Darius Costel

Dariusz Constantin Starek (born 1 June 1996), publicly known as Darius Costel, is a Swiss singer and socialite. Costel initially grew to fame in Europe as being the middle son of his well-renowned parents, Swiss entrepreneur and mogul Anton Starek and Italian international pop singer-songwriter Marija Ciobanu, and, as he grew older, he became the frequent subject of tabloids. Costel was formerly well known on the party scenes throughout Europe and has had a strong social media presence even before he pursued a music career.

After participating in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 and 2010, the former in a group with his two brothers and the latter as a soloist, Costel attempted a career in musical theatre before he was put, by his father, in the teen pop group Gold Standard from 2012 to 2014, spawning two gold albums internationally. In 2014, Costel and his two brothers formed the band Les Araignées and, in 2015, were signed to their father's record label, Blank Recordings.

After initial success in 2016, from 2017 to 2019, Les Araignées acheived international success by releasing two multi-platinum critically acclaimed studio albums and spawning a series of successful hit singles, while also frequently collaborating with the supergroup Vengeurs. Despite their success, the band suddenly disbanded after the release of their sophomore album, with the members deciding to pursue solo careers.

In 2020, Costel released the cover of his sister Theodora 2016 hit "Bad Decisions" as he debut single. The single debuted at number four in the UK and charted throughout Europe. Costel released his solo debut album It was a good idea at the time. in October 2020, which debuted and peaked at number one on the URAPS Top 40 Albums chart.

Early life
Dariusz Constanin Starek was born on 1 June 1996 in Zürich, Switzerland to Anton Starek, a Croatian-Belgain-Swiss former rock singer turned entrepreneur and mogul, and Marija Ciobanu, a Romanian-Italian international singer who has had immense success and acclaim worldwide. Anton and Marija met in 1990 at the Eurovision Song Contest, in which Marija represented and won for Italy with her debut single "Visione d'amore". They married in 1992 and had well-publicized turbulent marriage that ended in divorce in 2004. In 2020, after sixteen years apart and being married to and subsequently separated from other people, Anton and Marija reunited, reconciled, and got engaged.

Costel chose the name "Darius Costel" due to both names being variants of his actual first and middle names. His actual first name, Dariusz, is the Polish variant of Darius, as given to him by his parents after his mother discovered she was pregnant with him while she was on tour in Poland. Costel is a variant of the name Constantin. Costel chose "Darius Costel" as his stage name because he felt it was easier to say and write.

Costel is the third of four children his parents had together; by his parents together, he has two brothers, Krešimir and Hugo, and a sister, Theodora. By his father, he has a young half-sister and by his mother, he has younger twin half-siblings (one sister, one brother), both from his parents' respective second marriages. Theodora is also a successful international singer with immense worldwide success; Krešimir and Hugo were in Les Araignées with Costel until they split up and all went solo. Due to his parent's fame and fortune, Costel and his siblings all grew up privileged and in the public spotlight.

Costel and his siblings grew up in a multilingual household and fluently speaks seven languages: English, Croatian, Romanian, French, German, Italian and Romansch.

2006-2011: Junior Eurovision Song Contest and early beginnings
In 2006, Costel and his brother Krešimir attempted to participate in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest but missed the deadline for entry. In 2008, Costel, Krešimir, and their brother Hugo participated at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, representing Romania. Known in the competition as Dario, Kreso & Hugo, the trio's entry was called "Tap, Tap, Tap (Om de fier)". Sung entirely in Romanian, the trio's live performance at the competition incorporated them doing a synchronized and complicated tap dancing routine. Despite being initially favored to win, the trio came in ninth.

In 2010, Costel as a soloist participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, this time representing Moldova with the song "William". Sung entirely in Romanian with some English and Croatian, he placed eighth in the competition.

Aging out of competing in another Junior Eurovision Song Contest, Costel focused on attempting a career in musical theatre. Without using his parents' connections, Darius only managed to get small roles in a variety of plays, despite auditioning multiple times for lead and major supporting roles.

In 2011, Costel's father Anton Starek signed to his label, Blank Recordings, a teen pop group called Gold Standard, after they participated in an American singing talent reality television show, placing seventh. Starek, shortly after signing, suggested that the group could use one more group member which the group obliged. Starek suggested five people to considered apart of the group, including Costel and his brother Krešimir. Though they initially chose Krešimir, they eventually went with Costel as their new member. Shortly after, the group began work on their debut album.

2012-2014: Gold Standard
Gold Standard released their debut studio album, All That Glitters, in July 2012, receiving mixed to positive reviews and being certified Gold in ten countries. They went on tour to support the album and soon after the tour was finished, began working on their sophomore album. In May 2014, Gold Standard released their second and final studio album Electric Rise. Though it also received mixed to positive reviews, it was not as successful as their previous album as it only went Gold in five countries.

Citing rising tensions within the band, the group suddenly disbanded shortly after the third and final single was released from Electric Rise. Some of the group members of Gold Standard would later work with Costel on his solo debut album.

After Gold Standard disbanded, Anton Starek, distraught that Krešimir and Costel were not getting along (Krešimir was still mad that Gold Standard chose Costel over him), decided to make all three of his sons form a trio to strengthen their relationship or he would financially cut them off. With their mother taking their father's side and also threating to cut them off financially as well, the brothers agreed to form as a trio and randomly decided to call themselves Les Araignées.

