Kurt Hugo Schneider (born: September 7, 1988)[1], sometimes referred to by his initials KHS, is an American video editor, producer, musician, singer and songwriter, best known for making music videos for various YouTube musicians, such as Sam Tsui (TheSamTsui) and Against The Current.
Channel History[]
He often edited his video in the now popular adapted format of boxes of the vocalist that creates the illusion of a one-man a cappella choir. As of May 2019, his channel has gained over 11.5 million subscribers, making it the 131th most subscribed YouTube channel in the United States.
In 2009, he created the production company NoodleHouse Studios.
He, along with Sam Tsui shot for an independent film, College Musical: The Movie, based upon their online musical series, has been completed in the summer of 2010 and the film was released September 3, 2014. Since September 2010, Schneider and Tsui have also begun to release videos of original songs.
He also has a second channel called kurt where he uploads scenes, vlogs, and other things.
Personal Life[]
Schneider was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Laurie S. Auth, a visual artist, and Michael Schneider, a mathematician. He grew up with his sister Carson in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, where he lived just a street away from Sam Tsui, whom he met while attending middle school.
Schneider began collaborating with Tsui while both were in high school and continued while they were at Yale; Schneider matriculated a year before. He produced videos of Tsui singing covers and medleys, and has since made an online musical series (College Musical) and produced original songs, first gaining wide media attention their Michael Jackson medley video. The viral videos led to a few appearances on national television, including The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. They both attended Wissahickon High School where Schneider become involved in musical theater in high school and quickly developed a love of music and performance, before graduatating as class Valedictorian from Wissahickon, and magna cum laude from Yale University in 2010 with a degree in mathematics
In 2011, he moved to Los Angeles where he currently resides.
Collaboration with Coca-Cola[]
In 2013, Schneider and Coca-Cola created music videos featuring creative covers of two 2011 singles: Calvin Harris' "Feel So Close" and Of Monsters and Men's "Little Talks" for a campaign called "The Sounds of AHH". Commercial edits of the singles premiered on the inaugural episode of season 13 of American Idol on January 14, 2014 on FOX. In the two new versions, recreated by Schneider, he is shown making the track playing only Coca-Cola bottles, glasses and cans. In addition, "Feels So Close" features the vocals of Sam Tsui whereas on the track "Little Talks", he is accompanied musically by beatboxing cellist Kevin Olusola.
Trivia[]
- Kurt is a self-taught musician.
- He is of German and Austrian descent on his father's side, though he doesn't speak German.
- His older sister, Carson Rose Schneider, is a classical pianist.
- Schneider played for Yale's chess team.
–He currently holds a USCF Elo rating of 2235, and can play multiple games of chess blindfolded simultaneously.
–He played against Magnus Carlsen at the CES 2014 HRM Chess Tournament, hosted by Nordic Semiconductor in Las Vegas. - Schneider's video of Tsui covering "Hold It Against Me" was featured on Britney Spears' official website.