Looking at this swarthy man with a thin string of mustaches above his upper lip, you would never think that he is a German. In fact, Lou Bega was born in Munich, Germany on April 13, 1975, but he has Ugandan-Italian roots.
His star rose when he performed Mambo No. 5. And although the performer wrote only the words to this song, and took the music from Perez Prado (1949), the remake was successful.
The single for a long time was on the first positions of the charts in Germany, France, England. In America, the hit managed to rise to the 3rd position.
Americans especially liked the line "A little Monica in my life", hinting at the affair of American President Bill Clinton with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
The artist's album A Little Bit of Mambo (1999) was released with a circulation of 6 million copies. It was real glory. The people, as if gone crazy, danced and had fun under the carefree compositions of the maestro.
Based on the hits of the 1950s, Lou Bega managed to create his own style of groove.
Childhood and youth Lou Bega
In Munich, the father of the future star studied biology at the university, having arrived in Germany from Uganda. But after the birth of David (real name, and the stage name was created from two syllables of the name Lubega), mother and child spent most of their time in Italy.
The woman returned to Munich when her son was already 6 years old. Here the future composer and singer went to school.
When David was 15 years old, he spent six months in Miami and spent some more time in his father's homeland. He currently lives in Berlin.
Albumography Lou Bega
The teenager started with rap. At the age of 13, he created a hip-hop group with friends. The guys even managed to record their own CD. But a trip to Miami changed everything. David was seriously interested in Latin American motives.
Upon returning to Germany, he signed a contract with a record company, and the first composition became so popular that no one expected.
In France, Mambo No. 5 stayed at the top of the charts for 20 weeks. No one has been able to beat this unconditional record yet.
The second album Ladies and Gentlemen was released in 2001, but it was not the same. He failed to achieve the crazy success caused by the song Little Bit of Mambo. In Germany, it rose only to 54th position.
With the third album, Lounatic (2005), they didn't even manage to get into the charts. But he did not despair and in 2010 he tried his hand again, releasing the studio album Free Again, which managed to take only 78th position in Switzerland.
In 2013, Lou Bega tried to remind himself and evoke nostalgia for the 1980s in the fifth album, A Little Bit. The composition from this album Give It Up showed good results - the 6th position of the German chart.
David Lubeg Awards
Becoming famous, Lou Bega was simply "torn to pieces." He was interviewed by Jay Leno-and-Co. Cher persuaded him to take part in her concert tour of America, which covered 22 cities.
He also performed in South America and India. And a concert tour of Europe, where the mambist gave two hundred concerts, gathered more than 3 million fans.
At the German Echo 2000 award, the performer was nominated five times, winning convincingly in the nominations: "The most successful foreign artist" and "The most successful pop-rock single of the year." He was nominated for a Grammy Award.
And in Cannes, he was presented with prestigious music awards: "World's Best Selling German Artist" and "Best New Male Artist".
Filmography of Lou Bega
The artist cannot boast of a significant number of roles, but he has film experience.
For the first time on television, Lou Bega appeared in 1986, playing himself in the TV series Zdf-Fernsehgarten. In 1998, the situation was repeated in the film Millionärgesucht! - diesklshow.
In 2000, there was participation in the melodrama "Young".
In 2013, Lou Bega starred in the documentary music series Die ultimative chartshow and Die hit-giganten released in Germany, where he again played himself, although the main roles went to other performers.
Ups and downs
In the life of every artist, pleasant events and unfortunate failures happen. Lou Bega is no exception. During the first performance in America in the presence of 25 thousand people, the mambist had just started singing, when he immediately dropped the microphone directly into the crowd of spectators.
As he stood dumbfounded, the band continued to strum merry chords. After such an embarrassment, it took a very long time to recover.
But there were also unforgettable events - when Lou Bega first appeared on television, taking part in the filming of the television show Wetten, dass..?, passions boiled so much that the song Mambo No. 5 he was asked to perform twice.
Such an honor has not previously been given to any performer, not even Michael Jackson.
The personal life of an artist
On January 7, 2014, the singer married his beloved woman in Las Vegas, with whom they had lived together for seven years before and had already raised a joint daughter.
Only after checking the feelings with time, the couple decided to get married.
Interesting facts about the artist
- The musician shot 13 videos for singles.
- Lou Bega composed the music for the French animated series Marsupilami.
- The performer became the hero of the computer game Tropico, and in the German version even his song sounds.
- In 2006, Lou Bega shot a video clip in Odessa together with the Ukrainian pop group Alibi.
- The mambo star was forced to go to the police because of a "fan" who kept his mother in Munich while Lou Bega was touring around the world.
Lou Bega in 2021
At the end of April 2021, Lou Bega presented a new version of the top composition of his repertoire. We are talking about the track Macarena. The new version of the song was called Buena Macarena.
