Biography
read full storyDavid Christopher Daniel Wahlgren (born 13 July 1966), better known by the stage name Papa Dee, is a Swedish rap, ragga and dancehall musician. His most commercially successful track is his version of the Cat Stevens song "The First Cut Is the Deepest".
Wahlgren was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, to a Swedish mother and a Ghanaian father. His father left the family when he was a small child.
On 14 September 2008 Wahlgren was arrested; three days later he was charged (Swedish: Häktningbeslut) with grave assault (Swedish: grov misshandel) with bodily harm to his wife.[4][5] On 20 October 2008, a Swedish lower court found him guilty of a lesser charge of assault (Swedish: misshandel), and he was fined. His wife categorically denied that maltreatment had taken place.
In the 2010 re-trial all other charges were dropped. Papa Dee was furthermore reimbursed by the State due to the treatment and unlawful detention he’d been subject to.
As a consequence of the stress caused Papa Dee’s health deteriorated. He went through heart surgery in 2010.
His wife Andrea Wahlgren, (denying the allegations and never heard in court) wrote a book, ”En Fjärils Kamp” (A Butterfly’s Struggle) fuelled by the experience that no one wanted to hear her side of the events. It was released on www.vulkan.se (print on demand) and on the internet.
Sweden remains on Amnesty’s list of countries violating human rights due to irregularities in regard to its detention rules.
Wahlgren debuted in 1988 with the single "Funky Raggamuffin/Let the Music Play", a mixture of dancehall and hip hop. He then joined the Stonefunkers and became the group's rapper. This was followed by a few years of cooperation with Rob'n'Raz. Wahlgren then went solo, and had his breakthrough in 1990 with the album Lettin' Off Steam, which was predominantly hip hop and dancehall. His next album, One Step Ahead, had elements of soul and reggae, mixing song and rap. His 1994 release, Original Master, produced by Denniz Pop at Cheiron Studio, incorporated eurodisco into his music.
During the 1990s and 2000s he released several albums, often in cooperation with Desmond Foster and a couple with Soundism. 2001, Soundism also produced the Papa Dee song "Hottie Hottie Girls" featuring Lady Saw, Jamaica's prime female dancehall star. Kent (Gillström) Isaacs also produced a couple of Papa Dee's more dared and innovative albums. One of the albums they did together was the cover album, recorded in Jamaica, with all the classical reggare-musicians like Horse-Mouth, Flabba Holt and Chinna Smith which has played on numerous classical reggae-albums. He is also a member of The Brooklyn Funk Essentials and of Dubchek with David Barratt.
His songs have been featured in several feature films including Predator 2, starring Danny Glover. In 1997 Dubchek made music for the critically acclaimed Two Girls and a Guy featuring Robert Downey, Jr. and Heather Graham. In the Swedish feature film/comedy Smala Sussie Papa Dee was credited both featuring as himself onscreen and as songwriter.
PD composed music for the stage (Top Dog/ Underdog at Stockholms Stadsteater)
Due to his prolific yet flexible imprint Papa Dee has enjoyed a successful career as one of Sweden’s most sought after voice artists dubbing cartoons and movies alike.
He took on Eddie Murphy’s character in Mulan (1998) and Mulan 2 (2005) as Mushu.
In Snow Dogs (2002) he rendered Cuba Gooding Jr's character .
Replacing Will Smith in the Swedish release of Shark Tale/Hajar (2004) he featured as Oscar.
In Space Chimps (2008) he voiced Andy Samberg's character Ham 3.