Robin Grubert is a Swedish-German multi-platinum music producer, songwriter, and artist based out of Los Angeles, California. His professional music career took off in 2003 when Angel of Berlin, a song Robin wrote for German artist Martin Kesici, reached the number one position on the German charts. This led him to work with other notable artists including Keri Hilson, Alvaro Soler, Udo Lindenberg, and Conchita Wurst amongst many others. His best known works include writing and producing Keri Hilson's single I Like, featured in the soundtrack for the movie Zweiohrküken, Mirror, Mirror recorded by Marina Kaye on her platinum album Fearless, and Tu M’appelles recorded by Adel Tawil featuring Peachy.
In 2014, Robin wrote, produced, and published his debut album called Little Ashes, which has already been streamed upwards of 1.7 million times on Spotify and has gained a loyal fan base.
2023
On March 30th Robin won the “Deutscher Musikautor:innenpreis” in the category “Best Songwriter Rock/Pop”. The award is Germany’s biggest annual event honoring composers and songwriters across all genres, hosted by the GEMA.
Michael Patrick Kelly’s single Wonders featuring Rakim, co-written and produced by Grubert, reached #3 on the German Airplay Charts. In Poland the song even reached the #1 position on both the Airplay and Shazam Charts.
2022
Michael Patrick Kelly’s single Blurry Eyes - produced by Grubert and his production partners - reached the #1 position on the Swiss Airplay Charts, and the #2 spot in Germany. The song also went on to receive Platinum status in both countries. Kelly also performed 3 of his songs co-penned with Grubert on his widely successful B.O.A.T.S arena tour across several European countries.
LOTTE’s Album Woran hältst Du dich fest, wenn alles zerbricht?, containing the song Woran hältst Du dich fest, wenn alles zerbricht? (Pt.2), written and co-produced by Grubert, entered the Top 2 Album Charts in Germany.
Tokio Hotel and icelandic electronic artist Daði Freyr released Happy People, co-written by Grubert, as a single to promote their album 2001.
2021
“Snake Charmer”, co-written and produced by Grubert, was released by LA based Canadian songwriter and artist Lilianna Wilde.
Helene Fischer’s self-titled album had since its 2017 release accumulated enough sales and streams to be awarded 5x platinum in both Germany and Austria.
German independent artist Thees Uhlmann released the song “Club 27”, written by Grubert with bestselling book author Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre and Thees Uhlmann himself. The song is an hommage to artists gone too soon at the age of 27.
Michael Patrick Kelly, also known as MPK and former member of the multi-platinum band “The Kelly Family” released his long-awaited fifth solo album “B.O.A.T.S.”. The album title is an abbreviation for “Based On A True Story” and the album contains the song “Paragliding”, co-written and produced by Grubert, as well as the single “Blurry Eyes”, which Grubert produced with the artist, along with fellow producers Daniel Flamm and Johannes Herbst. The album entered the German Album Charts at number #2.
On October 8th, platinum selling Rockband Revolverheld released their 5th Studio Album “Neu Erzählen”, featuring the song “Keine Zeit”, co-written and produced by Grubert, entering the German Album Charts at the #2 position.
German Rock icon Udo Lindenberg released the album “Udopium - Das Beste”, a greatest hits compilation containing 3 songs co-penned by Grubert, including the previously unreleased single “Kompass”, which would then become the title track of an installment of the German crime series “Tatort” featuring Maria Furtwängler in the leading role.
The video for the Little Ashes song “The Temple”, directed by Dejha Ti with a performance by Ania Catherine, was shot in Mexico City at the Casa Orgànica. Casa Orgànica is an extraordinary house designed by and home to world-renowned architect Javier Senosiain. The video was launched with an exclusive feature on the prestigious architecture/art/design platform domusweb.it, and it was screened at the Video Art & Experimental Film Festival in New York City.
2020
In 2020, Grubert and Kristian Nord composed and produced the score for Olaf Heine’s short film Tacheles, starring Thomas Kretschmann. The film premiered at its shooting location, the Kunsthaus Tacheles in Berlin during the Berlinale.
Simultaneously and together with his partners at California Music, Robin delivered music for the trailer of Bucking Heart, a docuseries about American Rodeo.
On March 1st, acclaimed Los Angeles violinist Caroline Campbell (LA Philharmonic, Michael Bublé, Andrea Bocelli) released a cover of Alanis Morissette’s Uninvited, produced by Grubert and mixed by James Krausse.
On March 24th, German Pop icon NENA released her single Licht, co-penned by Grubert.
In April, members of the cast of The Voice Of Germany performed the song Niemals Alleine written by Grubert, Alexander Zuckowski and Daniel Flamm, a charity song benefitting people effected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
With Adel Tawil’s single Tu M’appelles still on heavy rotation on German Radio, Grubert’s and Tawil’s previous mutual album releases Lieder and So Schön Anders reached 5x Gold and Platin status in Germany.
On May 15th, Dutch Countrypop Star Ilse Delange released her Top #20 album Changes.
Grubert produced 3 songs, co-writing 4, and then went on to produce the song Staub on German artist LEA’s album Treppenhaus, which entered the German Album Charts at #5.
The next German release was the single Halleluja, with Grubert’s long term collaborators Frida Gold. Good news came in from Karencitta, once Grubert’s protégé, when their song Bambambam reached 13M Facebook views, 4.4M views on TikTok, 750.000 Tik Tok video challenges and 10M views on YouTube. The song had been released for the annual Sinulog Festival in the Philippines, and as part of the artist development phase, during which Robin and his Partner and Grammy Award winner Jon Ingoldsby (Madonna, Elton John, Eminem, Ke$ha) acted as advisors and producers for Karencitta.
Together with his frequent collaborator Daniel Flamm, Robin produced the title song “Einmal Reisen” for the Warner Brothers movie “Jim Knopf & die wilde 13”, performed by German TV and internet phenomenon Mimi & Josy.
At the opening game the German Soccer Season, Sasha performed a version of the German National Anthem, arranged, produced and mixed by Grubert.
On November 27th, a new Little Ashes Ep titled “Life Noir” was released. All 4 songs were written and produced by Grubert, with Grubert collaborating with LA based Canadian artist Lilianna Wilde on some of the lyrics.
To German artist Nico Santos’ self-titled album “, Grubert co-wrote and produced the song “Forgot How To Love Me”. The album entered the German album charts at #6.
Together with his partners at California Music, Grubert created the sound logo for Chinese movie firm Cinity.
On November 21st, German artist LEA received the 1LIve Krone award for best female artist 2020. Grubert had contributed production on the song “Staub” to her latest album “Treppenhaus”, which had reached #5 on the German album charts.
On November 27th, the Little Ashes EP “Life Noir” had its global release.
2019
In 2019, Grubert collaborated with Berlin-based artist Taan Newjam to launch the project Fly By Nite. Their breakout single Night People features Swedish indie pop artist Amanda Fondell and was released by Virgin Records, gathering half a million streams by the end of the year.
Together with his partners at California Music , Grubert created the music for Silicon Valley software firm Ubisoft and the official Live Action Trailer for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint, featuring US movie star Jon Bernthal.
Adel Tawil’s single Tu M’appelles - co-written by Grubert, produced by Grubert with Patrick Pyke Salmy and German Rap producer Juh-Dee - became the number one German song on the national airplay charts.
Udo Lindenberg’s MTV Unplugged 2- Live aus dem Hotel Atlantik scored the #3 spot on 2019’s annual German album charts, including Grubert’s song Wir ziehen in den Frieden.
In October 2019, 30M streams in and counting, Filipina Rap artist Karencitta released IDK , co-penned and produced by Grubert. In December, the first audio of her follow-up song Rain was released on Karencitta’s YouTube Channel.
In November, ABC aired episode 607 of its celebrated series How To Get Away With Murder, featuring the Ryan Davis remix of The Big Now, a song Grubert had written, produced and released with Robot Koch, for his project Little Ashes.
2018
In 2018, Grubert produced Sasha’s album Schlüsselkind, which peaked at number four on the German album charts and reached top-twenty status on the Austrian album charts.
Grubert also teamed with long-time collaborator Jon Ingoldsby to develop an emerging artist by the name of Karencitta, a singer and rapper from Cebu, Philippines. She moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music and released the single Cebuana, which was co-written and produced by Grubert and Ingoldsby. The single and the artist became a commercial success, attaining over thirty million views on Karencitta’s Youtube channel. This led her to sign a record deal with Capitol Records in March 2018.
Grubert also collaborated with Udo Lindenberg and fellow lyricists Beatrice Reszat, Alexander Zuckowski and Sera Finale for the song Wir Ziehen In Den Frieden. The song was featured on Udo’s live album for MTV titled: MTV Unplugged - Live aus dem Hotel Atlantik. The song is a peace and human rights anthem, and was a driving force for Lindenberg’s 2019 collaboration with UNICEF.
2017
In 2017, Grubert worked on part of Adel Tawil’s album So Schön Anders, which reached number one on the German album charts and was certified platinum. He also co-wrote and produced Swedish indie-pop artist Amanda Fondell’s EP titled In A Talk With Nature.
Grubert also co-wrote and produced three songs on artist Helene Fischer’s self-titled album, which reached the number one spot on the German album charts. The album sold more than a million copies (certified 9x platinum), becoming the number one selling album of 2018 in Germany.
2016
In 2016, Grubert worked with Latin pop-star Alvaro Soler for a remix version of his hit song Sofia. The single topped the charts in 6 countries, claiming a Top 10 position in 15 territories and earning numerous gold, platinum and diamond awards.
Later that year, Grubert contributed the song Eldorado to German rockstar Udo Lindenberg’s album Stärker Als Die Zeit, which was certified 5x gold and reached the number one spot on the German album charts. The song was co-written by Grubert, Lindenberg, best-selling book author Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre, fellow songwriter Daniel Flamm and the award-winning jazz pianist, Martin Tingvall. Grubert continues to collaborate with Lindenberg on his works.
2015
In 2015 Grubert produced American artist Jacob Whitesides’ song Let’s Be Birds, in collaboration with writer and creative executive Billy Mann. He also contributed the song Galaxies to German artist and fashion influencer Lena, for her album called Crystal Sky, which was co-written with Stefan Skarbek and Nikki Flores.
Grubert co-wrote and produced the song Fire with Irish artist Rea Garvey. The song was part of the album Prisma, which peaked at number two on the German album charts.
On May 18th, Marina Kaye’s album Fearless was released, featuring Grubert’s songwriting and vocal production on Mirror Mirror. The record peaked at number three on the French album charts, and went on to sell more than 250.000 units, reaching double-platinum status.
2014
In 2014, Grubert set up a studio in Burbank with Grammy-winning record producer/mixing engineer Tony Maserati, British writer/producer Stefan Skarbek, and record producer/mixing engineers James Krausse and Justin Hergett. This period of time informed his sound and composition methods, leading him to develop a broader musical horizon beyond the cultural landscape of Los Angeles and California.
In the summer of that year, Grubert’s song Rise Like A Phoenix was performed by Conchita Wurst at the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Copenhagen. The song won the award, reaching the Top #10 in 8 territories and the #17 spot on the UK singles charts.
During the success Grubert collaborated with Stefan Skarbek to co-write and produced works for German pop-star Sasha. He also worked with French artist and singer Marina Kaye on her album Fearless, co-writing the song Mirror Mirror and producing Marina’s vocals.
2013
In 2013, successes with Robin’s involvement included Adel Tawil’s album Lieder (BVMI 5x Gold, IFPI AUT Platinum, IFPI SWI Gold), Mads Langer’s album In These Waters (#1 in Denmark, certified platinum), and Frida Gold’s album Liebe Ist Meine Religion, which he worked on alongside Billy Mann, Rick Nowles and Guy Chambers. The album reached number one on the German album charts and attained a certified gold status.
Joining forces with David Jost, Grubert co-wrote and co-produced the songs Bei Dir Bin Ich Schön and Neues Gefühl with Berlin-based electronica duo 2Raumwohnung. Both songs were part of the album Achtung Fertig, which peaked at #4 on the German album charts.
2012
In 2012, Grubert attained a gold record from his work with artist Reece Mastin for the album Beautiful Nightmare, on which he co-wrote the songs Stars and Addictive with both Mastin and Grammy-winner, Jon Ingoldsby. On Stars, Ingoldsby and Grubert also took care of the production and mixing.
While working on Mastin’s record, Robin and Jon launched the charity project Girls Of The World, in support of Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai. The project featured female singers and rappers Emily Saltzman, Carmen Amare and Juliana Joya. The single I am Malala was released along with the official music video, with all proceeds donated to the Malala Fund. When Malala won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, Girls Of The World performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Olso, Norway and gained international recognition.
Later that year, Grubert produced the song Hurt Lovers for British band Blue for the movie Schlussmacher, starring and directed by Matthias Schweighöfer.
In the fall of 2012, Grubert penned the song Heart Shaped Gun with Swedish jazz pianist and composer Martin Tingvall, which became the theme song for the German TV movie Tatort: Scheinwelten, as part of the classic Tatort series. The movie would have its TV premiere on New Year’s Day in 2013, and the song was performed by pop noir artist Femme Schmidt, which Grubert produced along with Jon Ingoldsby. He also contributed a vocal to the film version of the song.
2011
In 2011, Grubert and his then main collaborator David Jost contributed the song Reconnect to Danish artist Aura Dione’s album Before the Dinosaurs. He also co-wrote Rise Like a Phoenix, along with Alexander Zuckowski and Charlie Mason for Austrian artist Conchita Wurst. This song ended up winning the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in 2014, topping the Austrian charts and UK indie charts, and become a top-ten hit in many territories, and ended up reaching platinum status.
2010 - 2009
In 2009, Grubert collaborated with singer and songwriter Keri Hilson for the song I Like, which he co-wrote and co-produced with David Jost for American rapper and producer Timbaland’s label. The song reached international acclaim, spending over forty weeks on the charts in several countries. It was chosen as the title track for director Til Schweiger’s blockbuster film Zweiohrküken. In time, the success of I Like inspired Grubert to move to Los Angeles, California to pursue working with international artists.
Grubert moved into a house in Venice, California, which was dubbed by the locals as Ze German House, housing several artists of note including musician Malte Hagemeister and commercial director Markus Walter. Grubert continued to collaborate with established European artists, including 2Raumwohnung, Adel Tawil, Mads Langer, Amanda Fondell, and Conchita Wurst.
2009 - 2003
While residing in Hamburg, Grubert shared a recording studio with numerous successful musicians, including Mark Tavassol, a well-known bassist for the bands Wir Sind Helden and Gloria, Simon Triebel from the band Juli, singer Johannes Strate from the band Revolverheld, and German pop star Sasha, who was a household name in Germany at this point. Grubert continued to collaborate with his long-time co-writer, co-producer, and friend Alexander Zuckowski.
In August 2003, Grubert wrote Angel of Berlin for artist Martin Kesici, which ended up number one on the German singles chart, while simultaneously topping the German airplay charts, making this his first major commercial success. His success continued with his collaboration with German pop-star Sasha, with whom he worked as both a writer and producer on his album titled Open Water. The album reached top-ten status on both the album and single charts. They also worked together on the song Hide & Seek, which was chosen as the title song for the German crime film Die Drei ??? - Das Geheimnis Der Geisterinsel.
2002 - 1977
Robin Grubert was born in Hamburg, Germany to a German father and Swedish mother. As a child he excelled in school, and possessed an innate gift for music, which a school teacher noticed early on. His supportive parents enrolled him in musical studies so he could learn how to play instruments and nurture his natural talents. His musical education was initiated with the classical piano at five years of age, which progressed into the classical guitar, then the electrical guitar, and eventually vocal work. While attending high school in Hamburg, Grubert began writing songs and played guitar for bands at his school.
After high school, he opted to volunteer for social services and worked with special-needs children at a Waldorf school in Hamburg. This pivotal experience shaped his worldview and provided insight on the positive impact of music.
After performing his civic duties, Grubert enrolled in a music program at the University of Hamburg that was designed to help musicians find their path within the music industry. He was discovered at a showcase culminating the program by music executives, which led to a record deal with Sony Music shortly thereafter, and by EMI for a publishing deal. He began working on his debut album called Treibzeit, which possessed a poetic pop feel and sound. After the album’s release, he toured throughout Germany, where he met both emerging and successful artists that he would collaborate with in the future.
LITTLE ASHES
In 2012, Grubert was compelled to work on a personal project in which he would have complete artistic license. He says the following about that time:
“I have always enjoyed helping artists manifest their vision and the creative process that allows that to happen. At the same time, it is necessary to have the time and resources behind these projects, which tends to influence the creation of each song and album. There is something very inviting about creating and writing music without any restrictions, that is only influenced by what you’re exposed to, your personal taste, and the overall sense of musical truth and density.”
Grubert eventually embarked on a year-long writing and production journey, which took him to various locales throughout Napa Valley and Los Angeles—he recorded his debut album for his self-titled album Little Ashes, a moniker he created for himself to maintain anonymity. The album was mixed by his studio partners James Krausse and Justin Hergett in Burbank, California, and was then released by Motor Music in 2014.
In 2016, Little Ashes also appeared on film composer Dan Heath’s project called Lawless where he contributed a vocal performance for the song Likeness.
Working as Little Ashes, Grubert has since released the single The Big Now with electronica artist & producer Robot Koch. They also teamed with installation and performance artists Ania Catherine and Dejha Ti for the accompanying music video, shot at Optimist Studios in Los Angeles, California. The video featured several dancers with choreography designed by Catherine and Ti. The Ryan Davis Remix of the song was featured on episode 607 of the ABC series How To Get Away With Murder.
Grubert is currently working on his next release as Little Ashes, which is expected to debut in 2020.