Daniel Dominik Kaiser-Küblböck was a German pop singer and actor. He placed third in television talent showDeutschland sucht den Superstar in 2003. In September 2018, he went missing at sea off Canada while travelling on a cruise ship.
Career
Daniel Küblböck rose to stardom from late 2002 when he participated in the first season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar. He gained the most viewer votes in three of the nine rounds of the competition and received the second-most votes in a further three rounds. He finished the season in third place overall. After DSDS, Küblböck signed a contract with BMG. By June 2004 he had released four singles and one album. In August 2004, the motion picture Daniel – Der Zauberer, directed by Ulli Lommel, was released, which starred Daniel as a fictionalized version of himself. The film was critically panned and bombed at the box office. In 2005, he appeared in the sixth season of the German version of Big Brother, and in 2015, he took part in the eighth season of the German version of Let's Dance, where he finished sixth, together with his dancing partner Otlile Mabuse. In 2013, he wanted to participate in the German national final for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest with his new song Be A Man, but was rejected by the jury.
Personal life
Daniel Küblböck had four siblings. He had German and Italian ancestors. Küblböck completed his Hauptschule education in 2001. His older brother Michael, who was described as a neo-Nazi in German tabloids, died on 3 January 2013 in Berlin due to a heroin overdose. In 2010, he came out as homosexual, after previously describing himself as bisexual. On 24 February 2004 Küblböck was injured when he collided with a truck while driving a car without a licence. He was fined €25,000 and sentenced to eight hours of community service.
Entrepreneurial activity
Küblböck invested the proceeds from his album Positive Energie amounting to around one million euros in a solar plant in Lower Bavaria, which brought him high profits. In September 2003, he launched a perfume line for boys and girls in three fragrances under his name.
2018 disappearance
Küblböck was a private passenger on the cruise ship AIDAluna that left Hamburg on 29 August 2018 bound for New York City. At around five o'clock in the morning on 9 September he jumped overboard. The vessel was in open waters about 185 km north of St. John's in the Labrador Sea. The water temperature was about. The Canadian Coast Guard launched a search operation, assisted by the cruise ships AIDAluna and MS Zuiderdam. On 10 September the search was abandoned. Under German law, a person missing at sea can be declared dead after six months have elapsed and a motion is filed by an eligible party; as long as no motion is filed, the missing person cannot be declared dead.
