Tariq Jay Khan was born in London on March 31, 1982 and grew up in Berlin from the age of four. He graduated from the Französisches Gymnasium in Berlin and then studied journalism in England for a few semesters, but broke off his studies to devote himself to music. His musical career began at the age of 16 when he worked with producers Mike Michaels and Mark Dollar and wrote several songs for the boy band Overground in 2003, including the number one hit "Schick mir 'nen Engel". In 2005, music producer Lou Pearlman founded the boy band US5, with Jay Khan as lead singer, songwriter and producer. US5 lasted until 2010 and achieved international success with the debut single "Maria" (No. 1 Germany, No. 6 Billboard Sales USA) and nine top ten hits in Germany by 2008; the band sold over twelve million records worldwide. Members of the last line-up are Christopher Richard "Richie" Stringini, Izzy Gallegos, Cayce Clayton, Jayson Pena and Jay Khan. After US5 disbanded at the end of 2009, Jay Khan embarked on a solo career. In 2011, he took part in the RTL show Ich bin ein Star - Holt mich hier raus! and came fourth. His debut single "Nackt" reaches number 59 in the German singles charts. In 2012, he founds the band Großstadt Freunde with Jan Trojanowski (Ich+Ich). The single "Karussell" reaches the top 15 of the German airplay charts; the debut album Wir sind hier follows shortly afterwards. On 31 May 2018, he and Dschinghis Khan released a new edition of the classic "Moskau" for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In 2021, Jay Khan and Marc Terenzi founded the pop boy band Team 5ünf, which covers well-known boy band hits in German. The band formation is accompanied by the RTL program Punkt 12. Band members are Jay Khan, Joel de Tombe, Daniel Johnson (since 2022), Dennis "Dnice" Somuha (since 2023) and Prince Damien (since 2023). Former members are Sven Light (2021-2022), David Lei Brandt (2021-2023) and Marc Terenzi (2021-2023). The first album Einmal Boyband und zurück was released in 2021, followed by Für die Ewigkeit (October 2023), which reached number 9 in the German album charts. Most recently, the singles "Komm zurück zu mir" (2021), "Liebe überall" (2021), "Ich sag es ist so" (2022), "I.O.I.O." (2023), "For Eternity" (2023), "Everybody" (2023). A solo album entitled Verdammt with German-language songs based around the song "Mein Stern" will be released in July 2025.
