Peter René Baumann, better known as DJ BoBo, is a successful Swiss singer, songwriter, dancer and music producer. He was born in Kölliken, Switzerland, to Italian father Luigi Cipriano and Swiss mother Ruth Baumann. Initially, Baumann wanted to work in the area of confectionery and bakery. This, however, did not last long as his desire for dancing clicked with the development of the breakdancing after his high-school graduation. Having been involved within numerous dance-contests, René managed to reach the top-10 of the German dance-contest "Disco Kings" with his acrobatic dance style.

Baumann began his DJ career in 1985, a year after which he was a runner-up in the Swiss DJ Championship. He continued to work as a DJ at numerous Night-clubs such as Don Paco and the Hazyland, both in Switzerland, through which he gathered enough experience and later decided to produce his own record. His first single "I Love You" came out in late 1989 during which time he would still spin records as a DJ but focusing on future releases of his own production. In 1991, DJ BoBo released two other singles "Ladies in the House" and "Let's Groove On".

René gained immense international popularity when he released his Europe-wide smash hit "Somebody Dance With Me" in November 1992 employing catchy refrains as well as excellent rap performed by him. The single landed in the Top-10 of many countries including the German and Swedish official single charts. His second hit "Keep on Dancing", which followed the same technique as its predecessor, reached the top-10 both at home and outside and earned him a Gold status in Germany. The long awaited album Dance With Me was awarded a Platinum certification in Switzerland and remained in the charts all over Europe for quite some time which was followed by another single "Take Control", again from his debut album earning him a Gold in Germany meanwhile reaching the top positions in the charts of many countries. At this point, DJ BoBo appeared to have already separated himself from one-hit wonders as his single "Everybody" released in the summer of 1994 climbed as high as number 2 in Germany and was certified Platinum for selling 500,000 units.

In the fall of 1994, his second album "There is a Party" came out which was introduced by the first single "Let the Dream Come True". The follow-up second single "Love is All Around" was awarded in Germany with the sixth Golden Record in a row. During the course of this ongoing success, in 1995, DJ BoBo represented Switzerland in World Music Award in Monaco with his "Everybody" for being the "World's best selling Swiss Artist of the Year".

In the summer of 1995, DJ BoBo went on a tour which took place most parts of Asia which was followed by a promotional tour in Australia. Later that year, DJ BoBo also traveled all over Europe performing before as many as 400,000 spectators.

DJ BoBo released his first ballad "Love is the Price" in January of 1996 which was introduced in Thomas Gottschalk's TV show Wetten, dass..?. Later that year, Baumann ended up again at the World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" performing there his single "Freedom" (which was his eighth Golden Record in a row in Germany) as well as his newly released ballad "Love is the Price".

The release of the album World in Motion in September 1996 proved not only DJ BoBo's consistent presence within the charts but with this he also managed to break all his previous records. It took only a few weeks for the album to reach the number 3 position in Germany which quickly was awarded Platinum for selling 500,000 units. In Switzerland, it even jumped from 0 to number 1 and was awarded Double-Platinum for selling 100,000 units which was ranked in the top 40 albums of all time, after remaining on the Swiss album chart for a staggering 67 weeks.

In April 1997, DJ BoBo received his third World Music Award in Monaco for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" where he performed his single "Respect Yourself".

DJ BoBo persevered with his original sound, but also experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements, introducing his singing skills first in his single "Where is Your Love" which was released in March 1998 and the video shot at an old castle in Germany. A month thereafter, in April of 1998, his album Magic was released which managed to stay in the number one position for four consecutive weeks in his native country. In May of the same year, DJ BoBo received the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" once again for the fourth time. His single "Celebrate" which was to represent his The Ultimate Megamix '99 was released in October 1998. Shortly thereafter, DJ BoBo was rewarded with the World Music Award for being the "World's Best Selling Swiss Artist of the Year" for the fifth time in a row.

Baumann's sixth album entitled Level 6 was released in October 1999 and immediately hit the number one position in Swiss album chart which eventually became Platinum at his home as well as Gold in Germany. Two singles were released off this album "Together" and "Lies". DJ BoBo's success continued as once again in the spring of 2000 he received the World Music Award for the sixth time in a row for being Switzerland's Best Selling Atist of the year which is a unique record which certainly may not be broken in the near future.

René and his co-producer Axel Breitung managed to complete DJ BoBo's next album "Planet Colors" within a period of seven months which they released on the 5th of February, 2001. The first single "What a Feeling" featuring Irene Cara which was the cover version of Flashdance... What a Feeling charted high both in Switzerland and in Germany.

DJ BoBo's next studio album called "Visions", released in February 2003, brought somewhat a new side to his music which aside from the usual dance-sounds portrayed him in more acoustic elements, the good examples of this would be the songs like "Angel" and "Do You Remember" wherein one could notice guitars coming into the picture. The Album eventually became a Platinum record in Switzerland. In 2003, DJ BoBo received yet another World Music Award for being Switzerland's Best Selling Artist of the year.

Baumann's one of the most successful singles turned out to be his single "Chihuahua" which initially was released in 2002 and later re-released again Europe-wide. The track was produced upon the request of Coca-Cola in Spain. They were in search of an artist who could produce an attention-drawing mambo-song for their new campaign. However, the condition was that it had to be done within the period of ten days. This task was completed and handed over Coca-Cola by René and his co-producer Axel Breitung within the given time-limit. It took only couple of weeks for the single "Chihuahua" to reach the number one position on the Spanish single chart. The song eventually became number one also in Switzerland and France where the single was certified Double Platinum.

The next studio album, Pirates of Dance, released in February 2005, quickly got certified Platinum in Switzerland and included two singles "Pirates of Dance" and "Amazing Life". 2005 was the year that made DJ BoBo Switzerland's Best Selling Recording Artist of the Year for the 10th time.

DJ BoBo released his next album, Vampires, on May 11, 2007 which climbed as high as number two within the Swiss album chart. The first single "Vampires Are Alive" reached the number three position in Switzerland and charted moderately in the rest of the German speaking countries but gained success in Finland eventually reaching number seven spot. Two other singles were released "We Gotta Hold On" and "Because of You".

On October 11, 2006 DJ BoBo announced in a press conference that he had applied to represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. In December 2006 the Swiss TV Council announced that they had chosen BoBo out of over 200 applicants to represent Switzerland in Helsinki. On February 21 2007, DJ BoBo revealed both the song and the video he would enter the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki with. The song was entitled "Vampires Are Alive."

Despite being one of the favorites to win the contest according to many bookmakers, the song failed to get past the semi-final stage on May 12. It finished twentieth out of twenty eight semi-finalists.