Born in Worpswede, Bremen in 1980 to a guitarist father and pianist mother, he formed his first band, Second Floor, at age 14, and later landed a record deal with the short-lived Privat outfit. After taking courses in vocal studies and pop music, he teamed up with Kristoffer Hünecke, Niels Grötsch, Jakob Sinn, and Florian Speer to form Revolverheld, who went on to score three Top Ten albums before Strate also began to pursue various solo projects. He founded a successful music education program and, after working with producer Philipp Steinke, released his debut album, Die Zeichen Stehen auf Sturm, in 2011. ~ Jon O'Brien