Dr Alban   (Sweden)

EuroDance group
Added : 24/01/2000
Viewed 52259 times

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Latest Dr Alban news

22/06/2018 : Dr Alban released videoclip for his new song Elmoped, a partnership with Swedish electric scooters and mopeds brand Viarelli.

04/07/2017 : Discover the videoclip for Admiral C4C featuring Dr Alban, Vessy Boneva and Deepzone single Turn It Up (Thanks to Tavi Meran)

15/05/2017 : Dr Alban's hit Sing Hallelujah was covered by Saifam project DJ Kee.

26/04/2017 : Along with Vessy Boneva and Deepzone, Dr Alban was featured by Admiral C4C on song Turn It Up.

09/02/2016 : Forthcoming song that Dr Alban, Haddaway, Franca Morgano and Katja Bredahl recorded together will be entitled Volcano. Song was written and produced by Chief 1. Video will premiere on Ferratum's Facebook page this coming Friday. Ferratum bank is one the main sponsors of Vi Elsker 90'erne concerts (Thanks to Anders Bøgh)

30/01/2016 : Dr Alban posted a photo of him in studio in Copenhagen with Haddaway and Franca Morgano (Magic Affair) (Thanks to Anders Bøgh)

30/05/2015 : Discover the videoclip for Dr Alban's new single Hurricane, directed by David Geczy and produced by Csaba Czinkoczky. With Jessica Folcker on backing vocals...

More news

Dr Alban albums

	Hello Afrika	Oct 1990
	One Love	May 1992
	Look Who's Talking	1994
	Look Who's Talking (French release)	1994
	Born In Africa	1996
	The Best of Dr. Alban 1990-1997	1997
	I Believe	12th Dec 1997
	It's My Life (re-release of Look Who's Talking)	1998
	Prescription	29th May 2000
	Back To Basics	2007
	The Ultimate Collection 1990-2014	28th May 2014

Dr Alban DVDs and VHS

Look Who's Talking (Video And More)

1994

VHS

Dr Alban singles

	Fly Eagles
	Hello Afrika (feat Leila K)	Jul 1990
	No Coke	Sep 1990
	Sing Shi-Wo-Wo (Stop The Pollution)	1991
	U & Mi	Jan 1991
	It's My Life	Apr 1992
	One Love	Aug 1992
	Sing Hallelujah	Jan 1993
	No Coke '93	Sep 1993
	Look Who's Talking	Feb 1994
	Away From Home	May 1994
	Let The Beat Go On	Aug 1994
	This Time I'm Free	Aug 1995
	Born In Africa	Feb 1996
	Hallelujah Day	May 1996
	Mr DJ	Aug 1997
	It's My Life '97	12th Sep 1997
	Long Time Ago	Nov 1997
	Feel The Rhythm	Apr 1998
	Sing Hallelujah '98	Apr 1998
	Guess Who's Coming To Dinner / Enemies (feat Michael Rose)	22nd Apr 1998
	Papaya Coconut (vs Kikki Danielsson)	Oct 1998
	Because Of You	Feb 2000
	What Do I Do	Apr 2000
	Work Work	Jun 2003
	Sing Hallelujah 2004 (with Yamboo)	Dec 2003
	Habibi (feat Melissa)	2007
	I Love The 90's (with Haddaway)	31st May 2008
	Hello South Africa (vs Sash!)	2010
	Tell Me What U Want (with Melissa)	Sep 2010
	Freedom	22nd Feb 2012
	It's My Life 2014	10th Jan 2014
	Around The World	23rd Feb 2014
	Hurricane	29th May 2015
	Elmoped Video only	18th Jun 2018

Dr Alban remixes

	No Coke (The Twelve Inch Remixes)	1990
	Hello Afrika	1990
	U & Mi	1991
	It's My Life (Raggadag Remix)	1992
	One Love	1992
	Sing Hallelujah	1993
	Away From Home	1994
	Look Who's Talking (The U.S. House Remixes)	1995
	This Time I'm Free	1995

Featurings and collaborations

	Swing - Sweet Dreams	13th Apr 1994
	Rob'n'raz Circus - Take A Ride	1996
	Swahili Nation - Hakuna Matata	1997
	Sash! - Colour The World	Jan 1999
	Friends In Need - Alla Vi	Apr 1999
	DJ Aligator Project - I Like To Move It	2002
	Starclub - Chiki Chiki	2006
	A-moe - No Coke	Oct 2006
	Al Azif vs Adam Tensta - My Cool	2008
	m:ret-zon - Summerday	15th May 2009
	Gosia Andrzejewicz - Loverboy	21st May 2012
	St John's Dance - Master	3rd Oct 2012
	Paradox Factory - Beautiful People	29th Nov 2012
	Jessica Folcker - Who Am I	19th Mar 2013
	Scotty presents Yamboo - Sing Hallelujah 2014	14th Mar 2014
	Chawki - It's My Life (Don't Worry)	13th Nov 2014
	Basic Element - Good To You	20th May 2016
	Admiral C4C - Turn It Up	28th Jun 2017

