Schiller (German pronunciation:[ˈʃɪlɐ]) is a German electronic music band. It was formed in 1998 and is named after the German poet and dramatist Friedrich Schiller. Originally, it was a duo consisting of Christopher von Deylen (German:[ˈdaɪlən]) and Mirko von Schlieffen. Around 2001 or 2002, von Schlieffen left the band, leaving von Deylen the solo 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 seven million albums worldwide.[2]
Schiller started as a duo, formed by Christopher von Deylen and Mirko von Schlieffen in 1998. Their first single was Das Glockenspiel. A remixed version by DJ Tiesto was released in 2001.
On 19 August 1999, their first full album, Zeitgeist, was launched. It was a mixture of ambient trance music and ambient chillout music. It was followed by Weltreise (Voyage), 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 on trance music, while Deylen wanted a more eclectic electronic sound, the duo split after their second album Weltreise.
Schiller's fifth album, Sehnsucht (Desire) was released on 22 February 2008. Sehnsucht was simultaneously released in two formats and in three editions. It has sold over 100,000 copies, and received a golden certification.[4]Sehnsucht was internationally released under the name Desire on 26 May 2008.[5]
Schiller's sixth studio album, Atemlos (Breathless), was released on 12 March 2010.[6] It debuted at second position on German Charts and was the highest entry for a domestic album for the week.[7] The English edition of the album Atemlos reached until number 3 in the chart of IFPI in Greece.[8] The single "Try" featured Nadia Ali.
Schiller live in 2012
On 5 October 2012, the seventh studio album, Sonne (Sun), was released. The next album was Opus, issued on 30 August 2013. On 26 February 2016, Future was released. Schiller's tenth studio album, Morgenstund, was released on 22 March 2019. It included collaborations with Iranian artists.[citation needed]
In 2021, Schiller teamed up with Alphaville and released a new version of their "Summer in Berlin" song (from the Forever Young album) as Schiller x Alphaville.[9][10]
Maserati has used three of Schiller's songs: "Drifting and Dreaming" with Jette von Roth for their promotional video of the Maserati GranTurismo, "Sommernacht" (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.[11]
In 2002, Jaguar produced a promotional DVD for the S Type and set it to the track 'Ein schöner Tag' (A beautiful day) by Schiller.[12]
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.
