Career
Bega started his musical career as a rapper. At the 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. When Bega lived in Miami he discovered Latin music. After returning to Munich he met his former manager, Goar Biesenkamp, as well as the music producers "Frank Lio" (Achim Kleist) and "D.Fact" (Wolfgang von Webenau) (Syndicate Musicproduction) with whom he developed the concept for the song "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...)". Bega signed a recording contract to the label Lautstark. Lou Bega's musical signature consists of combining musical elements of the 40's and 50s with modern beats and grooves.
His first single "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...)" became an instant worldwide hit charting at No. 1 in most European countries including Germany, UK and France and at No. 3 in the United States. In France "Mambo No. 5" spent twenty weeks at #1, 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.
On 19 July 1999 he released the album A little bit of Mambo. It peaked at No. 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 No. 1 in the album charts of Austria, Canada, Finland, Hungary, the Middle East, Portugal, 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 number 18 on the Canadian charts and number 74 on the American Billboard Charts. "Mambo Mambo" reached number 11 on the French charts.
Bega's second studio album Ladies and Gentlemen was released on 28 May 2001. "Baby Keep Smiling" is on this album, a duet with Compay Segundo from Buena Vista Social Club. A Little Bit of Mambo includes a version without him. Bega also covered the standard "Just a Gigolo / I Ain't Got Nobody" on Ladies and Gentlemen.
He released his third studio album Lounatic in March 2005 and re-released it in August 2006 with different tracklisting.
In early 2010, Bega released his fourth record called Free Again. In summer 2011, Bega performed his first concert from the album at one of the Tampa Bay Rays Summer Concert Series.
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