Dr. Alban

Dr. Alban brought together rapped vocals, reggae influences and Eurodance, becoming a defining voice in early-1990s dance music. Behind the stage name is Alban Uzoma Nwapa, a Nigerian-Swedish musician and producer with his own label.

Raised in Nigeria on the music of Fela Kuti and James Brown, he moved to Sweden to study dentistry. To fund his studies, he DJed at Stockholm club Alphabet Street and began singing and rapping over the records himself. A meeting with producer Denniz Pop led to his first single, “Hello Afrika”, in 1990; the name Dr. Alban referenced his work as a dentist.

His debut album brought him international recognition, but “One Love” gave his career further momentum. Its single “It’s My Life” reached number one in Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, among other countries, in 1992. “Sing Hallelujah” was also among the tracks that kept him internationally visible during the first half of the 1990s.

From his early, more hip-hop-influenced material, he developed a sound combining pop and Eurodance with reggae and dancehall influences. He later kept his connection to 1990s dance music alive, including through a joint release with Haddaway that looks back on that era.