Dr. Alban

Dr. Alban is a Swedish musician and producer with his own record label Dr. Records. His music can best be described as hip-hop reggae with a dance hall style. Dr. Alban (born August 26, 1957 as Alban Nwapa in Nigeria) grew up listening to Fela Kuti and James Brown. At age 23, he began studying dentistry. 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 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 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. 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. His debut-album Hello Africa sold roughly 1 million copies world-wide. One year later this success was surpassed by the second album One Love. 1.6 million singles of the song It's My Life were sold (the single was even used as background music for a Tampax advert). 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 million albums and over 6 million singles, which resulted in 7 times Silver, 30 times Gold and 30 times Platinum. His hit No Coke was even used to illustrate an anti-drugs campaign in Sweden. After a re-release of No Coke, Dr. Alban confirmed his Euro dance style with his hits Look Who's Talking and Let the Beat Go On. He created his own record company 'dr.records', on which he released Born in Africa, the first CD recorded completely in his studios. He became the producer of many artists such as La Cream. More recently, his voice was featured on Sash!'s single Colour the World. In 2000, he released the album titled Prescription. In 2002 Dr. Alban featured Yamboo to release a remix for Sing Hallelujah!. In 2007 Dr. Alban released the album titled Back to Basics. Official website: http://www.dralban.net/