Lou Bega

Lou Bega will forever be associated with his infectious, worldwide hit 'Mambo No. 5'. From a seemingly unlikely background involving a German pop artist and Latin American dance music, the song topped the charts in virtually every country in Europe, and triggered a bitter seven-year legal copyright trial between Lou Bega's producers and the estate of Cuban Perez Prado, who'd originally composed it as a jive dance song in 1949. Bega and his producers contested that they'd made such a significant contribution to its style, it should be regarded as a brand new song for which they merited co-credit as composers with Prado, an argument they eventually won.

Born in Munich, Germany, Bega actually began his career as a rapper, founding a hip-hop group with two friends, but during a spell living in Miami he discovered and fell in love with Latin American music and the concept of a song built on Prado's melody took root and was developed by Bega and his producers Frank Lio and Donald Fact. 'Mambo No. 5' was an instant success, rapidly followed by the successful debut album 'A Little Bit of Mambo'. Subsequent singles 'I Got a Girl', 'Tricky Tricky' and 'Mambo Mambo' also did well in different parts of the world, although his second album 'Ladies & Gentlemen' (2001) failed to emulate the success of the first.

Subsequent albums also struggled although he made something of a resurgence with his 2013 album 'A Little Bit of '80s'. featuring covers of popular hits of the era like Sade's 'Smooth Operator', Culture Club's 'Karma Chameleon' and Neil Diamond's 'Red Red Wine'. However, he remained a popular live performer, regularly appearing on TV and at awards ceremonies, and touring with André Rieu.