DJ BoBo Bulgaria » Biography

       After leaving school Rene Baumann, born on 5th January 1968, decided to make an apprenticeship as a baker. It was in 1984 when he felt his musical talent more and more. At that time breakdance and electric boogie were in and he created his pseudonym DJ BoBo.

       In 1987 he reached with his acrobatic dancing style the Top 10 of the German „Disco Kings". In Switzerland he even won the Championship of Showdance. In 1985 DJ BoBo started being a DJ. One year later he climbed till place 2 of the Swiss DJ Championships.

       Being a DJ at „Don Paco's" (Wohlen) and later at „Hazyland's" (Lucerne) DJ BoBo had been able to make lots of important experiences in this musical branch till he decided to produce his own single.

       The first single „I Love You" was created in 1991. After that DJ BoBo made his first tour in diverse Swiss discos. After the singles „Ladies In The House" in 1991 and „Let's Groove On" he made a second and a third tour in Switzerland.

       After his first success in his native country - Switzerland - DJ BoBo had his break through with his smashing hit „Somebody Dance With Me" which topped all expectations. It was released in November 1992 and in March 1993 it reached number one of the Swiss single charts. Since 16 years he has been the first Swiss artist who succeeded in having a number-one-hit in his native country. In many European countries it was in the Top Ten and his extraordinary success was rewarded with golden records in Australia, Germany, Israel, Austria and in Switzerland.

       With his second hit „Keep On Dancing" DJ BoBo prooved that the first song was not only a one-hit-single. It was in summer 1993 when he was number one in Finland and in many other countries in the Top Ten. In Germany he received a golden record for more than 250'000 sold singles. His first album was „Dance With Me" containing hits like „Everybody" and „Take Control" rewarded in Switzerland with a platin record. Since then he has continued his success.

       His first big tour in Europe was „There Is A Party" in 1995. With this tour he was even in South America where he made scream 120'000 people. In Summer 1995 he toured in Asia and Australia. The album „There Is A Party" contains fantastic hits like „Let The Dream Come True", „Freedom" and „Love Is All Around". In January 1996 his first ballad „Love Is The Price" was released. It was an enormous success as noone could have believed before that DJ BoBo would even do slow songs. In March 1996 he started a new tour called „Love Is The Price". The supporting act of this tour were „The Backstreet Boys".

       In Summer the preparations and rehearsals for his gigantic show „World In Motion" started. The world premiere of this show took place in Hamburg, Germany, in September 1996. The fans and the press were overwhelmed by this fantastic show with its brilliant dancing scenes and pyrotechnic effects especially during the song „Pray". At the same time his album „World In Motion" was released. Within 3 weeks it reached place 3 of the German Album Charts. In Switzerland he made the sensational jump from 0 to place one.

       After his „World In Motion" - Tour he made a promotion tour through Asia. DJ BoBo had a gig being the first western artist in Kwang/China. In March 1997 DJ BoBo and his Crew toured through South America (Brazil, Chile, Columbia) one whole month. In Brazil they had a TV-performance at the greatest TV-show reaching about 25 million viewers.

       After this great success he continued the „World In Motion-Tour" in Spring 1997 where he represented his new summer song „It's My Life". In August DJ BoBo created with his „Shadows Of The Night" a mixture between classical and dance music.

       To compose a new album it took DJ BoBo and his composer Axel Breitung nearly one whole year. Of course, fans were waiting impatiently for this. The single release of „Where Is Your Love" was in March 1998. There was brilliant video clip shot at an old castle in Potsdam/Berlin to draw the attention to the forthcoming album „Magic". Within two weeks the album was in the Top Ten of the German Album Charts where it stayed a long while.

       As he tried to top his „World In Motion Show" he was working on the new MAGIC-show more than 10 months. The world premiere of his Magic-Show should take place in Lucerne/Switzerland at the end of August 1998.

       After nearly one year of preparations everything was ready. All concert venues were examined, measured and booked. 80 tonnes of equipment were transported in 7 trucks throughout Europe. A crew of 80 people were working 7 hours a day to build up the stage and another 3 hours to rebuild it again.

       DJ BoBo and his crew travelled in 6 night liners. Of course they were accompanied by a kitchen staff of 4 cooks.

       The 29th of August 1998 was a big day for the people of Luzern and for us. A superb beginning of the DJ BoBo Magic-tour was presented to us. Over 7000 people enjoyed the world premiere in the sold out "Allmend Hall".

       21.05h: Lights were raised down, a lot of neonlights swivelled and "BoBo-BoBo"-shouts reverberated down in the concert hall. A few minutes later BoBo appeared performing one hit after another: Where Is Your Love, It's my Life, Respect Yourself, There Is A Party......DJ BoBo gave the enthusiastic audience what they wanted. Top of the show was the Magic Castle, a very costly stage construction which ensures open mouths of all visitors. DJ BoBo spent a lot of effort on his new show. Lots of special effects could be seen and heard on the 22 metres wide, 16 m deep and 10 m high stage. About one dozen people were on the stage, a 14 m long catwalk lead into the screaming crowd and the extraordinary Magic Castle completed the giant spectacle. That was in 1998. So be surprised what he will do in 1999.

       In 1999 the stories goes on:

       To create a new fantastic and even more exciting stage show DJ BoBo took himself a short break. But he published so that his fans would not forget him while he was working on his new stage show a special product album called "www.djbobo.ch The Ultimate Megamix 1999", a mixture of many DJ BoBo-Hits starting from "Somebody Dance With", "Keep On Dancing" till his latest hits like "Around The World" and "Celebrate". Right after that DJ BoBo was rewarded with the World Music Award for being the 'World's best selling Swiss Artist of the Year' for the fifth time in a row.

