Lou Bega

Bega's musical signature sounds consist of combining musical elements of the 1940s and 1950s with modern beats and grooves.

His father Charles went to West Germany in 1972 to study biology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Until age six, Bega spent most of his 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".

Bega also lived in Uganda for six months.

David Lubega Balemezi (born 13 April 1975), better known by his stage name Lou Bega, is a German singer.

David Lubega Balemezi was born on 13 April 1975 in Munich, Bavaria, then West Germany, to an Italian mother, who came from Sicily, and a Ugandan father.

It would be two years before Bega and his friends' first CD would be released in 1990.

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".

Bega signed a recording contract to the label Lautstark.

The track uses vocal samples from the 1994 single "Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)" by Scatman John.

His 1999 song "Mambo No. 5", a remake of Pérez Prado's 1949 instrumental piece, reached no. 1 in many European countries and was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Bega added words to the song and sampled the original version extensively.

His first single "Mambo No. 5" became a world wide hit in 1999, charting at No. 1 in most European countries, including Germany, UK, France, and No. 3 in the United States.

In France, "Mambo No. 5" spent twenty weeks at No. 1. It was also used by the British television broadcaster Channel 4 for their coverage of test match cricket between 1999 and 2005.

On 19 July 1999, Bega released his debut album A Little Bit of Mambo, which peaked at No. 3 both in Germany and the U.S. While it charted moderately in the UK, peaking at only No. 50, it reached No. 1 in Austria, Canada, Finland, Hungary, and Switzerland.

The second single, "I Got a Girl" charted well, entering the Top 10 in some European countries, including France, Finland and Belgium.

The third single, "Tricky, Tricky", achieved No. 18 on the Canadian charts and No. 74 on the U.S. Billboard charts.

In France, Bega did well also with his single "Mambo Mambo", which reached No. 11 on the French charts.

Shortly after the track's release, he told Jason Lipshutz of Billboard that he was inspired to create the track by the fact that Scatman John died in the same year that "Mambo No. 5" was released, adding, "We found out how much [John and I] had in common. The guy died of a brain tumor in 1999 — my own father died of a similar brain tumor in 1999 as well, just four weeks before the mambo came out. And then of course, there's the suits, and the mustaches, and the retro style."

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, and No. 23 on Switzerland's album chart.

The album produced two singles, "Just a Gigolo" and "Gentleman", both of which charted moderately.

In 2002, the artist published a compilation titled King of Mambo and two years later another compilation, The best of Lou Bega, with which he regained some of the prominence.

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

In 2006, Bega recorded a song titled "C'est la Vie" 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.

Bega has appeared on stage for royals as well as international corporations.

On 21 May 2010, Bega released his fourth album titled Free Again, which also did not find much success on the charts.

It only charted in Switzerland peaking at No. 78.

Bega's fifth studio album A Little Bit of 80's was released on 28 June 2013, in Germany on Ariola (Sony Music).

In this album, Bega again covered 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 (a remake of which was a hit for UB40 during the 1980s) and "Karma Chameleon" (1983) by Culture Club. Bega's first single off his fifth album was his cover of the 1982 hit "Give It Up" by KC and the Sunshine Band, which was released in Germany on 14 June 2013. The song peaked at No. 6 in Germany.

During interviews with him that TV 2 Denmark did in 2019 for their documentary series Guds bedste børn, he stated that he was in a hotel room on the Maldives during a storm when he checked out the room's Bible and was captivated by it.

Upon returning home to Germany, he felt the waiting times to be baptized were long, and contacted the Danish movement The Last Reformation after seeing their videos on YouTube, where he was baptized.

Parts of the conversion process and later missionary work were brought up in the movie The Last Reformation: The Life, which was commissioned by The Last Reformation themselves.

Bega started his musical career as a rapper.

At the age of 13, he founded a hip hop group with two other boys.

In 2019, Bega released "Scatman & Hatman", his first release since 2013.