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For the village in Azerbaijan, see Fərraş; for the violinist, see Christian Ferras.

Ferras Alqaisi (Arabic: فراس القيسي‎; born 1982), known as Ferras, is an American Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter who has signed with EMI as part of Capitol Records.

Career

Ferras grew up feeling out of place in a small Illinois town called Gillespie. This feeling was only compounded when, shortly after his parents' divorce, his father took him to the airport, promising him a trip to Disneyland, but instead he actually spirited him away to his homeland of Amman, Jordan, an experience he often jokes about but also says was fairly "traumatic" at the time. While there, Ferras took solace in the small Casio keyboard that his father bought him and began writing his own songs. His mother eventually succeeded in bringing him back to the United States, but his sense of alienation persisted until they moved to Southern California, where Ferras began pursuing a music career in earnest. Ferras was eventually signed to EMI's Capitol Music Group after an audition for the label's chairman Jason Flom while on spring break from the Berklee College of Music. After being signed by Flom, Ferras then flew to New York City to record demo versions of his songs, which would eventually form his debut album.^[1]

In April 2008, Ferras released his major record label debut with Aliens & Rainbows via Capitol Records. The album was produced by The Matrix (which has co-written and produced with the likes of Avril Lavigne, Shakira, Heather Nova, Jason Mraz, Korn, Liz Phair, Hilary Duff, Britney Spears and Skye Sweetnam) and Gary Clark (musician) (who's worked as a writer and/or producer with artists such as Natalie Imbruglia, Demi Lovato, Liz Phair, Melanie C and Lloyd Cole). The album features the lead single "Hollywood's Not America," which was to be used as the "exit song" during the seventh season of the American reality series American Idol before being replaced by a single from Ruben Studdard. The choice gave Ferras a moderate amount of exposure and publicity for the song.^[2]

Ferras made his first national television performance on The Today Show.^[3]

On February 8, 2010 Ferras confirmed he has started recording new music on his Twitter account.

Personal life

Ferras currently resides in Los Angeles, California. His mother Gigi and younger sister Katie live in Santa Barbara. He is also openly gay.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

• Official Ferras website
• News and Pictures