Lou Bega

Lou Bega
Background information
Birth name	David Lubega
Born	(1975-04-13) 13 April 1975 Munich, Bavaria, West Germany
Genres	Pop, latin pop, mambo
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1988–present
Labels	Lautstark, BMG, RCA Records, Condon Musical Enterprise, Unicade Music, DA Music, Big Records
Website	http://www.lou-bega.com

Lou Bega (born David Lubega on 13 April 1975) is a German mambo musician of Italian and Ugandan descent. He is most famous for "Mambo No. 5", his 1999 remake of the Pérez Prado instrumental from 1949. Bega added his own words to the song and sampled the original version extensively. Bega's musical signature consists of combining musical elements of the 1940s and 1950s with modern beats and grooves.

Personal life

While Lou Bega was born in Munich, Germany, he is of Italian and Ugandan descent. His mother is from Sicily in Southern Italy and his father is Ugandan.^[1] His father Charles went to Germany in 1972 to study biology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.^[2] Until age six, Bega spent the most time with his mother Nicole in Italy. Then they lived permanently in Munich, where Bega attended German primary school. As a teenager he traveled to Miami, Florida, where he found the inspiration for his hit single "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...)".^[1] Bega also lived in Uganda for half a year.^[3] Currently, he lives in Berlin, Germany.

On January 7th, 2014 he married his longtime companion Jenieva Jane and mother of his 5 year old daughter Jada Love. The wedding took place in the Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas.

Career

Bega started his musical career as a rapper. At the age of 13, he founded a hip hop group with two other boys. It would be two years before Bega and his friends' first CD would be released in 1990.^[2] While living in Miami he discovered Latin music. After returning to Munich, Bega met his then manager, Goar Biesenkamp, as well as music producers "Frank Lio" (Achim Kleist) and "Donald Fact" (Wolfgang von Webenau) (Syndicate Musicproduction), with whom he developed the concept for the song "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...)". Bega signed a recording contract to the label Lautstark.^[4]

Lou Bega (1999)

His first single "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...)" became an instant worldwide hit in 1999, charting at No. 1 in most European countries, including Germany, UK, France, and No.3 in the United States.^[5][6][7][8] In France, "Mambo No. 5" spent twenty weeks at No.1.^[7] It was also used by the British television broadcaster, Channel 4 for their coverage of Test match cricket between 1999 and 2005.^[9]

On 19 July 1999, Bega released his debut album A little bit of Mambo, which peaked at No. 3 both in Bega's native country, Germany and also in the U.S.^[8][10] While it charted moderately in the UK, peaking at only No. 50, it reached No. 1 in Austria, Canada, Finland, Hungary, and Switzerland.^[8][11][12] The second single, "I Got a Girl" charted well, entering the Top 10 in some European countries, including France, Finland and Belgium.^[13] The third single, "Tricky, Tricky", achieved No. 18 on the Canadian charts and No. 74 on the U.S. Billboard Charts.^[8] In France, Bega did well also with his single "Mambo Mambo", which reached No. 11 on the French charts.^[14]

Bega's second studio album Ladies and Gentlemen was released on 28 May 2001. The album failed to experience success similar to its predecessor in Bega's native market or internationally. It peaked at No. 54 in Germany.^[10] It reached No. 23 on Switzerland's album chart.^[15] The album produced two singles, "Just a Gigolo" and "Gentleman", both of which charted moderately.

Bega released his third studio album Lounatic on 10 May 2005, which failed to enter the charts.^[16]

On 21 May 2010, Bega released his fourth album called Free Again, which also didn't find much success on the charts.^[16] It only charted in Switzerland peaking at No. 78.^[17]

Bega's fifth studio album A Little Bit of 80's was released on 28 June 2013, in Germany on Ariola (Sony music).^[18] In his latest material, Bega again covers classic international hits including "Smooth Operator" (1984)" by Sade, "I'm So Excited" (1982) by The Pointer Sisters, "Vamos a la playa" (1983) by Righeira, "Red Red Wine" (1968) by Neil Diamond and "Karma Chameleon" (1983) by Culture Club. Bega's first single off his fifth album, however, is "Give It Up" which was released in Germany on 14 June 2013.^[19]

Live performances

Bega's live shows in Las Vegas, Tokyo, Moscow, Hong Kong and the Emirates were hugely successful. He appeared on stage for Royals as well as international corporations. Bega was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Ally McBeal, MAD TV, The Martin Short Show, Motown Live, Jenny Jones, Queen Latifah, Access Hollywood, and others. Bega was also the only artist to be asked to sing a song twice on Germany's headlining show Wetten, dass..? On New Year's Eve 2007 he performed in Poland. He has been Master of Ceremonies at the American Music Awards, the Grammy Awards, the Billboard Radio Awards and at the Love Parade in Berlin. He also performed live on television on the Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway in the United Kingdom on the 4th April 2015.

Other appearances

Bega sang the theme song for the Disney Channel animated series, Brandy & Mr. Whiskers.

In the computer game Tropico, Bega is one of the characters someone can choose as their dictatorial persona. He was included as part of a licensing deal that also saw Bega's song "Club Elitaire" integrated into the German release of Tropico.^[20] Also, in the Ubi Soft/Disney Interactive video game Walt Disney's The Jungle Book Rhythm n' Groove, Bega participates in a challenge with his namesake. The player dances as King Louie, attempting to dance to Bega's rendition of "I Wanna Be Like You". Doing so will unlock a video of him with children dancing to the aforementioned song.^[21] Bega also wrote the theme song for the French cartoon series Marsupilami.^[2]

Discography

Studio albums

• A Little Bit of Mambo (1999)
• Ladies and Gentlemen (2001)
• Lounatic (2005)
• Free Again (2010)
• A Little Bit of 80's (2013)

Music videos

Lou Bega and his dancers

Music video appearances

Collaborations

• "C'est la Vie" – In 2006 Bega recorded a song with Edvin Marton, and a music video was also filmed. The song has only appeared on Marton's album Stradivarius as a bonus track and was never featured on any of Bega's albums. A slightly different version of this song was available on Bega's MySpace page at one time.

Awards

• 1999: "Best International Song", Festivalbar (for "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...)")
• 2000: "International Song of the Year", NRJ Music Awards (for "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...)")
• 2000: "Single of the Year (National)", ECHO (for "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...)")
• 2000: "Best National Artist in Foreign Countries", ECHO

In 1999, Bega was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category "Best Male Pop Vocal Performance" (for "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...)").

Bega was awarded the German Echo Prize in two categories as well as being nominated five times. Other accolades include a Grammy Award nomination, a World Music Entertainment Award in Cannes, the Blockbuster Entertainment Award in Los Angeles, the Festival Bar of Verona, the Amadeus Award of Vienna, and the Bunte New Faces Award in Berlin. Bega tours around the world with his band. A 22-city tour of the USA with Cher, live show appearances throughout South America with concerts in Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and São Paulo, and a tour through India with stops in Bombay, New Delhi, Madras, Bangalore and Calcutta have been some of the highlights along the way. Over 200 concerts in Europe have attracted over three million fans and viewers.

References

External links

• Official website
• Lou Bega at the Internet Movie Database