2015-2019: Les Araignées
Anton Starek officially signed Les Araignées to Blank Recordings to an "artist development contract" in January 2015, requiring them to take vocal, dance, and media training lessons. In June 2015, Starek signed the band as full time artists for Blank Recordings. In order to create buzz for the group, Starek arranged for Les Araignées to appear on the Russian-French rapper Le Capitaine's 2016 album Civilité, where they sang harmony and ad-libs on the song "Fight at the Airport". Le Capitaine was so impressed by their contribution to the song that he released it as the second single from the album in summer 2016. "Fight at the Airport" became an international success, reaching the top ten in multiple countries. Les Araignées received praise for their vocal contributions to the song. In June 2016, the band began work on their debut album and finished the record by March 2017.

On 7 July 2017, Les Araignées released their debut album Come On Home. Described as "indie teen pop" record, the album was critically and commercially successful, reaching number one or at least the top ten in various countries globally. The album also went multi-platinum in multiple countries, including in their native Switzerland. The album spawned four successful singles, which reached number one or the top ten globally in various countries.

In 2018, Les Araignées joined the Blank Recordings label collective supergroup Vengeurs and appeared on their 2018 album Guerre à l'infini, which was critically acclaimed and was globally the best selling album of 2018. In October 2018, Les Araignées released "Our Flowers in the Sun" as the only single from their first extended play Our Universe. "Our Flowers In The Sun" would become a massive hit in 2019 and was one of the most successful singles of that year. Our Universe was released in December 2018; described as an indie teen pop record with hip-hop influences, the project was critically acclaimed and commercially successful, going Platinum or Multi-Platinum is various countries. In Switzerland, the EP went Platinum.

In 2019, Vengeurs released their final studio 2019 album Fin du jeu again featured Les Araignées as apart of the group. As a supergroup it was their best selling album in their careers and was also the best selling album of 2019 and critically acclaimed, winning a variety of awards and going multi-platinum globally. Les Araignées then released their second and final album So Far Away From Home, that same year shortly after the release of Vengeurs' Fin du jeu. Continuing on their "indie teen pop" sound, So Far Away From Home was also critically acclaimed and commercially successful. It spawned three singles which were highly praised and commercially successful. Shortly after the release of the album, Les Araignées suddenly decided to split up and disband, taking their fans and the media by surprise.

According to Costel's younger brother Hugo, he says increasing tensions between Costel and Krešimir were the cause of the group's disbanding as they could "never agree on anything" and that they always "clashed and nearly fist-fought each other at times".

The members have opted for solo careers instead. Under their solo careers, all three former members are signed by Blank Recordings.

2019-2020: Solo career and forming "creative glam squad" entourage
Costel began working on his solo debut album shortly after Les Araignées disbanded. He began working Albanian-American producer Xhesika XH as his main producer, who was his group member in Gold Standard and was the main producer for Les Araignées. Costel also recruited Octavia Cesare and Monetta Valentine as his chief songwriters; Costel used to be friends with Cesare when they were younger and had been married to (and divorced from) her aunt while Valentine was also a member with him in Gold Standard.

Costel then formed his own "creative glam squad" entourage which includes Xhesika XH, Cesare, and Valentine, as well two other songwriters, his own personal background singers for his studio recordings and live performances, vocal coach, "pitch correction specialist", "creative specialist", life consultant, and social media consultant, all being paid for by his father.

Together, throughout the rest of 2019, Costel and his creative glam squad worked on his debut album, recording in Switzerland, the UK, and the US. He also began working with Curriculum member Greg Preston and his wife Beastette on the album.

2020 to present: It was a good idea at the time.
On 24 August 2020, Costel premiered the official music video to his debut single "Bad Decisions", which was originally done by his sister Theodora back in 2016. The video received praise for the cinematography, the costume design, and the choreography. On 4 September 2020, Costel officially released "Bad Decisions" as his debut single. The single debuted and peaked at number four on the URAPS Top 40 Single Chart, becoming Costel's first top five hit in the UK. The single also charted in his native Switzerland and other parts of Europe. It also charted in Canada and in the United States.

On 4 October 2020, Costel released his debut album It was a good idea at the time.. Costel promoted the record as a "pure fuckboy pop" record but critics noted that the album seemed very introspective and that he came off as very critical of himself, while also talking about his personal relationships. Receiving mixed to mostly positive reviews, It was a good idea at the time. debuted and peaked at number one, selling 109,691 copies in its first week. It has spent two weeks atop the URAPS Top 40 Albums Chart. The album also debuted and peaked at #4 in Switzerland and #14 on the Billboard 200.

In October 2020, Costel received attention for storming the stage at 2020 Billboard Music Awards while singers Jupiter & James Moss were performing their latest single "The Hunger" and singing along with them. The random live performance has now inspired an official remix featuring Costel.

Costel is currently deciding on a second single from the album, saying that it will possibly be "Questions".

Costel has stated that he would like his second album, when he begins recording it, to have an "obnoxiously saccharine bubblegum teen pop" sound to it.

Public image and personal life
Costel is known to be a "wild party animal" on the party scenes across Europe and is well noted for being promiscuous and flirty. His inner circle is also known to cycle in and out regularly with new people as he has constant fallouts with his now-former friends and lovers. Costel self-proclaims himself to be a "fuckboy".

Costel was previously engaged three times and has been married two times, with him currently being on his second marriage.

He was briefly married to famed Broadway actress and singer Octavia Marcellete, aunt of Costel's friend and chief songwriter Octavia Cesare. They met in 2014, married in 2015, and suddenly divorced in early 2016. Costel was also engaged to Franziska Bradshaw (née Gammenthaler); she left him for Canadian singer Jackson Bradshaw. The Bradshaws and Costel are good friends and Franziska contributed writing to Costel's debut album.

He is currently married to popular indie pop singer Beastette (born Rachel-Nichelle Kesh). They met in 2017 and got married in 2018.