       Subsequently to his work and, of course, to the work of his team of specialists they created the MYSTASIA TOUR, a new unique tour of music, show and fireworks alltogether. Though DJ BoBo and his crew had already begun planning the upcoming show a long time ago, they went on the Magic open air tour in June '99 one more time, and performed the successful show again (five times) on which they performed 3 brand-new songs: Together, Lies and Music Is My Life.

       In October 1999 the so-called "black album" was released. It's name is "Level 6" and immediately after its release it hit number one in the Swiss Charts and was awarded Platinum in Switzerland and Gold in Germany. The pilot single "Together" which was released in August 1999 reached top positions in the charts even in Bulgaria. So far Mystasia "The Land Beyond Your Dreams", DJ BoBo's current show, has fascinated more than 110'000 people in 19 concert arenas in Europe. Simultaneously with the beginning of the new tour, the second single "Lies" was released. It is, by the way, DJ BoBo's favorite track on the album "Level 6".

       In spring 2000, DJ BoBo received the World Music Award in Monte Carlo once again. Being honored six times in a row is a unique record which surely will not be broken in the near future. Soon after that appeared "Gestatten, René Baumann". The book by DJ BoBo where he describes his life and his career form his own perspective, including all the successful moments and setbacks. All that along with more than 200 coloured images.

       After seven months of hard work the latest DJ BoBo album was released (February 2001). It's name - PLANET COLORS - gives a clue of what you can find inside the album. DJ BoBo and Axel Breitung composed, produced and wrote the lyrics of every song in a very different way and the result is more than successful. Every song represents a new color of the life and DJ BoBo has put in this work all of his great and positive emotions about people and the world itself. His previous Mystasia Tour and fans all around the world have a great deal with this album. It includes the "favorite title from my youth", the song "What A Feeling" as a duet with Irene Cara.

       Planet Colors - The Show. The most spectacular show ever. Created in a different way from his past five tours from which has been taken only the best fragments. On a stage, which is almost 100 feet wide and this time with 12 dancers, DJ BoBo and his team presented the newest songs from the "Planet Colors" album and his greatest hits. For a second time you can watch on the show people singing live on stage along with DJ BoBo the song "Respect Yourself". All these fireworks of music, pyrotechnics, spectacular dance scenes and entertainment captures the audience far far beyond than "the land of your dreams". Planet Colors - The Show Of Your Life.

       René started his carrer with collecting moss in the forest for a gardening business. Having this lucrative job he earned about US $ 8 per day - just enough for his first pair of football shoes. In the middle of the 80's breakdance and spraying graffiti was becoming more important for the music fanatic teenager than his hobby playing football. From that time he sprayed his logo "BoBo", taken from his favourite comic figure "BoBo, king of the out-breakers", on walls and railway waggons. At the same time he was DJ at a club. For the love of his mother he started an apprenticeship as a bakery. After finishing this apprenticeship music became at last his determining factor of René Baumann's life: 5 days a week BoBo worked as a professional DJ for 3'000 Swiss Francs. Being 18 years he became Swiss DJ Vice Champion. With his artist name, DJ BoBo, he released his first single which no-one, except a few friends, wanted to buy. Even the next 2 singles were only sold some hundred times. His first musical experiments being musical rarities are stored in the cellar of his Swiss House.

       In 1992 and 1993 DJ BoBo succeeded in having his breakthrough: Golden Record for his single "Somebody Dance With Me". Persistance, perseverance and the belief in himself led him not only in his native country but also in foreign countries to success and popularity. One hit followed another.

       BoBo has gained international success and popularity due to his costly and spectacoolar stage shows in which he shows his quality being an expressive dancer and great entertainer. His shows are a giantic mixture between pop-concert and musical with the most modern light and laser technique, special effects, pyro technique and, and, and......

       The fantastic reputation of his concerts fills completly sold-out concert halls allover the world. Even in Asia, Europe, Africa or Latin America: BoBo has been there. The fact is that his world-wide fans has increased from tour to tour is only natural. But also the technical dimensions of his stage show seem to grow into immense proportions: The "Magic-Show" of last year even hit his "World In Motion-Show" (1996/1997) several times. The stage of the "Magic-Show" had a weight of 80 metric tons, seven articulated lorries were necessary for the transport and seven hours for the construction. And 1999? Even more entertainment and more show - the "Mystasia-Show"

       The publicity has been trying to keep the rumour alive that DJ BoBo cannot read any musical notes. This is not true: The producer, composer, lyricist and singer took lessons in playing the flute, the piano anbd the drums. Even though BoBo admits clearly: "The computer is a great assistance to me but it does not do anything automatically." Normally the artist records his ideas, melodies and lyrics immediately on a dictaphone to process them with the computer at his studio. Now the exceptional artist with his 4 senses for creating the extreme climbs with his album LEVEL 6 the next step of the success ladder. DJ BoBo who is titulated by the press - to be a genious "Workoholic" and "Perfectionist" sees strictly to his musical and business independance: he is his own manager and leads in this function also his record company YES-Music in Switzerland. In Germany the record company EAMS is responsible for the promotion and distribution of his music.

       Success is usually expressed in figures and honours. But before we are going to list the statistic material BoBo's motto should be honoured accordingly: "Staying normal and no self-honouring."

       DJ BoBo has released seven albums and 24 singles since 1993. He has received world-wide 251 golden and 21 platinum records. 5 millions of albums and 4 millions of singles were sold world-wide. You can listen to his hits on 75 millions of compilations all around the world.