Born in Strasbourg on April 24, 1958, Pierre Schott made his name with the group Raft before building a solo career around the blues. A graduate of the École Louis Lumière in Paris, he was destined to become a sound engineer when, in 1983, he formed several groups with Christian Fougeron, The Drinks and High & Dry, which became Raft in 1985. Following a debut album, the duo scored a huge hit with the reggae pop hit "Yaka dansé", which reached No. 2 in the Top 50 in 1987. In 1990, after producing a second album, the duo split up and multi-instrumentalist Pierre Schott began his own career. His first album, Le Nouveau Monde (1992), produced by Robin Millar and released by Virgin, met with some critical success, not least thanks to the presence of singer Tanita Tikaram on the bilingual duet "Je te voudrai quand même". Familiar with reggae and music with American or Latin roots, his second solo album, Le Retour à la Vie Sauvage (1995), was released on the Dreyfus label, and his next, Le Milieu du Grand Nulle Part (1998), was recorded for Musidisc with Eric Clapton's brass section, The Kick Horns. A self-produced artist, he moved into the blues with Zenland (2007), La Fiancée du Silence (2010), Gardien de Nénuphar (2013) and Life in the Low Key (2016), written in English for the first time. Following the 2018 release of Gringo, Pierre Schott plays his own repertoire again, adding four new compositions to Remixes et Miscellanées (2019), performed as a duet with singer Mariya.
