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Origin of the name BoBo |
...and the story began...
Rene Baumann was born
in Kolliken in the Swiss canton Aargau on January 5th, 1968 as son of
his Italian father Luigi Cipriano and the florist Ruth Baumann. Only one
year after his birth his father is moving back to Italy. His mother
doesn't want to follow him. So, DJ BoBo (Rene Baumann) is growing
without the care of his father. Being very young his talents and
passions show up: music, dance and soccer. |
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The "Tuchlaube" in Aargau. A youth center nearby Kolliken becomes a regular refuge for
young Rene Baumann. |
Being a DJ and
breakdancer in his free time he imitates his idol Michael Jackson
whenever he can spare some time beneath school. In 1984 Rene Baumann
gains his school-leaving qualification. |
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Breakdance is his
passion. The colored breakdancer Percy Busby is his idol. United by their mutual
love to breakdance: BoBo meets Oliver Imfeld, nowadays his manager. |
BoBo: Those days
we had the problem how to get into the disco without any money. You had
to pay at least 5 Swiss francs but you just don't have it, no way.
Finally one of us went inside then came out and told us about us. And he
said: "There is a guy who claimed to be the best." I answered: "What
kind of shit! Nobody is better than me. I am the best!" And he said
again: "Ok, I'll go in and tell him you call him for a competition in
breakdance, a kind of fight!" |
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A friendship to last up
today. A faith shared by all other members of the DJ BoBo family until
today. |
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Being a DJ at the youth
center "Tuchlaube" and in the disco "Don Paco" DJ BoBo gets the
qualification to join Swiss DJ championship as the youngest participant. He is more and more known in Swiss disco scene. He mixed songs he played in the disco on tapes produced by himself and they were getting more and more popular. On the other hand DJ BoBo maintains his success |
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as a participant of DMC
competitions. |
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DJ BoBo has to learn
cruelly that success in the showbiz always contains setbacks. The discos
don't want to play his first singles. The record stores cannot sell them. |
DJ BoBo performs
self-staged live show in Swiss discos and gets celebrated and honored at
international dance and DJ championships. At one of these occasions he
meets his first wife Daniela Bock in summer 1988. Their love soon has to
stand the test when DJ BoBo decided to produce a 4th single with
borrowed money. With "Somebody Dance
With Me" DJ BoBo unexpectedly gets on the road of success. In the
meantime he has a permanent job as a DJ in the famous disco "OXA" in
Zurich. Presenting his new single here in 1992 the dancefloor trembles. |
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the disco too - I got a call from the boss of the label and he said to me: "I think we can repress." I answered: "Sure, I'm still having 300. You may have some of mine." And he said: "No, no, the shops are really asking for the song." I replied: "Are you serious?" He said: "Yes, perhaps only a small number of copies for being sure." I said: "Ok, go to press some more, this is going to be great!" Meanwhile DJ BoBo is
not only Swiss music star but also presenter of the Airplay Charts at
the private broadcasting company Radio Pilatus in Lucerne. |
over the head with the best songs. And this was his element. At the time he succeeded in Germany he had to free himself from us. Because he didn't have time anymore for his own radio show on Saturday afternoon. He had to appear in Germany. He then entered a world of his own. Oliver: We thought now
that we are having a sound carrier, a record, what do we have to do with
it? And we said: "Somehow it has to be promoted." Yes, but how is this
to be done? Promotion means probably making a tour. |
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After the crushing
success of his 4th single "Somebody Dance With Me" in Switzerland he
declared goal is now Germany. |
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DJ BoBo sold more than 10 million records world wide today. But in 1993
it's still a long time to come. For the moment the first video clip and
the first international TV performance on German TV are to follow.
The media are scrambling to get the
unknown chart striker. Magazines like BRAVO and POPCORN love the story
of the baker who mutated into a music star. A dream career could be
taken from a Hollywood screenplay. |
In the middle of this high-altitude flight some news are crossing all
media dropping like a bombshell on August 11, 1993: The music publisher
EMI is entitled by law on the rights of DJ BoBo'a hit single. The lost legal
proceedings and the permanent attacks of the media are burring private
life. In spring 1994 DJ BoBo and Daniela Bock are getting divorced. |
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Despite many setbacks
there is some ray of hope. The new single "Keep On Dancing" is published
followed by a disco tour and is placed into the Top Ten. Future singles
and albums are getting permanent parts of the international music
charts." |
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DJ BoBo is cooperating with the German composer and producer Axel
Breitung. This partnership had a promising start since the very
beginning. Together they got awards for 9 albums and 23 singles
world-wide as well as countless golden and platinum records. |
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Particularly this is valid for the live shows of DJ BoBo. In 1995 he
starts his own first great concert tour. 75 minutes full program on
stage for his own audience. |
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We had "Backstreet Boys". Always at the last performance of the tour we were pulling the band's leg. The technicians do so as well as the other groups. It was the final song of "Backstreet Boys", "I'll Never Break Your Heart" a kind of romantic ballad. They fetch a girl out of the audience and place her on a chair and sing towards her, with a rose. And we were dressing up as girls and went to the stage.
