Born Thomas Dürr on December 30, 1968, in Ditzingen, Baden-Württemberg, not far outside of Stuttgart, he was a co-founding member of Die Fantastischen Vier, which formed in the late '80s. One of the first German rap groups to attain pop-crossover success, Die Fantastischen Vier made their album debut in 1991 and broke into the mainstream in 1992 with "Die Da?!," a smash hit in not only Germany but in Austria and Switzerland as well. In the wake of "Die Da?!," Die Fantastischen Vier remained one of Germany's most successful mainstream music acts throughout the remainder of the '90s. Their popularity peaked with the album 4:99 (1999), a chart-topping blockbuster throughout the German-language world, and its smash hit single "MfG." As a solo artist, Thomas D made his full-length debut with Solo (1997) on the label Four Music. Solo reached the Top 20 of the albums chart and spawned the hit singles "Rückenwind" and "Solo." In 1998 he scored another hit with "Wish (Komm Zu Mir)," a duet with Franka Potente released on the Lola Rennt soundtrack. The non-album single, "Liebesbrief," was also a hit, reaching the Top Ten in 2000. Lektionen in Demut (2001), Thomas D's second solo album, reached the Top Five in both Germany and Austria and spawned the singles "Uns Trennt das Leben" and "Gebet an den Planet." Several years later, following a couple blockbuster albums with Die Fantastischen Vier, Thomas D released his third solo album, Kennzeichen D (2008), which reached the Top Ten and spawned another round of singles ("Get on Board," "Vergiftet im Schlaf"). ~ Jason Birchmeier