In the spring of 1999, a 24-year-old guy with a Panama hat, a flashy white suit and a pencil mustache achieved the impossible.
Lou Bega shot to the top of music charts around the world with his smooth-talking debut single, “Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of…),” which went on to become the second biggest song of the year — behind only Britney Spears’ indomitable “…Baby One More Time.” (Apparently, ellipses were all the rage then.)
Twenty-five years after its release, “Mambo” remains inescapable; it’s a standard at millennial weddings, sporting events and, of course, on the internet, where it has amassed more than 625 million streams on Spotify and 515 million views on YouTube.
“It feels as if time is upgrading my personal relationship with this song’s success,” Bega, now 49, tells Page Six exclusively on the milestone anniversary. “I can now enjoy it even more than when I first hit the show circuit in ’99.”
With its catchy chorus rattling off the names of conquests including Monica, Erica and Rita over a trumpet sample from a 1950 track by legendary Cuban bandleader Pérez Prado, it’s no wonder “Mambo No. 5” became a global sensation.
But Bega’s career came to a screeching halt just two years later when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks rattled the US and effectively shut down the entertainment industry.
“[It] derailed the promotion of the second album, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen,’” he recalls. “No one wanted joyful music at that particular hour, and I completely lost appetite for this endeavor for a long time.”
Eventually, though, Bega — who has a 16-year-old daughter, Jada, with his wife and collaborator, Jenieva Jane — found himself back in the recording studio. He has released six albums to date, most recently 2021’s “90s Cruiser,” on which he covered tunes from the decade that made him a household name.
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None of the German-born artist’s projects have duplicated (or even come close to) the once-in-a-lifetime success of his Grammy-nominated signature song, but he doesn’t consider himself a one-hit wonder — and neither do his fans.
“I always let my audience make the decision by screaming on which of my songs should be the encore of the concert,” he tells us. “It shocks me that ‘Scatman & Hatman’ or ‘Angelina’ started to challenge the dominion of ‘No. 5’ in some countries. There are countries in which I am associated with songs that were not even released in others. The streaming changes this even more.”
However, “Mambo” is sure to be in high demand at Bega’s upcoming greatest hits shows commemorating the track’s 25th anniversary, which can be booked on his website.
“I feel thankful that new generations all over all nations have discovered it,” he says. “Never thought that would be possible 26 years ago while penning those iconic names on paper.”
