Dr. Alban

Dr. Alban (2008)

Dr. Alban (2018)

Dr. Alban (* 26. August 1957 in Oguta , Imo , Nigeria ; actually Alban Uzoma Nwapa ) is a Swedish - Nigerian pop - musician , rapper , producer with his own music label Dr. Records as well as dentist.

Life

Alban Uzoma Nwapa grew up listening to music by Fela Kuti and James Brown . He comes from a family with ten children from Oguta in what is now the Imo state in Nigeria and emigrated to Sweden when he was 18. At the age of 23 he began to study dentistry in Stockholm . In order to finance his university studies, he worked as a DJ in the nationally known Stockholm nightclub Alphabet Street. His style quickly made him known beyond the discotheque, because he used to put his own chant over the records he played.

Alban finished his studies and opened his own dental practice. Nevertheless, he kept his job as a sideline DJ.

In 1990 he met Denniz PoP from the Swedish record label SweMix, with whom he recorded his first single Hello Afrika . Based on his previous profession, he took the stage name Dr. Alban. The album Hello Afrika , released in autumn 1990, sold around a million copies worldwide.

In 1992 this success was even exceeded: The single It's My Life landed at number 1 in the charts in Germany and sold around 1.6 million copies, while the album One Love sold over 1.7 million copies.

Especially in the first half of the 1990s he was a regular in the international charts with his hits. All in all, Dr. Alban has worldwide sales of over 5 million albums and over 6 million singles. With hits like Hello Afrika (1990), No Coke (1990), It's My Life (1992), Sing Hallelujah (1993) and Look Who's Talking (1994), he was one of the most successful performers on the dance floor .

Dr. Alban is the uncle of Ricarda Wältken , a member of the former band Tic Tac Toe .

Alban Nwapa lives in Stockholm with his Swedish wife and daughter .

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	SE
1990	The Album - Hello Africa	DE11 gold (27 weeks)DE	AT2 gold (22 weeks)AT	CH8th gold (15 weeks)CH	-	SE6 (7 weeks) SE	First published: October 1990
1992	One Love - The Album	DE6th gold (39 weeks)DE	AT1 platinum (28 weeks)AT	CH3 platinum (27 weeks)CH	-	SE15 (7 weeks) SE	First published: May 1992
1994	Look Who's Talking! - The album	DE7 (23 weeks) DE	AT7th gold (16 weeks)AT	CH8 (15 weeks) CH	-	SE11 gold (17 weeks)SE	First published: March 1994
1996	Born in Africa	DE52 (7 weeks) DE	AT41 (3 weeks) AT	CH37 (2 weeks) CH	-	SE37 (3 weeks) SE	First published: March 1996
1997	I believe	-	AT41 (2 weeks) AT	-	-	SE27 (4 weeks) SE	First published: October 1997

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	SE
1997	The Very Best of 1990-1997	DE66 (4 weeks) DE	AT38 (5 weeks) AT	-	-	SE38 (3 weeks) SE	First published: June 30, 1997

more publishments

• 2001: Prescription
• 2007: Back to Basics
• 2014: The Ultimate Collection 1990-2014

