German pop singer Mike Leon Grosch vaulted from obscurity to household name as the runner-up on the third season of Deutschland Sucht den SuperStar, the country's version of the American Idol franchise. Born November 11, 1976, in Wuppertal and raised in Cologne, Grosch was working as a mobile phone salesman when he was named a Deutschland Sucht den SuperStar finalist in autumn 2005. With a husky, soulful voice often compared to British pop sensation Seal, he was hotly tipped to win the grand prize, and his budding romance with fellow competitor Vanessa Jean Dedmon guaranteed h...