In 1996 a concert tour through Asia, East
Europe and South America is to follow. Here DJ BoBo gets important
impressions for his new show "World In Motion" which is international
celebrated during 1996/1997. |
But when you
have 12.000 people in one room there are certain vibes. When you are
coming out of the dressing room to the stage those vibes will overwhelm
you. You can't assimilate them. But if you are in the room beforehand
and you feel the atmosphere you are much more able to match the people. |
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On his "Magic Tour" in 1998 the extravagant shows are enchanting his
audience with a mix of pop concert, musical, dance and the most modern
light and pyrotechnics. This perfectionism is asking for a long period
of planning and clearly defined responsibilities. Everyone in the BoBo family has his clearly defined job. Curtis Burger, Daniel Burkart, DJ BoBo and his wife Nancy are the creative team developing together new drafts for the shows. Everyone of them has additional responsibilities to cover: Curtis is responsible for the choreography, the |
dancers and the videos, Nancy is responsible for scenery and costumes,
Dani - for stage set, graphics and technique. Oliver Imfeld is
responsible for the complete logistics and the management. For the
perfect presentation of the shows one name appears on top: DJ BoBo. Nancy: He knows he can rely on us. We do what we say from A to Z! I think this is most important that you can rely on somebody. |
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Impressive trips and crushing
success are leaving their traces in thoughtful even melancholic songs of
the album "Level 6" which is finding its way into the record stores in
1999. Nancy: I think they understood that he did this album. But I also think they wanted it to be more in the party way they were used to. "Level 6" is accompanied by "Mystasia Tour" which should bring the fans back together. "Mystasia" is world-wide celebrated despite of private problems of DJ BoBo who fell extremely ill on the tour. |
Nancy: I was really scared. He spitted blood. The following concert we had to... I think it was Gottingen. I said: "Call it off. It doesn't make sense. Your fans will understand." And he replied: "No, I must go on stage." And I said: "No, you needn't to. If you are not able it won't work. And now the time has come." I think at that point he understood that life has limits. And he certainly got to a limit. In 2001 "Planet Colors"
also required an endless expenditure. Almost 2 years of preparations
were needed for his tour crossing Germany, Austria and Switzerland. More
than 100 technical helpers moved more than 100 tons of material to
present an almost 2 hour lasting, colorful show to more than 450.000
fans. This is only possible with perfect teamwork. |
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An uncomplicated star. Excesses and scandals are unfamiliar to DJ BoBo.
