Dr. Alban, or Alban Uzoma Nwapa, is a Nigerian born Swedish musician and DJ, and not only that, but a dentist too. He has sold 16 million records worldwide, his main hit being 1992’s ‘It’s My Life’. His DJ name ‘Dr. Alban’ is a reference to his years spent training for his profession as a dentist, during which he cut his teeth as a DJ. Alban was born into a middle class family in Oguta, Nigeria as one of ten children. Studying in Nigeria in his youth, he later left at the age of 23 to study in Sweden.
While working hard to become a qualified dentist, Alban began to DJ on the side in order to fund his studies, becoming a regular at the Stockholm club, Alphabet Street. He became especially popular due to his habit of singing to the records he played on the turntables, and was discovered in due course by René Hedemyr. After finishing his studies he opened a dentistry practice but continued to DJ as well.
In 1990 he met Denniz Pop from the label SweMix, and together with Leila K, they released Alban’s first album, ‘Hello Afrika’, from which came the successful singles ‘Hello Afrika’ and ‘No Coke’. The album was particularly successful in Europe, earning Gold certification awards in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. His second album was One Love, released in 1991. This was the album that contained the huge hit, ‘It’s My Life’, that was used as the music to a Tampax advert. It reached no.1 in Germany, Sweden, Austria, Netherlands and Israel, with the album going platinum in Austria and Switzerland.
In 1994 he released his third album, ‘Look Who’s Talking!, significantly the first of his albums to receive certification in his home country, Sweden, going Gold. Following this, he started his own record label, Dr Records, on which he released his 1996 album, ‘Born In Africa’, unfortunately not as successful as his predecessors.
The legacy of the big hit single ‘It’s My Life’ lives on as characteristic of the era of Eurodance in the early 1990s, featuring especially on the classic Now compilations (numbers 20 – 26). The Eurodance genre originated in the late 1980s, encompassing elements of house, techno and Euro disco. It often features melodic vocals, and verses of rapping, combined with cutting synthesiser, strong bass rhythm and melodic hooks. The genre saw its peak success in 1994 at Ibiza’s summer festivals.
By the late 1990s, Eurodance had started to decline in popularity, morphing into Euro-trance, and also other harder edged sounds like hard house. Eurodance never caught on as much in the USA, with little commercial radio play, but some tunes continue to be played at public occasions like ice hockey and basketball matches.
Dr. Albans’ legacy lives on; the single ‘It’s My Life’ will never be forgotten and he remains one of the great names during the era of Eurodance. MN2S Booking Agency takes care of DJ bookings for other popular DJs and artists, for a look at the full roster, please check out the MN2S website.
