Schiller (band)

Schiller

Christopher von Deylen
Background information
Genres Electropop, ambient, electronic, new-age, trance, chilltrance
Years active 1998 – present
Labels Universal Music Group, Polydor, Radikal, Deutsche Grammophon
Associated acts Bluechel und von Deylen, Peter Heppner, Angelface, Face The Bass, Futuresmile, German Poets, Nova, Ophelia, Polaris, Silver Shadow, Split, Tank, Trip To Mars, Nadia Ali
Website musik.schillerserver.de
Members Christopher von Deylen
Past members Mirko von Schlieffen

Schiller are a German electronic band, formed in 1998 and named after the German poet and dramatist Friedrich Schiller. Originally it was a duo consisting of Christopher von Deylen and Mirko von Schlieffen. Around 2001 or 2002, von Schlieffen left the band, leaving von Deylen the sole member.

Schiller won the ECHO award in 2002 for the Best Dance Single of the Year with "Dream of You".[1] Schiller has sold over 7 million albums worldwide.[2]

Christopher von Deylen does not provide any vocals for Schiller productions himself. Vocals are sung by guest artists including Sarah Brightman, Moya Brennan of Clannad, Adam Young of Owl City, Andrea Corr of The Corrs, Colbie Caillat, Sarah Howells of Welsh emotional folk / indie band Paper Aeroplanes, Ben Becker, Peter Heppner of synthpop band Wolfsheim, MiLù - also known as Mila Mar, Xavier Naidoo, Maya Saban, Kim Sanders formerly of Culture Beat, Ana Torroja of the Spanish pop group Mecano, Tarja Turunen formerly of power metal group Nightwish, Despina Vandi, Alexander Veljanov of Darkwave group Deine Lakaien, Swedish singer September, French voice artist Pierre Maubouché.

Other musicians that have collaborated with Schiller include Anggun, Lang Lang, Klaus Schulze, Mike Oldfield, Helen Boulding, Kate Havnevik, Damae of Fragma, Jaël of Swiss band Lunik, Stephenie Coker and German actress Anna Maria Mühe.

Many of Schiller's albums take over a year to receive a North American release. Until 2008 several of Schiller's tracks were re-recorded with English replacing German lyrics. The television channel Music Force Europe dedicates a weekly programming slot to Schiller's music; the show is called "Schill-Out".

Career

Schiller started as a duo, formed by Christopher von Deylen and Mirko von Schlieffen in 1998. The first single of the band was "Glockenspiel", with great success in Germany.

On 19 August 1999, their first full album, Zeitgeist, was launched, focusing in club and dance music. It was followed by Weltreise, which was released on 30 July 2001. This album featured the single "Dream of You" (with Peter Heppner), which won the ECHO award in 2002 for the Best Dance Single of the Year.

Since Schlieffen wanted to focus mostly in trance music, while Deylen wanted a more eclectic electronica, the duo split after their second album Weltreise.

The third studio album, Leben, was issued on 13 October 2003. It included the popular single "Leben... I Feel You", featuring Peter Heppner. Artists like Peter Heppner (from Wolfsheim), Maya Saban, Sarah Brightman, Alexander Veljanov (from Deine Lakaien), Kim Sanders, and Mila Mar performed vocals on this album.

Leben was followed by Tag und Nacht, released on 28 October 2005. Mike Oldfield, Moya Brennan, Kim Sanders, Jette van Roth, and Thomas D. collaborated on Tag und Night.

Schiller's fifth album, Sehnsucht (Desire) was announced in December 2007 and later released on 22 February 2008. Sehnsucht was simultaneously released in two formats and in three editions. Over 100,000 copies of Sehnsucht have been sold since the release of the album. It has received a golden certification.[3] Sehnsucht was internationally released under the name Desire on 26 May 2008.[4]

Schiller also collaborated with Colbie Caillat on "You" which was released in 2008, both of them appear in the accompanying video. Same year Schiller produced another successful single called "Time For Dreams" with the Chinese pianist Lang Lang. The song was used by the German TV channel ZDF during the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing.

Schiller's sixth studio album, Atemlos (Breathless), was released in February 2010.[5] It debuted on second position on German Charts and was the highest entry for a domestic album for the week.[6] The English edition of the album Atemlos reached until number 3 in the chart of IFPI in Greece.[7] The single "Try" featured Nadia Ali.

On 5 October 2012, the seventh studio album, Sonne (Sun), was released. The next album was Opus, issued on 30 August 2013.

Music licensing

Maserati has used three of Schiller's songs: "Drifting and Dreaming" with Jette von Roth for their promotional video of the Maserati GranTurismo, "Sommernacht" (German for Summer Night) for their video on the GranTurismo S high performance version, and "Let Me Love You" with Kim Sanders for their Quattroporte high performance sedan.[8]

Discography

Main article: Schiller discography

The original German releases are under various subsidiaries of Universal Music Group, such as Polydor Records Germany. In the U.S., Schiller has been signed to several independent record labels, including Radikal Records for Zeitgeist, Voyage, and Life; 4 West Records for Day and Night; and OK! Good Records for Breathless.

Studio albums

German releases

English translation in parentheses.

All albums received special edition release alongside standard release.

USA releases

Extended Plays

Live Albums

Singles

German releases

USA releases

UK releases

Video

German releases

USA releases

Charitable releases

Mixes & Remixes

References

  1. ↑ "Dance-ECHO 2002: Dance-Single des Jahres national (Best Dance Single of the Year (2002))" (in German). ECHO (music award).
  2. ↑ Reports on Schiller Official Website
  3. ↑ "Όλα για τη συνεργασία Βανδή/Φοίβου/Schiller".(Greek) MAD TV. Retrieved on 2 April 2008
  4. ↑ http://www.last.fm/music/Schiller/Desire
  5. ↑ http://musik.schillerserver.de/content_new.php?content=news&lang=en&sub=news&page=8#
  6. ↑ http://musik.schillerserver.de/content_new.php?content=news&lang=en&sub=news&page=7#
  7. ↑ http://greekcharts.com/weekchart.asp?cat=a&year=2010&date=201017
  8. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RFGgNmGIhM

External links