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	SE
1990	Hello Africa The Album - Hello Africa	DE2 (23 weeks) DE	AT1 platinum (16 weeks)AT	CH3 (15 weeks) CH	-	-	SE7th gold (8 weeks)SE	First release: July 1990 feat. Leila K.
	No Coke The Album - Hello Africa	DE3 (21 weeks) DE	AT2 (14 weeks) AT	CH3 (17 weeks) CH	-	-	SE1 platinum (6 weeks)SE	First published: September 1990
1991	U & Mi The Album - Hello Africa	DE14 (12 weeks) DE	AT11 (11 weeks) AT	CH9 (8 weeks) CH	-	-	SE20 (1 week) SE	First published: January 1991
	(Sing Shi-Wo-Wo) Stop the Pollution The Album - Hello Africa	-	AT16 (7 weeks) AT	CH13 (6 weeks) CH	-	-	SE36 (1 week) SE	First published: May 1991
1992	It's My Life One Love - The Album	DE1 platinum (42 weeks)DE	AT1 * platinum (37 weeks)AT	CH2 (34 weeks) CH	UK2 (12 weeks) UK	US88 (11 weeks) US	SE1 (12 weeks) SE	First published: February 1992 * Raggadag Remix
	One Love One Love - The Album	DE7 (23 weeks) DE	AT9 (14 weeks) AT	CH11 (12 weeks) CH	UK45 (2 weeks) UK	-	SE19 (7 weeks) SE	First published: June 1992
1993	Sing Hallelujah One Love - The Album	DE4th platinum (33 weeks)DE	AT7 (19 weeks) AT	CH4 (28 weeks) CH	UK16 (8 weeks) UK	-	SE6 (8 weeks) SE	First published: February 1993
1994	Look Who's Talking Look Who's Talking! - The album	DE3 (20 weeks) DE	AT3 (15 weeks) AT	CH6 (19 weeks) CH	UK55 (3 weeks) UK	-	SE2 (12 weeks) SE	First published: February 1994
	Away from Home Look Who's Talking! - The album	DE25 (13 weeks) DE	AT12 (12 weeks) AT	CH26 (11 weeks) CH	UK42 (2 weeks) UK	-	SE24 (8 weeks) SE	First published: May 1994
	Let the Beat Go On Look Who's Talking! - The album	DE18 (14 weeks) DE	AT23 (4 weeks) AT	-	-	-	SE17 (11 weeks) SE	First published: August 1994
1995	This Time I'm Free Born In Africa	DE27 (13 weeks) DE	AT23 (2 weeks) AT	CH32 (11 weeks) CH	-	-	SE3 (11 weeks) SE	First published: July 1995
1996	Born in Africa Born In Africa	-	AT31 (5 weeks) AT	CH47 (3 weeks) CH	-	-	SE11 (13 weeks) SE	First published: February 1996
	Hallelujah Day Born In Africa	-	AT35 (2 weeks) AT	-	-	-	SE30 (5 weeks) SE	First published: September 1996
1997	Mr. DJ I Believe	DE70 (4 weeks) DE	AT21 (10 weeks) AT	-	-	-	-	First published: June 1997
	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner I Believe	-	-	-	-	-	SE6 (12 weeks) SE	First release: August 1997 feat. Michael Rose
	Long Time Ago I Believe	-	-	-	-	-	SE55 (2 weeks) SE	First published: November 1997
1998	Feel the Rhythm I Believe	-	-	-	-	-	SE56 (1 week) SE	First published: May 1998
2001	What Do I Do Prescription	-	-	-	-	-	SE43 (2 weeks) SE	First published: April 2001
2003	Work, work back to basics	-	-	-	-	-	SE13 (8 weeks) SE	First published: July 2003
2014	Around the world	-	-	-	-	-	SE52 (1 week) SE	First published: February 2014 with Jessica Folcker
	It's My Life 2014	DE29 (7 weeks) DE	AT39 (3 weeks) AT	CH61 (1 week) CH	-	-	-	First published: January 30, 2014 vs. Bodybangers

More singles

• 1992: One Love - remix
• 1997: It's My Life '97 (feat. Sash! )
• 2002: Because of You
• 2006: Chiki Chiki (with Starclub)
• 2008: Habibi (feat. Melissa)
• 2008: We Love The 90’s (feat. Haddaway )
• 2012: Freedom
• 2012: Loverboy
• 2014: It's My Life (Don't Worry) (with Chawki)
• 2015: Hurricane

As a guest musician

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	SE
1993	Alrabaiye (Take Me Up)	-	-	-	-	SE23 (4 weeks) SE	First release: September 1993 Amadin feat. Swing & Dr. Alban
1995	sweet Dreams	-	-	-	UK59 (2 weeks) UK	SE12 (7 weeks) SE	First release: February 1995 Swing feat. Dr. Alban
1998	Papaya Coconut (Come Along) Dagar som kommer och går	-	-	-	-	SE22 (11 weeks) SE	First published: September 1998 Kikki Danielsson featuring Dr. Alban
1999	Alla vi	-	-	-	-	SE29 (3 weeks) SE	First publication: March 1999 with Björn Borg , Tomas Brolin & Mattias Frisk
	Color the World Life Goes On	DE39 (6 weeks) DE	-	CH39 (2 weeks) CH	UK15 (6 weeks) UK	SE54 (2 weeks) SE	First published: March 1999 Sash! featuring Dr. Alban
2005	Sing Hallelujah Okama de Mapouka	DE74 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: November 2005 Yamboo featuring Dr. Alban

Awards

RSH gold

• 1993: in the category "catchy tune of the year" (It's My Life)

See also

• List of Nigerian musicians

Web links

Commons : Dr. Alban  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website (English)
• Singles Discography on 45cat.com
• Discography on rateyourmusic.com
• Charts and data on chartsurfer.de
• discogs.com
• swedishcharts.com/Dr. Alban

Individual evidence

1. ↑ What is actually ... Dr. Alban? , stern.de of July 15, 2007, requested on April 26, 2017.
2. ↑ Awards: DE AT CH SE
3. ↑ RSH Gold Award 1993