John Walter Schuster (born July 29, 1994), known by his stage name John Summit, is an American DJ, music producer, and remixer. Summit primarily plays

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

& techno and has performed at festivals such as

Coachella Coachella may refer to: * Coachella, California * Coachella Canal, in California * Coachella (festival), an annual music and arts festival in California * "Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind "Coachella – Woodstock In My Mind" is a song by Ame ...

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

, Tomorrowland, and

Electric Daisy Carnival Electric Daisy Carnival, commonly known as EDC, is an electronic dance music festival organized by promoter and distributor Insomniac. The annual flagship event, EDC Las Vegas, is held in May at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and is currently t ...

. He has also performed at venues such as Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado,

BMO Stadium BMO Stadium, formerly Banc of California Stadium, is a soccer-specific stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of Major League Soccer's Los Angeles FC and the National Women's Soccer League's Ang ...

in Los Angeles, and

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Summit is known for original releases, several of which have hit #1 on the US Dance charts, along with remixes and marathon DJ sets.

Early life

Summit was born on July 29th, 1994 in Naperville, Illinois, outside of Chicago. He graduated from

Neuqua Valley High School Neuqua Valley High School (NVHS) is a public four-year high school located near the corner of Illinois Route 59 and 95th Street in Naperville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Neuqua Valley is the counterpar ...

and later attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Career

2017–2021: Early career and breakout

Summit was an active DJ while studying accounting at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He would frequently DJ at venues like The Red Lion in Champaign and Canopy Club in

Urbana __NOTOC__ Urbana can refer to: Places Italy *Urbana, Italy United States *Urbana, Illinois **Urbana (conference), a Christian conference formerly held in Urbana, Illinois *Urbana, Indiana * Urbana, Iowa *Urbana, Kansas * Urbana, Maryland *Urbana, ...

. In 2019, finding his accounting job as a CPA at a major firm "soul-sucking," he switched to full-time producing, supporting himself with money he had saved. Summit's breakthrough onto the national stage came in 2020 with his track "Deep End," released on Defected Records, which became the longest-running Beatport No. 1 track of the year. More career growth followed in 2021 with the release of singles "Sun Came Up," a collaboration with Sofi Tukker, and "Human," (featuring Echoes) which became a No. 1 US dance track. By the end of 2021, he had amassed more than 4 million listeners on Spotify, rising to 7.8 million by September 2023. To close out 2021, Dancing Astronaut named him its Breakout Artist of the Year and he became Beatport's top-selling artist in all genres in 2021.

2022–present: Experts Only

In 2022 Summit toured Europe, Australia, and the US. While on tour, he started his own label and events brand, Off the Grid, which was rebranded in 2023 to Experts Only. The name "Experts Only" reflects his love of mountains and skiing, as does his stage name (originally just "Summit"). Since its launch, the label has released music by John Summit himself and various other artists. In 2022 Summit was named 1001tracklist's #4 Producer of the Year. In early 2023, Summit released "Where You Are" (feat. Hayla) with Experts Only in partnership with Darkroom Records. The release led him to his first Billboard Top 10, in March 2023, and in June, the record hit #1 on the Mediabase US Dance Radio chart. Shortly after the inception of “Where You Are”, BBC Radio 1 aired Summit’s first BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix in February 2023. In September, Summit and fellow DJ Dom Dolla debuted a collaborative events brand called Everything Always at the Gas Works Park in Seattle, Washington. Summit's major live appearances in 2023 included Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater, The Brooklyn Mirage, and Petco Park, as well as festivals such as EDC Las Vegas, HARD Summer, Lollapalooza Brazil, Creamfields North, Hangout, and ARC Music Festival Chicago. In November 2023 Summit was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Music list. At the end of the year, Barack Obama named Summit's song with Hayla, "Where You Are," as one of his favorite songs of the year. On February 14, 2024, Summit released his single "Shiver" (featuring Hayla) with Experts Only in partnership with Darkroom Records. The song led to his second top 10 on the Billboard Hot Electronic / Dance Songs chart. In April, he performed sets at

, including with

Dom Dolla Dominic Matheson, better known by his stage name Dom Dolla, is an Australian house music producer. He has been nominated twice for the ARIA Award for Best Dance Release; in 2017 for "Be Randy", with Torren Foot and in 2019, for the song " Take ...

as part of Everything Always and a solo set that saw Summit headlining and closing out the Sahara stage. On May 16, Summit teamed up with

Sub Focus Nicolaas Douwma (born 13 April 1982), better known by his stage name Sub Focus, is an English DJ, record producer, songwriter, musician and sound engineer from Guildford, Surrey. He has been releasing records since 2003. On 12 October 2009, ...

and Julia Church for the release of their collaboration "Go Back." Summit currently lives in Miami, Florida, where he purchased a residence in early 2023. In May 2024, Summit announced his debut album ''Comfort in Chaos'', which was released on July 12, featuring "Where You Are", "Shiver", and "Go Back". It debuted at number 39 on the US ''Billboard'' 200.

Discography

Singles and remixes

Peak chart positions

References

{{morecats, date=November 2023 American record producers American DJs 1994 births Living people