Austrian Child Star Sarah-Stephanie Blooming Into Adult Stardom

By David Hillier
CSMR UK Correspondent



Austria's Sarah-Stephanie Markovits

LONDON, ENGLAND -- Having previously written about only established names, I am continuing with the CSMR propensity to occasionally focus on relative schlager newcomers who exhibit great promise.

With long blonde hair and haunting eyes, she may not yet be the finished article, nor a vigorous performer in the Helene Fischer/Andrea Berg style,

Yet, I think Sarah-Stephanie has enough about her to suggest that she could go all the way to the top. Having Celine Dion and Shania Twain as favourite singers shows that she is certainly aiming high, and her musical ability suggests, it is with no small justification.

Performing as “Stephanie”, Sarah Stephanie Markovits, who was born in May 1990 in Neudorfl in Burgenland, Austria, became a very popular child star in her native land.

Her career took off when, aged eight, she came fourth in a children's show promoted by the Austrian national broadcaster, ORF. She went on to take part in a number of musical competitions at home and abroad, coming in an impressive second in the prestigious "International Contest of Young Singers" in Slovenia.

When she was 10, she performed at the Grand Prix of Folk Music in Zurich, Switzerland for the first time, achieving fourth place with My Beautiful Dream. Her second album, My Name is Stephanie sold nearly 15,000 copies in Austria.

In 2002, now 12, but still a baby-faced brunette, she won the Grand Prix of Folk Music in Merano, Italy, singing Dort auf Wolke Sieben (Here On Cloud Seven) with our friends, the Austrian supergroup, the Nockalm Quintett.

Stephanie continued successfully in the same vein for the next four years, writing some of her material herself, before taking a break to concentrate on completing her education, which included a year’s attendance at a school in the American South in Miami, Florida in 2008.

The transition from child star to adult performer is not always easy. To signify that she was now a beautiful young woman she lengthened her stage name to Sarah-Stephanie when releasing her comeback single Eiskalter Sommer (Cruel Summer) in 2009. The evidence for her now being “all grown up” is clear for all to see.




Sarah-Stephanie has continued to develop her voice and recording style to the extent that I think I can detect echoes of Andrea Berg in the last recording featured here, Bis du der der Einsam est? (Are you the one who is lonely?)




Sarah-Stephanie’s long awaited new album “Herzkommando” (Heart Command) is now scheduled for release on 20 January 2012. One of the tracks “ Nebel in Rom” (Fog in Rome) should already have been issued as a single as of this writing.

More information about Sarah-Stephanie, including examples of her earlier work and details of forthcoming TV and concert appearance dates promoting her new album, can be found at her website.