Alban Uzoma Nwapa (born 26 August 1957), better known by his stage name Dr. Alban, is a Swedish musician and producer with his own record label, Dr. Records. Alban was born Alban Uzoma Nwapa into a middle-class family of 10 children in Oguta, Imo state, Nigeria. He is Igbo. He got his secondary education at Christ the King College and spent most of his youth in his hometown of Oguta. At age 23, he travelled to Sweden to study dentistry.[1] To finance his studies, Dr. Alban became a DJ at the Stockholm club Alphabet Street.[1] Very quickly, his name became widely known, especially since he often sang to the records he put on turntables. DJ René Hedemyr discovered him. Alban finished his studies and opened his own dentistry practice, keeping his DJ-ing as a lucrative sideline. He got his secondary education at Christ the King College and spent most of his youth in his hometown of Oguta. At age 23, he travelled to Sweden to study dentistry.[1] To finance his studies, Dr. Alban became a DJ at the Stockholm club Alphabet Street.[1] Very quickly, his name became widely known, especially since he often sang to the records he put on turntables. DJ René Hedemyr discovered him. Alban finished his studies and opened his own dentistry practice, keeping his DJ-ing as a lucrative sideline. One year later, this success was surpassed by his second album One Love. The album included European hit singles such as “It’s My Life” (which was used as background music for a Tampax advert) and “Sing Hallelujah”. The single “It’s My Life” reached No.1 in Israel, Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Germany, and No.2 in Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.[8][9][10] The song “It’s My Life” went platinum in Germany (for sales of over 500,000 units), in the Netherlands (75,000), and it sold over two million copies overall in Europe.[1][11][12] The album in turn reached the top of the album chart in Austria and entered the top five in Switzerland, also reaching No.6 in Germany.[13][14] It went gold in Germany (for sales of over 250,000 units) and platinum both in Austria and Switzerland (both 50,000). In May 2020, Alban released the song “Hello Sverige” (in Swedish) to encourage the population of Sweden to respect social distancing measures put in place to counteract the COVID-19 pandemic. The next month, he released an English version titled “Hello Nations”. The song is another remake of his classic hit “Hello Afrika”. In June 2020, Alban released the single “Drama”, also in Swedish, in collaboration with singer Folkhemmet. The song talks about Alban’s long-running acrimonious relationship with Swedish tabloid journalists. Alban met his future wife, Swedish teacher Katrine Hermansson, in 2004, through footballer Tomas Brolin. The couple had two daughters together, Jane (2005) and Julia (2008). The relationship ended in 2021.[24] Since his divorce, Alban has continued to live in Stockholm.
