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Lou Bega
Background information
Birth name	David Lubega
Also known as	Lou Bega
Born	April 13, 1975 (1975-04-13) (age 34) Munich, Bavaria, West Germany
Origin	Germany
Genres	Latin pop Mambo Cha-cha-cha Jazz Hip hop
Occupations	Singer, rapper, songwriter
Instruments	Singing, rapping
Years active	1988–present
Labels	Lautstark, BMG, RCA Records, Condon Musical Enterprise, Unicade Music, Da Music, Big Records
Website	http://www.loubega.de [1]

David Lubega (born April 13, 1975), also known as Lou Bega, is a German musician of Italian and Ugandan descent, and is famous for his song "Mambo No. 5". This song is a remake of the Perez Prado instrumental from 1949. Bega added his own words to the song and sampled the original version extensively.

Career

Bega's mother is from Calabria (Southern Italy) and his father is Ugandan. His father 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 in Italy. Then they lived permanently in Munich, where Bega attended German primary school. At age 15 he lived in Miami for one-and-a-half years. Bega also lived in Uganda for half a year.^[3] Currently he lives in Berlin.^[4]

Bega started his musical career as a rapper. At 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] When Bega lived in Miami he discovered Latin American music. Back in Germany, the German producers Goar Biesenkamp (better known as Goar B) and Achim Kleist (Syndicate Musicproduction) recognized Bega's talent. Bega signed a recording contract to the label Lautstark.^[5]

His first single "Mambo No. 5" became an instant worldwide hit charting at #1 in most European countries including Germany^[6], UK^[7] and France ^[8] and at #3 in the United States. In France "Mambo No. 5" spent twenty weeks at #1,^[9] which is an unbroken record to date. It was also used by the British television broadcaster, Channel 4 for their coverage of Test Match cricket between 1999 and 2005. ^[10]

On July 19, 1999 he released the album A Little Bit of Mambo. It peaked at #3 in the USA. In Germany, Bega's native country, it also peaked at #3. In the UK the album peaked only at #50. A Little Bit of Mambo peaked at #1 in the album charts of Austria, Canada, Finland, Hungary, the Middle East, Portugal, and Switzerland.^[11] The second single, "I Got a Girl", charted well entering the Top 10 in some European countries including France, Finland and Belgium^[12].

Bega's second studio album Ladies and Gentlemen was released on May 28, 2001. Neither the album nor the singles attained the great commercial success of A Little Bit of Mambo. "Baby Keep Smiling" is on this album, a duet with Compay Segundo from Buena Vista Social Club^[13] A Little Bit of Mambo includes a version without him. Bega covered also the famous song "Just a Gigolo / I Ain't Got Nobody" on Ladies and Gentlemen.

In the computer game Tropico, Lou 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.^[14] Also, in the Ubi Soft/Disney Interactive video game Walt Disney's The Jungle Book Rhythm n' Groove, Lou Bega participates in a challenge with his namesake. The player dances as King Louie, attempting to dance to Lou Bega's rendition of "I Wanna Be Like You". Doing so will unlock a video of him with children dancing to the aforementioned song.^[15] Bega also wrote the theme song for the French cartoon series Marsupilami.^[2]

In the spring of 2010, Lou Bega is releasing a new album. ^[16] He is still poor and probably eating saltines on the side of the road. I bet he has crabs.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Compilations

• 2002: King of Mambo
• 2004: Mambo Mambo - The Best of Lou Bega

Collaborations

• "C'est la Vie" - In 2006 Lou 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")
• 2000: "International Song of the Year", NRJ Music Awards (for "Mambo No. 5")
• 2000: "Single of the Year (National)", ECHO (for "Mambo No. 5")
• 2000: "Best National Artist in Foreign Countries", ECHO

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

References

External links

• The official website of Lou Bega
• Website created by Bega's management
• Lou Bega at MySpace