The natural closeness to his fans is a credible need for him. Nancy: You got the ideas. You learn things you wouldn't find without the fans drawing your attention to it. Maybe the security guards spoke to them in an odd way or... whatever. BoBo: There's a nice story which happened to me recently. A girl came to me, about 24 or 25 years old and said: "You know, 8 years ago I stood at the back exit of the Olympiahalle in Munich when you had performance at the 6-Tage-Rennen." There are many stars and little stars. "And you were the only one who answered my 4 questions for my school newspaper. But unfortunately I must tell you the interview was never printed because nobody believed that I was really talking to you." It is nice that fans share your development and respond you in such a degree. I believe that's the reason why those 10 years in my career were possible at all! Because of this faith of the fans and vice versa. |
The esteem of his fans is one of his
strong points, his social commitment is another one. With charity
concerts in Tirana, Sarajevo and Belgrade the Swiss record millionaire
is working for international aid organizations like "Hand In Hand for
Children" and "Open Hearts". Nancy: He also makes many of those last wish things. That's the last wish of children to see and meet him. And they sometimes arrive in an oxygen tent and wheelchairs. And I think there he can give a lot. Because he is able to treat this in a normal way. |
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Not
only for his social commitment but also for his musical qualities DJ
BoBo got countless international media and audience awards over the last
13 years as well as ten World Music Awards. Takes with
long-standing friends of DJ BoBo for the new album "Celebration". |
DJ BoBo did so, he
recorded duets with No Angels "Where Is Your Love", Melanie Thornton "Love
Of My Life", Emilia "Everybody", Irene Cara "What A Feeling", ATC "Together",
Tone "Lonely For You" and the Swiss phenomenon Gölä "Tell Me Why". This album is a new demonstration: DJ BoBo dominates the charts and the show stages. He was celebrating with a big anniversary TV-show in April 2002 in the arena Oberhausen (Germany) his |
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10-year successful in the music-business "DJ BoBo - Celebration - The 10th anniversary show". The producer, songwriter, singer and dancer created a unique stage show for this event! |
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On the 8th of October
2002
DJ BoBo`s son Jamiro was born. For his son and his wife Nancy he wrote
the song "Do You Remember". DJ BoBo`s having a very emotional relation
to this song because he wrote the song during the pregnancy of Nancy. In February 2003 was the release of DJ BoBo`s ninth album "Visions". So there is a new side to DJ BoBo`s music, not only the dance-sound, there are more acoustic elements on this album now. End of march 2003 DJ BoBo took his fans on a journey in time, the "Visions"- Tour.80 costumes, 16 singers, dancers and |
musicians, Special
Effects (light & pyrotechnics) which were designed especially for this
show, 120 tons of material in 7 trucks all that is Visions. The success of Chihuahua!!! It all started with an enquiry of Coca-Cola Spain, they were looking for an artist to produce a special song for their new campaign. The condition was, it had to be done in 10 days and it should be a mambo: a case for DJ BoBo and Axel Breitung! So there it was: the single "Chihuahua" and within a couple of weeks it was the no.1 in the Spanish charts! |
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End of March it was
released in France and it entered the French charts at no.12, shortly
afterwards it was no.1 in the official French top 100-charts and became
"the summer hit of the year 2003! Most European and also South American
countries are following with this huge success Year 2005. After a lasting break spent in Switzerland without any radio, interviews and shootings DJ BoBo releases at last his tenth album "Pirates Of Dance". It was followed by a huge fantastic tour never seen before. The scene was like a huge ship where the real pirates danced! "Pirates Of Dance Tour" lasted till March to October gathering together thousands of fans. And again BoBo won many |
awards as well as
Golden Ticket for gathering 15.000 fans for one concert. Amazing! Also
he won a diamond award for 1 million records sold in Switzerland. He's
been participant of The Swiss show "A red Carpet for DJ BoBo" which told
us his story once again. Viva DJ BoBo! 2006: a worldpremiere of a new dream-team in the international popmusic-buisness: DJ BoBo and Sandra, the mega-icon of the Eighties, met in the studio for DJ BoBo's single "Secrets Of Love". The song, continuing the duet-tradition of the pop-history with a unexpected emotion. The video-clip of this song was filmed in "Disneyresort Paris". |
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BoBo: I'm
very proud to record the first duet of Sandra. She is a hard working
artist with a lot of sensitiveness and emotions. I was really fascinated
of our team-work in the recording studio. |
On 29th of September
2006 BoBo's second child was born. Little daughter was named Kayley! Her
older brother Jamiro was very happy and couldn't wait to see his mother
and sister at home already. In October 2006 DJ BoBo
became participant in the 2006 Geneva Walk the World. It marked the
beginning of ties with UNO World Food Program. |
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help. We must
understand that there can be absolutely no development in poor countries
unless we first resolve the issue of hunger.
BoBo: That's the key, no compromise,
straight to Eurovision Song Contest. Win or lose. |
On February 21 2007, DJ
BoBo revealed both the song and the video he would enter the Eurovision
Song Contest in Helsinki with. The song was entitled "Vampires Are Alive."
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some religious things
is kind of absurd. What should you do if somebody says: "From heaven to
hell, enjoy the ride - don't say that! It glorifies satanism!" How
should you reply to that? |
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But there was a bright
side. Immediately after semi-fanal 11.05.2007 DJ BoBo released his new
album "Vampires" which became Golden in Switzerland. The country doesn't
forget its heros! |
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BoBo: At the
beginning of the tour we didn't know what to expect. ...The show has
been the best ever. The show was full of emotions, the audience's
response was great. It has been an awesome tour...
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