Thomas Godoj is a Polish-German pop/rock singer/songwriter who rose to fame as the winner of the fifth season of the reality show Deutschland Sucht den Superstar. Born on March 6, 1978, in Rybnik, Poland, he moved with his family to Recklinghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in 1988. While a student at Bochum University of Applied Sciences, where he studied civil engineering, Godoj performed in a series of local rock bands. This experience inspired him to audition for the fifth season of Deutschland Sucht den Superstar, a Pop Idol-style reality show. Not only was he selected to appear on the show; he proceeded to win the entire 2007-2008 competition, performing Sunrise Avenue's "Fairytale Gone Bad," Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars," and a song of his own, "Love Is You," on the final episode. A recording contract with Sony BMG resulted, and Godoj's full-length solo album debut, Plan A! (2008), was released later in the year. The album was a smash hit, topping the album charts of Germany and Austria and going all the way to number three in Switzerland; moreover, "Love Is You" -- the song he had performed on the final episode of Deutschland Sucht den Superstar -- was also a smash hit, topping the singles charts of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lithuania, and Luxemburg. ~ Jason Birchmeier