Robin Schulz, a German producer of house music recognized for his lively and tuneful approach, rocketed to prominence with an immediate worldwide breakthrough on his very first commercial outing: a rich reworking of Dutch rapper Mr. Probz’s “Waves.” Released in early 2014, the track climbed to number one in six European countries and settled at number three in six others. His next release, a dancefloor-focused reinterpretation of “Prayer in C” by French indie pop duo Lilly Wood & the Prick, proved even stronger, reaching the summit in ten European countries. A run of praised albums came afterward, among them 2021’s IIII and 2023’s Pink.
Born April 28, 1987, in Osnabrück, Schulz began spinning records at age 17 under the sway of Richie Hawtin, Sven Väth, Armand Van Helden, and Tiësto. At 20 he started his own weekly club event, running it for two years until the urge to create original material steered him into production. Several years of experimentation preceded his decision to upload tracks to YouTube, where his pop-house aesthetic quickly drew millions of views.
After the first two singles succeeded, he issued his third, “Willst Du” (Do You Want To), a remix of a satirical cut by German rapper Alligatoah, in September 2014; debut album Prayer arrived later that month. Although known for remixes, Schulz retained the same method on the record, which consisted almost entirely of reworkings of other artists’ material alongside only a few original tracks. Later in the year his version of Mr. Probz’s “Waves” became a major club smash, followed by still greater impact from the Lilly Wood & the Prick treatment of “Prayer in C.” The single “Headlights” surfaced in 2015 together with the follow-up album Sugar.
Schulz joined David Guetta and Cheat Codes on the 2016 single “Shed a Light,” which yielded two remix EPs and hundreds of millions of streams. The song reappeared the next year on album Uncovered, which also contained the single “OK” featuring James Blunt. Another single, “Oh Child” with Piso 21, arrived in 2018. That year he scored another hit via “Speechless” featuring Erika Sirola, then returned in 2019 with “All This Love” featuring Harlœ. Further singles included 2019’s “Rather Be Alone” with Nick Martin and Sam Martin plus 2020’s “In Your Eyes” featuring Alida and “Alane” with Wes. Toward year’s end Schulz released the opening track—“All We Got” featuring KIDDO—from his fourth album, IIII, which appeared at the start of 2021. Among his many joint projects that year was the hit “One More Time” featuring Alida. 2022 brought another major success with “Miss You,” his collaboration with Oliver Tree. Fifth studio album Pink followed in 2023 and contained the hits “Young Right Now” (feat. Dennis Lloyd), “On Repeat” (feat. David Guetta), and “Sun Will Shine” (feat. Tom Walker).