Productions, co-production, executive production

	Cool James and Black Teacher - Free	1998
	Friends In Need - Alla Vi	Apr 1999

Songwriting

	Dr Alban - It's My Life	Apr 1992
	Dr Alban - Sing Hallelujah	Jan 1993

Dr Alban biography

Alban Nwapa was born on August 26th 1957 in Uguta, Enugu (Nigeria). He grew up listening to Fela Kuti and James Brown. At age 23 Alban moved to Stockholm to live with his uncle (a diplomate) and began studying dentistry in Karolinska Institute. In order to be able to finance his university studies the music-loving medical student started making his own music. During this time Alban worked as a DJ in the well known Stockholm club 'Alphabet Street'.

Very quickly his name became widely well known, especially since Alban often sang to the records he put on the turntable as a DJ. DJ René couldn't help but notice him and so the highly intelligent and  medical student was discovered. But first Alban finished his studies and even opened his own dentistry practice.

In 1990, he met Denniz PoP from the SweMix label in the legendary 'Alphabet Street'. Even then Denniz PoP was already one of the top producers in the music business. Alban laid aside his dentist's drill and realised his dream, together with Denniz and Rap-Queen Leila K: his first record, Hello Africa - his declaration of love for his African home - broke all records. Alban Nwapa became Dr. Alban - and a superstar. His debut-album Hello Africa sold roughly one million copies world-wide!

Only a year later this success was surpassed by the second album One Love. 1,6 million single units of the song It's My Life were sold (the single was even used as background music for an Tampax advert). It was # 1 in Israel, # 2 in UK, # 1 in Germany and Europe. The following single One Love was # 5 in Israel. The album immediately sold over 1,7 million units. Then followed the albums Look Who's Talking and Born In Africa. All in all Dr. Alban can look back on world-wide sales of over 5 millions albums and over 6 millions singles - which resulted in: 7 times Silver, 30 times Gold and 30 times Platinum so far. These rather dry (but very impressive) figures leave to doubt: the Dance-dentist belongs to the group of International Mega-Stars. His hit No Coke was even used to illustrate a anti-drugs campain in Sweden. The single Sing Hallelujah was also very successful, reaching # 5 in Israel.

After a re-release of No Coke, Dr Alban confirmed his Eurodance style with his hit Look Who's Talking Now, reaching # 4 in Israel, # 6 at MTV Europe, and # 54 in UK. Let The Beat Go On was # 12 in Israel, # 12 at MTV. It featured the voices of Nana Hedin, as always, and Jessica Folcker.

In 1995, along with Swing, he covered the famous Euroythmics song Sweet Dreams. Birgitta Edoff contributed to the vocals.

Dr. Alban's musical influences cannot be missed : the late Fela Kuti is 'the' African National Hero, the king of Afro Beat. As his idols the doctor names Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley, two of the most important Reggae-legends of all time. The combination of these sounds, mixed with rhythmic dance grooves and harmonic pop melodies have become Dr. Alban's hallmark. That his musical talent runs in the family is shown by the fact that one of his nieces has joined the ranks of the famous in the music business - Alban is the uncle of Ricarda Nonyem Wältken, better known under the name Ricky, member of the group Tic Tac Toe.

And it's not only musical talent that makes Alban stand out. He created his own record company 'Dr. Records', on which he released Born in Africa, the first CD recorded completely in his Dr Records studios. He became the producer of many successful artists such as La Cream. He even began designing clothes and created his own fashion company but he had to give it up because his musical career left him ne time to manage anything else. Anyway he keeps on creating all the clothes he wears on the scene. He didn't forget her family in Nigeria either : he built a house for them, and he spends 6 weeks each weeks in his homeland, with his Swedish girlfriend. Eventually he is very interested in football...

Yet these are not the only passions of the Swedish Nigerian. The great statesman Nelson Mandela and the committed artist have a lot in common. Both African men fight for peace and justice, against war, racism, famine and oppression. These are subjects which are documented in nearly all of Dr. Alban's songs: 'Men are men and should be treated equally. Peace, love and harmony between nations and peoples are more important than the colour of one's skin or one's religion.' Clear words from an intelligent man.

With his last album, Dr. Alban is about to write a new and extremely exciting chapter in the book of his career. On I Believe he was able to work together with some of his own heroes, like Sly & Robbie, Freddie Mc Gregor, Beenie Man, Charlie King, a.m.m. and several exciting mixes have been produced by Sash! & DJ Quicksilver (to name but a few). The album featured many interesting tracks such as Long Time Ago which was also released as a single, reaching # 9 in Israel. Then came Feel The Rhythm, featuring female vocals by Monica Lofgren.

