Hans-Holger Albrecht

Hans-Holger Albrecht (born 29 July 1963) is a German businessman. He was CEO of Deezer until 2021, one of the largest music streaming services worldwide. Deezer offers more than 53 million tracks in over 180 countries to currently more than 14 million active monthly users. He is the brother of Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. Background and early life Hans-Holger was born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1963 to Heidi Adele and Ernst (Carl Julius) Albrecht, a prominent CDU politician and European Commission official; the Albrecht family had been among the hübsche ("genteel") families of the Electorate of Hanover as doctors, jurists and civil servants since the 17th century, but his immediate ancestors had been wealthy cotton merchants in Bremen and members of the city-state's Hanseatic elite in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1971, the family moved to Germany, where Ernst Albrecht became Premier of Lower Saxony (1976–1990). He grew up in Burgdorf in Germany. He graduated in Law at the University of Freiburg in Germany, studied at Yale University, and received a PhD at the University of Bochum in Germany. He is a descendant of Baron Ludwig Knoop, a cotton merchant of the city-state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the 19th century.