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Mike Posner

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Detroit pop songwriter behind 'Cooler Than Me' and 'I Took a Pill in Ibiza' who walked across America and came back writing plainer, more confessional songs.

Mike Posner grew up in Southfield, Michigan, outside Detroit, born Michael Robert Henrion Posner. He attended Duke University, graduating with a sociology degree, and began producing tracks with hometown friend Big Sean before releasing mixtapes such as A Matter of Time under the name Mike Posner and the Brain Trust, distributed free through Duke's iTunes U channel.

He signed to J Records in 2009 and released "Cooler Than Me," which reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and went septuple platinum. Its follow-up, "Please Don't Go," reached the top 20 and went triple platinum. Both preceded his 2010 debut album, 31 Minutes to Takeoff, which reached number 12 on the Billboard 200. He moved to Island Records in 2014.

Posner spent these years writing and producing for other artists, co-writing Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" and Maroon 5's "Sugar" among other tracks for Big Sean, Nick Jonas, Iggy Azalea and Cher Lloyd. He also formed Mansionz, an alternative hip-hop duo with Florida rapper blackbear.

"I Took a Pill in Ibiza" was originally an acoustic track from Posner's 2016 album At Night, Alone.; a remix by Norwegian duo SeeB turned it into a top-ten hit in 27 countries and pushed it into the top five of the Billboard Hot 100, while the album itself reached number eight on the Billboard 200.

In 2019, Posner walked across the United States, an experience that shaped later work into more subdued, confessional songwriting; he released the album A Real Good Kid that year, followed by Operation: Wake Up in 2020. He has also published poetry, including the 2017 book Tear Drops & Balloons, and lost his father in 2017.

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