Karl Madis was born in Tallinn, Estonia on November 23rd, 1959.

Karl graduated from Georg Ots Tallinn Music School in 1984, where he
studied saxophone under Aleksander Rjabov. His remarkable career as a
musician began with his first performance on ETV, Estonian national TV
station, in May, 1979.

After that, Karl spent 2 years in the military. It created a pause in
his life in the public eye, but not in his passion for music- he
continued practicing it even when being enlisted. He returned in 1981
and a band named Mahavok was created. The group consisted of known
musicians - Heini Vaikmaa, Kalev Aas, Peeter Oronen, Raul Arras,
Kristjan Kirme, Sven Himma and Karl Madis himself. Their first single
"Mahavok" with 3 songs was released in 1984. In 2002, a double-CD,
also called "Mahavok", was recorded.

Band Karavan was born in 1983 and celebrated its 25th birthday with a
tour in November 2008. Karavan has released 3 LP-s and 8 CD-s within
25 years.

Karavan consists of Karl Madis (vocals, guitar, harmonica, saxophone),
Toomas Vanem (guitar, backing vocals), Jaak Lutsoja (keyboards),
Margus Martmaa (bass, backing vocals), Dmitri Dmitrenko (drums), Enn
Laidre (sound) and Toivo Lend (manager).

Karavan was voted the most popular band in Estonia in two consecutive
years – 1985 and 1986. Karl Madis himself was voted the best male
singer in 1986 and 2002.

Karl Madis has performed on all major stages in Estonia dozens of
times. 80’s were a busy time for Karl and his band, Karavan. They gave
over 200 performances a year during 1985 and 1986. Over the years,
Karavan has conquered stages in Finland, Sweden, Russia, Belarus and
on cruise ships on the Black Sea and in Germany. They also gave a
performance at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin. However,
the list does not stop here. Karl Madis joined forces with Margus
Martmaa for a series of concerts. They performed in Portugal (Lisbon),
Australia (2003/2004 New Year's Eve in Adelaide, concerts in Melbourne
and Sidney), USA (Los Angeles) and Canada (Toronto).

However, singing is not the only passion Karl Madis has. Audience has
seen him take up several instruments, including harmonica, when
performing with Karavan. Still, many might be surprised to learn how
talented harmonica player he actually is. In 2002, he competed in the
Baltic-Nordic Harmonica Festival. List of competitors was long and
included harmonica players from Germany, Great Britain, USA, Finland,
Sweden and Estonia. Nevertheless, the judging panel was impressed by
Karl’s performance and he was voted the best chromatic harmonica
player. Two years later, he won the Grand Prix at the same festival
and was awarded a wooden sculpture made by finnish artist Kovanen. In
2007, he became the first harmonica player ever to receive two Grand
Prix awards in the history of Baltic-Nordic Harmonica Festival. This
honour also came with a €1000 prize. Later in the same year, Karl
Madis gave a successful performance also at the Harmonica Festival in
Bristol, UK.