Introduction
Jonny Jakobsen (born 17 November 1963) is a Danish-Swedish former Bubblegum dance/eurodance singer better known under his fictitious identity as Indian taxi driver Dr. Bombay. He began as a country singer called Johnny Moonshine, but became famous only after developing the persona of Dr. Bombay. His debut was in 1998 with the album Rice and Curry, hitting the charts with the title track, as well as Calcutta and SOS (The Tiger Took My Family). Subsequently, he went on to record albums as faux-Scottish Dr. MacDoo and faux-Mexican Carlito.
He has gained some fame and notoriety in the Europop scene. Two of his songs have appeared in the Beatmania IIDX series of video games, one of them appeared in Samba de Amigo and another one in Pump It Up PRO 2.
Before "Dr. Bombay"
Jonny Jakobsen began his career as a faux-country/pop singer called Johnny Moonshine. As Johnny Moonshine, Jakobsen released one album titled "Johnny Moonshine & The Troubled Water Band" (1995).
Below is a description of the Moonshine Project from "Roastinghouse.com":
"Johnny, born and raised in the southern part of Sweden. He's been working as a troubadour for many years and been in several bands, and during that time he wrote hundreds of songs. Johnny's music is country-rock with a melody that sticks to your mind. The lyrics are very personal and easy to sing along with. RoastingHouse decided to record an album with Johnny and the Troubled Water Band, and the final mix was completed in July 1995. This debut album is available for licensing / sub-publishing all over the world except Scandinavia."
Due to the failure of Johnny Moonshine, Jakobsen moved on in search of a newer, more 'annoying' sound. He chose the style of eurodance, which was just becoming popular in the late 1990s, and began his career as the fake Indian "Dr. Bombay". Jakobsen teamed up with Robert Uhlmann, who is famous for his work with Smile.dk
Dr. Bombay
Jakobsen's earliest career success was prompted by the introduction of the Dr. Bombay character in 1998. In his lyrics, the character is portrayed as an Indian taxi driver, mystic, sitar player, chef, snake charmer and avid fan of elephant racing. He appears clad in traditional Indian garb, such as a kurta and pagri, with the addition of dark glasses that are also worn by the other characters portrayed by Jakobsen.
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) |
Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUT |
GER |
NOR |
SUI |
SWE |
||||||||||
| 1998 | "Calcutta (Taxi Taxi Taxi)" | 31 | 28 | 2 | 35 | 1 |
|
Rice and Curry | ||||||
| "S.O.S (The Tiger Took My Family)" | — | 30 | 6 | — | 2 |
|
||||||||
| "Rice & Curry" | — | — | — | — | 15 | |||||||||
| 1999 | "Girlie, Girlie" | — | — | — | — | 46 | ||||||||
| "Indy Dancing" | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
Albums
- 1998 – Rice & Curry
Dr. Macdoo
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWE |
||||||||||||||
| 2000 | "Macahula Dance" | 4 | Under the Kilt | |||||||||||
| "Under the Kilt" | 41 | |||||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
Albums
- 2000 – Under the Kilt
Carlito
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWE |
||||||||||||||
| 2005 | "Carlito (¿Who's That Boy?)" | 17 | Fiesta | |||||||||||
| "Poco Loco" | 20 | |||||||||||||
| 2006 | "Fiesta" | — | ||||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
Albums
- 2006 – Fiesta
- 2007 – World Wild