About Dan Balan

Los Angeles resident Dan Bălan was born in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova in 1979. His biggest success to-date was with the pop band O-Zone. He was the front man of this project, producing and writing all of their songs. Bălan formed O-Zone in 1999, and they released three albums by 2004. Their best-selling LP was "DiscOzone", which reached no. 1 in six countries and sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide (1 million in Japan alone). Bălan's most successful song to-date is "Dragostea din tei" (a.k.a. "Numa numa Song"). The song reached no. 1 in 32 countries (including no. 3 in the UK), selling 12 million copies worldwide. It was the biggest single in Europe and Japan in 2004 and 2005, respectively. The song was eventually covered by over 100 artists worldwide in 12 different languages. Another O-Zone hit was "Despre tine". It reached no. 1 in five countries and was rated no. 6 in the main European Chart. Before entering the pop world, Bălan enjoyed his first band experience - he formed a goth-doom metal band called Inferialis in 1997. He was the keyboard player and songwriter of this project. Inferialis had a large fan base in the underground Moldovan scene, despite never having an official release. In 2004, Bălan decided to venture closer to his rock roots. He chose the best musicians in his region and moved with them to Los Angeles in 2005. Although Bălan wrote the compositions prior to the formation of this project, it took two years to get a signature sound and their own captivating style. He asked acclaimed producer Jack Joseph Puig (John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, No Doubt, The Black Crowes, Rolling Stones) to produce the record. Puig was extremely enthusiastic about working with Bălan. The album was recorded in April/June of 2006 at the renowned Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles.