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All Music Guide:
Despite never having had any substantial hit in the U.S., Dr. Alban nevertheless has become one of the most recognizable faces of the '90s Euro-dance scene with his dancehall-inflected take on the style. Born in a middle-class Nigerian family of ten children, Alban relocated to Stockholm, Sweden at 23 to study dentistry. In order to pay for his studies, he started to work as a DJ, where he quickly gained notice for singing reggae-style over the records he spun. After he graduated, he managed to reconcile his medical activities with DJing for a while, until he met producer Denniz Pop, who signed him to his SweMix label. Adopting the Dr. Alban moniker as a nod to his dentistry background, he released his debut album Hello Afrika in late 1990, with both the title track and "No Coke" becoming million-selling European hits in 1991. In 1992, second album One Love earned him a sizable hit in the title track and unleashed another two million-selling-plus Euro-smashes in "It's My Life" and "Sing Hallelujah," cementing his place as one of Euro-dance's brightest stars. His third album, Look Who's Talking, came in 1994, with the title track giving him another large hit all over Europe; yet subsequent singles failed to match his previous successes, signaling that his star was about to fade. This was confirmed when both 1997's I Believe and 1999's Prescription failed to ignite any significant hits. Since then, he has only released one other album, 2007's Back to Basics, while also putting out largely ignored singles in the interim.
Wikipedia:
Alban Uzoma Nwapa (born August 26, 1957), known by his stage name Dr. Alban, is a Nigerian-born Swedish musician and producer with his own record label dr-records. His music can best be described as a Eurodance/hip-hop reggae with a dancehall style. He is most famous for his worldwide 1992 hit "It's My Life".
Biography
Dr. Alban was born as Alban Uzoma Nwapa into a middle class family of 10 children in Oguta, Imo state, Nigeria. He had his secondary education at Christ The King College, Aba, Nigeria and spent most of his youth in his hometown Oguta. At age of 23, he traveled to Sweden to study dentistry. In order to be able to finance his studies, Dr. Alban became a DJ. He worked as a DJ at the Stockholm club Alphabet Street. Very quickly his name became widely known, especially since Dr. Alban often sang to the records he put on the turntable. DJ René couldn't help but notice him and so he was discovered.
In 1990, he met Denniz Pop from the SweMix label and together with Denniz and Rap-Queen Leila K, they released his first record, "Hello Africa". Alban Uzoma Nwapa took the stage name Dr. Alban, a nod to his dental studies. His debut album Hello Africa included hits like "Hello Africa" and "No Coke", both of which ended up being million-selling singles. The album itself was quite successful which earned Alban Gold-certification-awards in numerous markets including Germany (for sales of over 250,000 units), Austria (for sales of over 25,000 units) and Switzerland (for sales of over 25,000 units).
One year later this success was surpassed by the second album One Love. The album contained European hit singles such as "It's My Life" (which was used as background music for a Tampax advert) and "Sing Hallelujah". The single "It's My Life" reached No.1 in Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and No.2 in Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom. While the song "It's My Life" reached Platinum status in Germany (for sales of over 500,000 units), in the Netherlands (for sales of over 75,000), it managed to sell over two million copies in Europe. The album in its turn reached the top of the album chart in Austria and entered the top-5 in Switzerland, also managed to reach No.6 in Germany. The album received a Gold-certification-award in Germany (for sales of over 250,000 units) and Platinum-award both in Austria and Switzerland (for sales of over 50,000).
Alban's third album Look Who's Talking! was released in 1994, which managed to enter the top-10 in numerous markets including Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The album was the first to earn Alban a Gold-certification-award at his home of Sweden for sales of over 50,000 units.
Dr. Alban founded his own record label Dr. Records, whereon he released his 1996 album, Born in Africa. The album was unable to match up with the success of the previous album releases. It only reached the No.12 position in Finland, while it peaked at No.37 in Switzerland and Sweden, No.52 in Germany, No.41 in Austria.
In 1997, Alban released a compilation album entitled The Very Best of 1990-1997 which only charted in Austria, Sweden and Germany. In 1997, Alban, also released a studio album entitled Believe which peaked at No.27 in Sweden, No.30 in Finland, and No.41 in Austria. In the end of 1998, Dr. Alban released a single with German-based artist Sash!, entitled "Colour the World" which experienced a moderate chart success in Europe.
In 2000, Alban released a single entitled "What Do I Do" which appeared on the album chart of Sweden only at the No.43, it spent only two week on the chart there. The album Prescription was a flop as it failed to chart anywhere.
In 2007, after years of disappearance from the music scene, Dr. Alban released a new studio album Back to Basics. It was sold on the Internet only, through Dr. Alban's official website. In Russia; however, both the physical CDs and cassettes were released.
