Gabriel Evan Dirks (born May 4, 1965) is an American pop singer and songwriter who began his professional singing career in Italy.
Biography and career[]
Gabriel was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts and attended St. Bernard's Catholic High School. He moved to New York City at the age of 18, where he became a music video extra and model.
He was discovered by Baby Records, an Italian record label who took him to Milan to record the song "Super Special", which was a hit in Europe, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Gabriel had several hit songs in Japan following "Super Special", despite some of them being commercial flops elsewhere.
In 1994, after marrying his high school sweetheart Eliza in Simi Valley, California, they moved to Sweden where he joined the Cheiron Studios team, where he wrote music for acts such as Starbright. He worked as a music teacher at the Stockholm International School as a side job. After Cheiron closed in 2000, he spent time in both Sweden and the United States, working as a songwriter and a minister.
In 2005, Gabriel made a return to music headlining the Kmart 80s PopFest concerts in Japan. These were two performances of Western and Japanese 1980s pop stars held at Saitama Super Arena and Osaka Dome. Among the acts headlined were: Night Ranger, Bryan Adams, Mariya Takeuchi, Billy Idol, Akina Nakamori, Campfire Stories, Seikima-II, Dead or Alive, The New Cars, and Mötley Crüe. Both concerts played to large crowds, appeared on national television and were released on DVD.