove the aura of taboo from these topics, he provides his fans with more detailed information about his reasons for seeking professional help in order to escape his crisis of meaning.
There he writes, among other things: “I’ve been running away from my demons all my life (very successfully), but one day I was too tired to run away. With headlights, speedboats and Gucci, you can treat yourself to a certain point , but there is a limit.” During his therapy, which has been going on for six years, he came to the following conclusion: “We are all broken. Some hide it well and some even better.”
Involuntary drug confession in 2020
The fact that the popular singer didn’t just numb his frustration with alcohol and speedboats in the past came to light in 2020. After a court case for a drug offense was opened against him in his native Finland, he was forced to respond to media coverage in an Instagram post. There he confessed to having consumed “a small dose of drugs” that was offered to him at an after-show party in the summer of 2019. In the post, he was harsh on himself, stating: “Drug use is a crime and wrong. Imposing a punishment for it is absolutely right. I was really stupid and there are no excuses. I will learn from it. I apologize for my behavior towards my loved ones, the band, my partners and everyone who might consider me a kind of role model.”
Farewell to “The Voice”
About a year earlier, Samu Haber had attempted to retire from his position on “The Voice of Germany” after four seasons. His reasons for the move at the time suddenly appeared in a completely new light against the background of this drug story. The message distributed by ProSieben said: “I would like to take a break from television and spend more time with the other sides of the sweet show business.”
Musical new beginning after the end of Sunrise Avenue
The other sweet side of show business included a return to his musical roots. Instead of evaluating or coaching young singing talents in the coach’s chair, the singer decided to put his focus back on producing his own music. In order to dare to make a radical new beginning, he announced the end of his previous band Sunrise Avenue in December 2019, with which he had enjoyed great success since 2002. Due to the corona pandemic, the Finnish pop-rock formation only gave its last concert in September 2022 at the end of a rescheduled farewell tour.
After leaving Sunrise Avenue, Haber continued alone. In 2020 he released his first solo album with Finnish lyrics, which immediately topped the charts in his home country. With his new single “Gimme Your Hand” He is now once again extending his hand to his non-Finnish fans as a freshly treated superstar.