Dan Balan

Dan Bălan (born 6 February 1979) is a Moldovan musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is the founder of Moldovan eurodance band O-Zone, and wrote their international hit single "Dragostea Din Tei", which topped the charts in 32 countries and sold 12 million copies worldwide.

1996–1998: Inferialis
After Balan formed the band, Inferialis held its first concert in 1995 in a concert hall in one of Chișinău's factories. His entire family was present at the concert, and his parents having been impressed by the performance bought him an expensive synthesizer. He spent the next two years performing with the band, taking several small gigs, and then decided to move to commercial-sounding music. In an interview, he explained that he had never considered himself a heavy metal musician and instead identified as a producer with an interest in working with varying musical styles. He started experimenting and exploring a new, commercial pop sound, and recorded and released his first solo song, "De la Mine", in 1998.

1998–2005: Breakthrough with O-Zone
“Dar, Unde Esti?”
In 1998, Balan formed O-Zone, a new musical project, with Petru Jelihovschi, former vocalist in Inferialis. The duo released their first album entitled Dar unde esti? later that year and it became a commercial hit with seven of the album's ten songs reaching number one on the charts of the main radio stations in Moldova. At the same time, he became a producer of a new children's TV show called Tanti Ludmila Show, which was hosted by his mother. When the show needed a title song, the singer offered up a track he'd written when he was younger.

“Number 1”
Shortly afterwards, Jelihovschi left the band to take up his own career in television. In order to continue the band, Balan announced auditions to select new band members. He auditioned several individuals but was unable to find somebody who fit his concept for the music. Finally, Arsenie Todiraș, who he met through his vocal coach, was selected. After the auditions were closed, Radu Sirbu heard about the selection and requested Balan to audition him. Subsequently, Sirbu became the third member of the band.

Throughout 2001, Balan wrote and recorded O-Zone's second album, Number 1. Four Romanian record labels offered the band a deal. O-Zone elected Cat Music and their album was released in 2002 by the label. Much to Balan's disappointment, the album did not become an instant commercial success. However, O-Zone won Best Music Video Award at the MTV Romania Music Awards in 2002 for their single "Numai tu". The album's second single, "Despre Tine", was more experimental, driven by the singer's goal of working in styles of music, which were completely different from those dictating the Romanian music industry at that time. The song became a commercial success and reached number one on Romania Airplay Top 100, where it stayed for seventeen consecutive weeks.The next year, O-Zone won two more MTV Romania Music Awards, for Best Song and Best Dance. The band was also nominated for Best Romanian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards.

Fame with “Dragostea Din Tei” 
The song "Dragostea Din Tei", also known as the "Numa Numa Song", which was released in 2003, brought the group to global prominence.[16] The single, written and produced by Balan, reached the number one position on the charts of more than thirty countries and was the third bestselling single in the U.K that year. It sold more than 8 million copies worldwide,[17] receiving a gold and multi-platinum certification in most of the countries of Europe, Asia and Latin America.[18][19] It became the bestselling track in Europe and Japan in 2004 and 2005. Over the years, more than two hundred artists have sung the song in fourteen different languages. "Dragostea Din Tei" is one of the best-selling singles in the history of world music.

“DiscO-Zone” 
In 2004, O-Zone won Best Dance Award again at MTV Romania Music Awards and, for the second year in a row, they were nominated for Best Romanian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards. Later that year, the band unveiled their third album, DiscO-Zone, which became their best-selling release, certified gold and platinum in various countries. By the end of the year, it was the best-selling album in Japan, Europe and Latin America. In France, it was number fifteen but stayed for 36 weeks in the top 200. In Japan it reached the number one position in its 24th week on the chart. DiscO-Zone featured their hit singles "Dragostea Din Tei" and "Despre Tine (About You)". The album was a commercial success in many European countries, particularly in Portugal where it was hit number one for eight consecutive weeks and was ranked for 26 weeks in the top 30. It also reached the top ten in Wallonia (Belgium), Poland, Norway, Switzerland, and Finland.

By late 2004, O-Zone released another single "De Ce Plang Chitarele", which was a cover of a song by the Moldovan band Noroc. Commenting on their songs and style, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty wrote that they have "breathed fresh air into European Pop Music Scene." O-Zone announced their breakup in 2005, right at the peak of their fame and popularity. Their last European concert was held at the 2005 Golden Stag music festival in Romania.

2006–2009: Unreleased Solo Album and Crazy Loop project
Unreleased Album with “Balan”
After O-Zone's break-up, Balan started the eponymous rock group “Balan” and began working on new music. He moved to Los Angeles in early 2006 to record at Ocean Way. There he recorded and co-produced his first solo rock album with Jack Joseph Puig. Despite having recorded the album, the singer did not release it. However, some songs, such as “Cry Cry” and “The 24th Letter” were later released as part of his 2012 album “Freedom, Part 1”.

Crazy Loop
He returned from the U.S. in early 2007 and began working on a new experimental musical project. Balan performed the songs, which were a deviation from his prior material, in a falsetto voice. These shifts led him to decide to release the music under the stage name Crazy Loop, an alter ego that contrasted with his real personality. The musician described Crazy Loop as "funnier, crazier and more ironic" than himself and said, "I'm not like that really but part of Crazy Loop lives inside me." Balan officially launched Crazy Loop in October 2007 with new single "Crazy Loop (Mm Ma Ma)", which landed on the charts in Germany, Austria, Poland and Romania, as well as on European chart Euro Hot 200.

Crazy Loop's debut album, The Power of Shower, was released in December, and included some of the songs Balan had created for his unreleased album in Los Angeles, the previous year. The album's second single, "Johanna, Shut Up!" was released in the summer of 2008 along with a music video directed and shot in Los Angeles by Marc Klasfeld. The single was the final official track released under the name Crazy Loop. The artist released a third single from The Power of Shower in October 2008 under his own name, Dan Balan. The track, a rock ballad called "Despre Tine Cant (Part 2)," dropped in Romania and Moldova and was accompanied by a music video directed by Greg Olive. Crazy Loop was nominated for Best Romanian Act at the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards but lost to Morandi.

Later in 2009, the singer re-released The Power of the Shower album as Crazy Loop Mix, an exclusive release with four new tracks, which included "Friday Night", "My Best Summer", "Judy's Love Line" and new single "Chica Bomb". This release marked the beginning of a new phase in his solo career. In November 2009 acting President of Moldova Mihai Ghimpu, awarded him the honorary title of Master in Art for successes in creative activity, contributions to propagation of musical art and high performing artistry.

Nomination for Grammy Award
In 2008, Balan was contacted by producers to become co-writer of Rihanna and T.I.'s "Live Your Life", since the song sampled and was extensively based on the melody of “Dragostea Din Tei”. The song stayed at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks following its release, jumping from number eighty to number one in just one week. "Live Your Life" was certified 4× Platinum, with 4,532,000 copies sold in the U.S.[45] In 2009, his co-writing of the song lead to Balan being nominated for a Grammy Award, the first and only Moldovan ever to do so.