Paul Marazzi

Paul Marazzi
Paul Marazzi in Manila, July 2002
Background information
Birth name	Paul Thomas Leo Marazzi
Also known as	Funk a1
Born	(1975-01-24) 24 January 1975 (age 42)
Origin	Wanstead, London, United Kingdom
Genres	Funk, Dance, rock, pop
Occupation(s)	Musician, disc jockey
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1997– present
Labels	Columbia Records Sony BMG 1998–2002 Major records 2006–present
Associated acts	A1 Snagsby Steps Hip Operations Rockwool Sari

Paul Thomas Leo Marazzi (born 24 January 1975 ) is a British musician, best known as an original member and founder of boy band A1.

Marazzi was the first to join A1, a British/Norwegian boy band whose first single, "Be the First to Believe", was released in 1999. Together with Marazzi were Britons Mark Read, Ben Adams and Norwegian Christian Ingebrigtsen. They were formed by band manager Tim Byrne, who also formed Steps, and signed to Columbia Records by A&R manager Fran de Takats. A1 won a BRIT Award for "British Breakthrough Act" in 2001. Their third album, Make It Good, featured a sound closer to traditional rock music, but was to be their last studio project with Marazzi.

In October 2002, Marazzi took a break from the band citing personal reasons. Marazzi never gave a proper explanation on why he left the band letting fans wonder why he really left the band. In 2005, he started a band called Snagsby. He left Snagsby on January 2009 to pursue a career as a club DJ in The George Hotel in Whitby.

Marazzi was born on 24 January 1975 in Wanstead, London to Ivan and Maria Marazzi. His father is Italian–Indian and his mother is English. He has an older sister named Shareen (b. 1971).

As a child, Marazzi used to sing Prince songs.

Marazzi went to Spain with his family and lived there until 2007. He recorded a demo for a German producer which led him to audition for A1 in 1997.

Paul said that he originally auditioned for Steps, however, he was placed in a1 in 1997. He was then later joined by Christian Ingebrigtsen, Mark Read and Ben Adams. They released their first album Here We Come in late 1999. Two years after their first single release in the 2001 BRIT Awards, the band received the award for Best British Breakthrough. In 2002, few months after their appearance in the US soap The Young and The Restless, Paul then announced his departure from a1 with a statement that read: "After a lot of thought and deliberation, I have made the difficult choice to leave the band due to personal reasons." In an interview on YouTube, Marazzi stated he left the band as he knew their Make It Good album was not that great, and that he might as well jump off the sinking ship.