Michael Cretu (Romanian: Mihai Cre> u pronounced [mi'haj 'kret? su] , born May 18, 1957) is a Romanian-German musician, singer, songwriter and producer. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the German music project Enigma, formed in 1990. Cretu was originally identified as "Curly" or "Curly M.C." refers to her curly hair and "cret" which means "curly" in Romanian.
Cretu started his music career in 1976 as a solo artist and released numerous studio albums as well as writing and producing albums by his ex-wife, German pop singer Sandra. He also worked with artists during the 1980s, including Peter Cornelius, Hubert Kah, and Mike Oldfield. In 1990, Cretu formed Enigma and released his first album, MCMXC a.D. (1990) mapped around the world assisted by the lead single, "Sadeness (Part I)". Cretu continues to release albums and singles Enigma; the most recent is the Fallen Angels Fall (2016), the eighth overall.
Enigma has sold around 70 million albums worldwide, Cretu management company Crocodile-Music stated that the produced Cretu recordings have sold over 100 million copies worldwide.
Video Michael Cretu
Kehidupan awal
Cretu was born on May 18, 1957 in Bucharest, Romania, to a Romanian father and an Austrian mother. His uncle, Ion Voicu, was a famous Romanian violinist and conductor who founded the Chamber of Bucharest Chamber, and told Cretu's parents the musical talents of their son. This led to Cretu studying classical music in Liceul Nr. 2 in Bucharest in 1965, followed by further studies in Paris, France in 1968. Around this time, Cretu wanted to pursue a career in pop music after listening to "Golden Slumbers" at Abbey Road (1969) by The Beatles, calling the song "beautiful". After he told his mother, Cretu remembered: "He left, 'Aaargh! Disaster Do you want to end hunger?'" From 1975 to 1978, Cretu studied at the Academy of Music in Frankfurt, Germany, where he graduated with a degree in music. Cretu went on to speak four languages.
Maps Michael Cretu
Careers
1973-1988: _Solo_career, _producer, _and_early_bands "> 1976-1988: Career solo, producer, producer, and early bandAfter graduating from the Academy of Music, Cretu remained in Germany and took a job as a session musician. Among Cretu's first jobs are being taken as keyboardist and producer for German recording artist Frank Farian, and playing keyboard in "Rivers of Babylon" by Boney M. In 1981, Cretu together formed the new German wave band Moti Special with other session players. Their debut album Motivation (1985) contains the single "Cold Days, Hot Nights" which became a hit across Europe. Cretu left the group before they released their second album in 1990.
Cretu's first solo release was the single "Wild River" in 1976. His first solo album was released in 1977, titled Moon, Light & amp; Flowers . The second one, LegionÃÆ'¤re , was released in 1983 and featured the German lyrics sung by him. Cretu's third solo album titled Die Chinesische Mauer and released in 1985. The literal English translation is The Chinese Wall . As the first, it features the German lyrics sung by Cretu and produced by Armand Volker. The album was also released as a separate album with English lyrics and a different playlist under the name of The Invisible Man . Some of the tracks in The Invisible Man have been edited a bit and, therefore, have a different length from the German version in Die Chinesische Mauer . It featured the song "Samurai", which became a hit.
In 1985, Cretu produces, organizes and plays keyboards, drums, and programming at The Long Play (1985), the first studio album by German pop singer Sandra. Both started a relationship, and married in 1988.
In the 1980s, Cretu took over production for Hubert Kah pop quartet and began writing songs with band leader Hubert Kemmler, reaching a number of hits. Among other works, Cretu is also one of the producers of the album Mike Oldfield 1987 Islands and album producer Peter Schilling 1989 The Different Story (World of Lust and Crime) .
In 1992 Cretu worked with Peter Cornelius at Return to Innocence , to give a guitar riff.
For the third album, Cretu teamed up with Jens Gad to work together at Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! and launched in 1999 a new trans-trance project Atlantic Air Waves and his album The Sound Energy .
