| Background: | person |
| Donnie | |
| Birth Name: | Donny Björn Stefan Ellerström |
| Birth Date: | 5 August 1994 |
| Birth Place: | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Years Active: | 2011–present |
Donny Björn Stefan Ellerström[1] (born 5 August 1994), known by the stage name Donnie and pseudonym Donald Scloszkie,[2] [3] is a Dutch rapper, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his songs "", "", "", "" and "".
Donny Ellerström was born on 5 August 1994 in Amsterdam to a Dutch mother and a Swedish father. He was raised by his mother and grandmother, and grew up with two elder brothers and a younger sister.[4] He has had little contact with his father, who served a prison sentence for most of Ellerström's childhood and currently lives in Sweden.[2] [4] After completing his pre-vocational secondary education, Ellerström attended a culinary college in Amsterdam and worked as a cook at a local restaurant for some time.[4]
While in culinary college, Ellerström became acquainted with Dutch rapper Frans Frederiks (Lange Frans) when he won a risotto cooking competition Frederiks had organised.[2] [4] He subsequently featured on Frederiks's 2011 track "Brawler", alongside Faberyayo, and joined him on his concert tour in 2012, using the stage name "Young Kermit".[2] In 2014, he was signed to the record label owned by producer Bas Bron.[2]
Soon after, Ellerström released the mixtape, followed by his debut studio album in 2015.[4] He gained prominence in 2018 when he popularised the usage of the slang phrase ('flashy sunglasses') through videos on social media and the release of his single "".[2] [4] In 2019, he released the single "Barry Hayze" – a play on the name of singer Barry Hay and the cannabis strain Haze Berry – which certified gold in the Netherlands.[5]
Since 2020, Ellerström has been releasing songs in which he combines hip hop with – a fusion genre he dubbed (after and).[6] Examples include "" (with Frans Duijts), "" (with René Froger), "" (with Mart Hoogkamer), and "" (with Kris Kross Amsterdam and).
His 2023 album certified platinum and reached number 38 in the Dutch Album Top 100. In December 2023, it was revealed that he had co-written the entry selected by AVROTROS to represent the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, to be performed by Joost Klein.[7] The entry, "Europapa", was released on 29 February 2024.[8]
Ellerström has used the pseudonym "Donald Scloszkie" in songwriting since 2018.[9] He has two sons, born in 2020 and 2022.[3]
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NLD [10] | BEL (FL) [11] | ||||
| — | — | |||
| — | — | |||
| 99 | — | |||
| BFMJT |
| 73 | — | ||
(with Joost) |
| 10 | 79 | ||
| 22 | — | |||
| — | — | |||
| 38 | — | |||
| "—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NLD (100) | NLD (40) [12] | ||||
| "" | 2018 | 54 | — | ||
| "Barry Hayze" (featuring Willie Wartaal) | 2019 | 62 | — | ||
| "" (with Frans Bauer) | 2020 | 65 | — | ||
| "" (with Frans Duijts) | 2021 | 10 | 19 | ||
| "" (with René Froger) | 3 | 5 | |||
| "" (with Mart Hoogkamer) | 2022 | 6 | 22 | ||
| "" (with Kris Kross Amsterdam and) | 2 | 7 | |||
| "" (with Kris Kross Amsterdam and) | 2023 | 29 | 36 | ||
| "" (with Chantal Janzen) | 7 | 7 | |||
| "—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||