Dan Mihai Bălan (born 6 February 1979) is a Moldovan artist, 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. The artist was chosen by Disney Channel Romania to sing the theme song from the series Brandy & Mr. Whiskers. Early life 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. Career 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