10 Things You Didn’t Know About Dr. Alban

The Nigerian-Swedish musician and producer, Dr. Alban was born as Alban Uzoma Nwapa on 26 August 1957 in Imo, Nigeria of Swedish origin. He was born into a middle-class family of 10 children. At age of 23, he traveled to Sweden to study dentistry. 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 Afrika”. His 1992 hit single “It’s My Life” was used as background music for a Tampax advert. The versatile Nigerian-Swedish musician has definitely paved a successful path for himself both in Nigeria and abroad.

Here are 10 things you probably didn’t know about the Nigerian-Swedish musician and producer, Dr. Alban:

1. Dr. Alban was born as Alban Uzoma Nwapa on 26 August 1957 in Imo, Nigeria of Swedish origin. He was born into a middle-class family of 10 children.

2. He completed his secondary education at Christ The King College, Aba, Nigeria and spent most of his youth in his hometown Oguta.

3. At age of 23, he traveled to Sweden to study dentistry.

4. He worked as a DJ at the Stockholm club, Alphabet Street, to be able to fund his studies.

5. He completed his studies and even opened his own dentistry practice, keeping his disk jockeying as a lucrative sideline.

6. 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 Afrika”.

7. The following year, he released his second album titled “One Love”, which had the European hit single “It’s My Life”. The single reached the number 1 spot in Israel, Austria and reached the number 2 spot in Switzerland, Norway and the UK.

8. His third album, Look Who’s Talking, earned him his first Gold Certification award at his home of Sweden for sales of over 50 000 units.

9. He founded his own record label “Dr. Records” and went on to release his 1996 album, Born in Africa.

10. In 2014, at the Scandinavium in Göteborg, he teamed up with Jessica Folcker in the third heat of Melodifestivalen performing last with the song “Around the World” to win the chance to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark.