Thomas Hübner has performed as Clueso since the mid-1990s, taking his stage name from Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther. Born in Erfurt in 1980, he trained briefly as a hairdresser before dropping it to chase music full time, cutting his first vinyl single in 1998 and building a following through years of steady, independent releases.
His sound moves between hip hop, soul and electronic pop, and he broke through nationally with "Chicago" from his 2006 album Weit Weg. He went on to score three consecutive number one albums in Germany with Stadtrandlichter, Neuanfang and Handgepäck I, the last one an acoustic collection pieced together from songs he wrote while travelling, and has picked up Germany's 1Live Krone award for best artist five times.