London (1999–2005) Ike Moriz lived in
London from late 1999 to early 2005. Initially, he performed as a
street musician, then as the
lead vocalist and keyboard player of the indie rock band
Stunt Double and eventually as a solo singer with a
backup band. In 2002 Moriz played his first leading role in the American musical
Saving Anne at the
Greenwich Theatre. He founded his record company,
Mosquito Records London Pty Ltd., and recorded his first hit single
Fall Into The Sun at
Tin Pan Alley Studios in 2002 with producer Steve Kent. This was followed by his first two solo
albums, which he recorded and produced at
Motion Studios from 2002 to 2005. They were mixed and mastered by Alan van Kleef. Moriz's songs reached number one on various radio stations in the
UK, the
Netherlands,
South Africa and
Germany and were played on the radio in seventeen countries around the world. British singer
David Bowie voted Ike Moriz's songs
Top Song of the Week several times on his website. In 2004 Moriz performed at the
Ukkasie Arts Festival in London with several other South African artists such as
Heinz Winckler,
Nianell and
Steve Hofmeyr. Moriz also played minor roles and
cameos in international feature films such as
Alfie (2004),
Shanghai Knights (2003) and
Love Actually (2003), as well as in South African and British TV series such as
EastEnders,
Strike Back: Project Dawn (2011),
Backstage (2006) and
The Bill.
South Africa and international (since 2005) Moriz has been living officially in South Africa since May 2005, where he immediately received a lot of media coverage with his second album
Play Me and its single releases
I Feel Real and
Play Me. With national television and radio interviews, music videos, appearances in Cape Town and
Johannesburg, and articles in magazines and daily newspapers, he quickly became known nationwide and was voted one of the country's top five singers in 2006. This was followed by another album in the
pop-rock genre,
All Around The World (2007), which he presented for the first time with launch concerts at
FashionTV cafés in both Johannesburg and Cape Town. The album launch in Cape Town took place at the same time as CD launch parties in Germany, the Netherlands and
Great Britain. (March 2007) Moriz performs regularly with a variety of accompanying musicians in Cape Town and Johannesburg, e.g., at
Oude Libertas Amphitheatre, the
Victoria & Alfred Waterfront,
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, numerous hotels and various clubs, theatres and wine farms. In April 2008 he gave a concert on the occasion of the 125th anniversary celebration of the
German International School Cape Town. In 2008, Moriz, who was previously known mainly as an
indie pop and
rock singer, began to explore a variety of other styles, starting with the release of his
Stardust trilogy (2009), which consisted of three albums in the swing and jazz genre. The new style opened the door to an even larger audience, especially in the so-called
African capital of jazz, Cape Town, where the fourth largest jazz festival in the world has been held annually since 2000. In the same year he published the Christmas album Starry Night, for which he also filmed a
music video in Germany at the
Hamburg observatory where he also performed several times at the vision sternwARTe festival on occasion of its 100-year anniversary. in 2022 Since moving to South Africa, Moriz has recorded all of his albums and singles at
Paris Recording Studios in
Fish Hoek, Cape Town, where he has also produced other artists (such as
Brothers With Voices Cape Town). Between 2010 and 2016, seven more jazz and swing albums followed, as well as albums in the
easy listening,
Latin,
lounge,
blues and
pop-rock genres, such as his swing albums
Siren Terpsichore (2012) and
Love Swings (2015) and the blues album
At Last (2014). In 2018, after his album
Gold Rush (2017), Moriz, for the first time, released a ‘best-of’
compilation album entitled
Millennium Hits 2002-2018. In April of the same year, Moriz's first
Afrikaans-language single was released, a cover of the Louis van Rensburg song
Voshaarnooi. Moriz's latest album,
Dragons, was released on his birthday on May 14, 2020, during the
South African COVID-19 lockdown, along with the music video of his song
Say Your Name. Moriz did embark on a short 'Dragons Tour' with saxophonist Kurt Buschmann in Germany in late 2021 and in summer 2022 to promote his new album. During the tour he performed at castle Vietgest,
St. Michael's Church, Hamburg as well as castle Reinbek where he performed
Billy Joel's anti war song
Leningrad during an interview on the German TV channel
NDR 3. Moriz returned to Northern Germany for another tour from late June to early August 2023 performing with saxophonists Kurt Buschmann and Leandro Saint-Hill as well as South African pianist
Charl Du Plessis. city festival, Germany, July 2018 The versatile songwriter sings in English, but has also sung songs in
German,
Afrikaans,
Spanish,
Xhosa and
French. Since 2010 he has been touring in Germany every year. In South Africa, Moriz collaborates, plays and tours with renowned studio musicians and music groups such as the
Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, the
Ike Moriz Swing Band, saxophonist Willie Van Zyl, guitarists Willem Moller, Gregory Schoeman, Gorm Helfjord, Alvin Dyers and David Leadbetter, drummers Kevin Gibson, Paul Tizzard, Ivan Bell, Shaun Michau, Barry van Zyl (
Johnny Clegg Band) and Tony & Frank Paco, pianists Andrew Ford, Charl Du Plessis, Amanda Tiffin, Muriel Marco,
Jason Reolon and the bass players Robert Nel, Wesley Rustin, Emilio Gassibe, Dave Ridgeway, and Charles Lazar. Other South African singers such as
Judith Sephuma, Monique Hellenberg, Elana Afrika and
Melanie Scholtz have also performed or recorded songs with him. During his career, Ike Moriz has performed in eighteen countries: South Africa, UK, Germany,
Namibia,
Morocco,
Spain,
Italy,
Greece,
France,
Portugal,
Senegal,
Malta,
Turkey, the Netherlands,
Luxembourg,
Canary Islands,
Botswana and
Belgium. All of his musical works have been released through
CD Baby and his own record label
Mosquito Records London Pty Ltd., distributed by
Jassics Music (jazz albums) and
Select Music Distribution (first three albums and
maxi singles). His catalogue of works is "sub-published" in South Africa by
Sheer Publishing. == Charity work ==