In 1999, his voice was featured on Sash's single Colour The World. He also produced and released under his label Doctor records the track Alla Vi, a collaboration with the tennis-legend Björn Borg and former soccer-star Tomas Brolin. The project was called Friends In Need.

After one year of silence he came back with a new track entitled Because Of You, followed by What Do I Do and a new album, unfortunately absolutely not Eurodance-related. Alban says: ' I'm very satisfied with my new album Prescription, it has taken us two years to find a new sound that will stand out, be fresh and reach a broad public. Many hands have been involved in making this new album sound special. There are also guest appearances from Tony Rebell and Anthony B to name a few.'

2002 : DJ Aligator released a track featuring the voice of Dr. Alban : I Like To Move It, the cover of the Real 2 Reel hit.

Dr Alban opened his own restaurant and club, the "Stacy nite club" on Regeringsgatan in downtown Stockholm (Sweden). With seats for approximately 75, the restaurant serves lunches and dinners with a distinct tinge of the Asiatic while attracting commendations from the culinary columnists. "Classical and robust hot meals at affordable prices " commented Aftonbladet, the evening Swedish newspaper. "Exquisite fancy dishes - worth a visit" wrote Dagens Nyheter, a major national daily. Side by side with the restaurant, yet still separate, lies the night-club, open Wednesdays to Saturdays with enough space for 500 people to mingle in a recognizable club environment with bar, small tables and a stage for performances.

2003 : at last Dr Alban released some new material. Entitled Work Work, his new single was out in the stores in May.

2004 : Dr Alban released a cover of one of his biggest success : Sing Hallelujah Recall 2004, which entered Danish charts at #31.

2006 : Sing Hallelujah was once again covered, this time by Yamboo. It entered the Swedish, Danish and Norwegian Dance Charts. In May, Dr Alban did a tour in Russia, he also appeared in Austria and Denmark with Yamboo. Dr Alban was featured on a new released single : Starclub feat. Dr Alban - Chiki Chiki. He started a collection of men's underwear : Exclusive Fashion from Dr Alban.

Dr Alban rumoured to be one of the wildcards in Melodifestivalen 2007. He confirmed to Swedish newspaper Expressen that he has been in discussions with broadcaster SVT. At the moment though, he's not saying any more than yes, he might make Melodifestivalen the place where he has his come-back. One of his backing singers on his big hit It's My Life, Marie Bergman, had herself represented Sweden in 1994.

Dr Alban is the uncle of Ricarda Wältken, a member of the German group Tic Tac Toe.

2007 : Dr Alban recorded a new single together with Lebanese artist Melissa entitled Habibi. A brand new album called Back To Basics followed. It is sold only on the Internet through his official website.

2008 : Dr Alban and Haddaway recorded together a single entitled I Love The 90s. It was released on May 31st, along with a videoclip. Female vocals were done by Malin Sundström, from the Caramell project.

Dr Alban also recorded a new song entitled Music In Me in April, with Sasi The Don, the Indian king of dancehall music. The song appeared on the Dutch version of the album Back To Basics.

2010 : Sing Hallelujah was covered by Italian artist DJ Hush. Dr Alban re-recorded his hit Hello Africa for Soccer World Cup 2010 and released it under the title Hello South Africa.

2011 : A part of Dr Alban's Sing Hallelujah's chorus was sampled and used in Collectif Métissé's new single Laisse Tomber Tes Problèmes.

2012 : Dr Alban's new single Freedom is a pop dance beat track will be released in Sweden on Febrary 22nd. He plays the role of an African king in the movie Sean Banan, to be released in Sweden on February 15th

©1998 Dr Records
Thanks to Shimon O'Hana for the charts positions
Thanks to Andrei Dinu, Madenn, Mihai, Mattias, aZo, Stavros aka Musicboy,Vision and Anders Bøgh
Oikotimes

Dr Alban biography was last updated Sat, January 13th 2018

Charts (singles)

Hello Afrika		#1				#25			#7	#3
No Coke		#2	#26			#7		#6	#1	#3
Sing Shi-Wo-Wo (Stop The Pollution)		#16							#36	#13
U & Mi		#11							#20	#9
It's My Life	#43	#1	#1		#13	#1	#49	#2	#1	#2
One Love		#9	#8			#14	#42	#10	#19	#11
Sing Hallelujah	#5	#7	#3		#4	#6		#8	#6	#4
Look Who's Talking		#3	#5		#17	#4		#4	#2	#6
Away From Home		#12	#27			#45			#24	#26
Let The Beat Go On		#23	#9		#12	#19			#17
This Time I'm Free		#23	#20	#2		#35		#11	#3	#32
Born In Africa		#31		#1					#11	#47
Hallelujah Day		#35		#12					#30
Mr DJ		#21		#8

Links to Dr Alban

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