German house music producer Robin Schulz became an overnight sensation when he scored an international smash hit with his very first commercial release, a lush remix of "Waves" by Dutch rapper Mr. Probz. It hit number one in six European countries and number three in six more, and his follow-up, a club-ready remix of French indie pop duo Lilly Wood the Prick's "Prayer in C," was even more successful, going to number one in ten European countries. A string of successful singles and albums followed including 2021's IIII.

It wasn't as though Schulz hadn't paid his dues, however. Born on April 28, 1987, in Osnabrück, he began DJ'ing at the tender age of 17, influenced by the likes of Richie Hawtin, Sven Väth, Armand Van Helden, and Tiësto. By 20, he had his own club night, which he ran for two years before the yen to make his own music led him into production. Schulz experimented for several years before uploading his tracks to YouTube, where his melodic, bouncy pop-house sound earned him millions of views.

After the success of his first two singles, his third, "Willst Du" (Do You Want To), a remix of a satirical track by German rapper Alligatoah, was released in September 2014, and his debut album, Prayer, followed later that month. Having made his name with remixes, Schulz was not about to mess with the formula, and the album consisted almost entirely of his remixes of other artists' songs, with only a few original productions. Later that year, his remix of "Waves" by Mr. Probz became a massive dancefloor hit, followed by the even greater success of his remix of Lilly Wood the Prick's "Prayer in C." Schulz released the single "Headlights" in 2015, along with the sophomore album Sugar.

His "Shed a Light" single -- a collaboration with David Guetta and Cheat Codes -- was issued in 2016. The song spawned a pair of remix EPs and nearly 200 million streams. The track also appeared the following year on Schulz's full-length Uncovered, which included the single "OK" featuring James Blunt. A second single, "Oh Child" with Piso 21, arrived in 2018. He scored another hit that year with "Speechless" featuring Erika Sirola before returning with the 2019 single "All This Love," which featured Harlœ. More non-album singles followed, including 2019's "Rather Be Alone" with Nick Martin and Sam Martin, and 2020's "In Your Eyes" featuring Alida and "Alane" with Wes. Toward the end of the year, Schulz issued the first track -- the KIDDO-featuring "All We Got" -- from his fourth album, IIII, which was released at the beginning of 2021. Among his many collaborations throughout that year was the hit "One More Time" featuring Alida. ~ John D. Buchanan, Rovi