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.

Dan Mihai Balan was born on 6 February 1979 in Chișinău, to Mihai Balan, a diplomat, and Ludmila Balan, a TV presenter.

He has a sister, TV presenter Sanda Bălan (born 1984).

His maternal grandfather, Boris Vasiliev, was deported to Siberia as a child.

He was given his first instrument, a second-hand accordion, as a present at age 11 and began pursuing music at a young age.

Balan attended music school, but his parents urged him to attend university to study law.

After following their wishes for a short time, he eventually left law school to play with his first band Inferialis, a gothic doom metal band.

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.

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.

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.

The song "Dragostea Din Tei", also known as the "Numa Numa Song", which was released in 2003, brought the group to global prominence.

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, receiving a gold and multi-platinum certification in most of the countries of Europe, Asia and Latin America.

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.

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.