David Alaba: His dad had a Nigerian hit song in the 90s and was first black soldier in Austrian army

Alaba's dad who was also the first black solder in the Austrian army, had one sole album and several other music projects with a group.

Nigerian football fans watch Bayern Munich star David Alaba with a pang, ruing over a player of local descent who joined a growing and very prolific list of athletes who snubbed Nigeria to represent their nation of birth.

It’s known that his father, George Alaba is a Nigerian who migrated to and settled in Austria where he had the football star.

What many don’t know is that George was a musician who had a Nigerian hit song in the 90s.

 

If you were born before the 90s, you would remember the song ‘Wishes for all (Wadada)' by Inferno. George Alaba was Inferno who released the single and the follow-up album ‘From me to you’ in Austria.

Although the song and album were not released in Nigeria, “Wishes for all’ was such a heat that it broke into the Nigerian airwaves.

‘Wishes for all’ became a hit record on rotation across radio stations around the country. The video was also well received.

 

Way before the shooting of music videos in South Africa, United States, United Kingdom and anywhere aesthetically better than Nigeria, ‘Wishes for all’ video offered something new.

Shot in snowy Austria, the video featured a white guy who rapped at the on record and a bunch of Caucasian women, one of them also providing background vocals.

It was a fresh and groovy record which played was on every dance floor in Nigeria.

George Alaba

 

Alaba who is said to be a prince from Ogere in Ogun State left Nigeria to Vienna in 1984 to study at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration.

While schooling he took up a job as a DJ at a spot called the African Club where he played almost every night in front of a white audience with the name DJ Man George Alaba.

In 1988 he met Gina, a nurse from the Philippines with whom he had two children, Bayern Munich star David Alaba and Rose May, an Austrian model and singer.

Rose May took after her father in music.

George got his Austrian passport in the early 90s and served as the first black soldier in the Austrian army. As a black man in the Austrian army, George was very popular and such a crowd drawer. He attracted media attention and often got photo requests from strangers.

 

Music career

Encouraged by how his white audiences responded to Afropop sounds, Alaba started recording songs and in the middle 90s released his single ‘Wishes for all (Wadada)’ under the stage name Inferno.

 

The follow-up album ‘From me to you’ didn’t do well which made Inferno team up with a friend Petra Suk whom he met while working at African Club.

 

The Austrian Pop/Euro-House duo called Two in One in released several albums and EPs under EMI Austria.

 

Their breakout came with a single called ‘Indian Song’ released under Koch Records, which landed in second place on the Austrian charts.

 

The duo broke up after seven years following a dispute and Inferno returned to DJing

He married Gina in 1996 and after serving in the army and quitting DJing, he went on the start managing the careers of their children.

SOURCE - PULSE.NG posted by Campus94