He has A.R.T. Studio in Ibiza before moving to a new house on the Ibiza hill. His former home, near Sant Antoni de Portmany on the west coast of Ibiza, is a Moroccan-style house designed and built by Bernd Steber and Gunter Wagner in over nine years. It also features a new recording studio. The Spanish High Court considers the house was built illegally and violates Spanish environmental regulations that caused the villa worth EUR18 million demolished in May 2009.
1988-present: _Enigma "> 1988-present: Enigma
After Cretu's marriage to Sandra in 1988, he had an idea for a music project called Enigma, presented by Fabrice Cuitad (aka David Fairstein). Cretu worked with Frank Peterson and Fairstein to create their first single entitled "Sadeness (Part I)", which was a surprising international hit. MCMXC a.D. , the album, released in 1990, was very successful. Cretu was not surprised by the unexpected success of the album, as he remembered telling his wife before it was released, "It will be a big hit or not at all". Cretu's style of mixing various musical genres, samples and sounds caused him to be described as "an alchemist in sound".
The second album, The Cross of Changes , was released in 1993. Peterson had a dispute with Cretu during the recording and left the project in 1991. Cretu changed Enigma's direction from the Gregorian chant to the tribal singing because the second album, on her second international hit single "Return to Innocence" with Peter Cornelius. Cretu deliberately reduced the use of Gregorian singing as many artists began using it in their music, causing "bad avalanche", but later regarded it as a compliment.
Cretu was approached by Paramount Pictures to write the soundtrack of Sliver and he appeared with 1993's single "Carly's Song" after the main female character's name.
In 1996, Enigma's third album Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi! released. In style, it sounds like a combination of the first and second albums. It did not achieve the same level of success, but sold over 1 million copies in the United States and received a Gold certificate in the UK.
In 1999 Cretu directed the project in another direction using Carl Orff's Carmina Burana for the fourth album The Screen Behind the Mirror, released in 2000. Andru Donalds and Ruth-Ann Boyle first appeared as a feature on this Enigma project. Although Jens Gad has worked with Cretu on previous albums, this is the first time he has been given an actual credit.
In 2001, Cretu released two Enigma compilation albums: Love Sensuality Devotion: The Greatest Hits and Love Sensuality Devotion: The Remix Collection which included credits for ATB. At this time, Engima has recorded nearly 30 million sales worldwide.
Cretu continued to record Enigma's albums, releasing Voyageur in 2003. Known sounds of Shakuhachi, tribal or Gregorian flute were replaced with more commercial-friendly songs and beat. In March 2006, a new single called "Hello and Welcome" was released to anticipate another album, A Posteriori .
A Posteriori is Enigma's sixth studio album. It was released on September 22, 2006.
Seven Lives Many Faces became the seventh studio album Enigma. It was released on September 19, 2008.
The Fall of a Rebel Angel was released on November 11, 2016. It featured the collaboration of many artists.
Personal life
Cretu married Sandra in January 1988; together they have two sons, Nikita and Sebastian's twins. They live in Ibiza, Spain in a house that also houses A.R.T. Studio, where Enigma's album was recorded. In November 2007, the couple divorced. Ibiza's home was bulldozed after Cretu lost a legal battle where he did not get planning permission to renovate and build on the site. After the divorce, Cretu remarried. He now lives in Munich, Germany and visits Ibiza while on vacation.
Cretu is known for being a low profile artist, giving interviews and avoiding concert tours.
Discography
solo album
- 1978 - Moon, Light & amp; Flowers (re-released in Germany in 1994 as: AusgewÃÆ'¤hlte GoldstÃÆ'¼cke )
- 1983 - LegionÃÆ'¤re (English edition: Legionnaires )
- 1985 - Die Chinesische Mauer (English edition: The Invisible Man )
Single solo
- 1978 - "Shadows Over My Head"
- 1978 - "Wild River"
- 1980 - "Flower of the Moon Rays"
- 1980 - "Love Me"
- 1983 - "Total normal"
- 1983 - "Zeitlose Reise"
- 1983 - "Der Planet der verlorenen Zeit"
- 1983 - "Today, Today"
- 1984 - "Schwarzer Engel"
- 1985 - "Carte Blanche"
- 1985 - "Die Chinesische Mauer"
- 1985 - "Samurai" (German Version) "
- 1985 - "Samurai (Have You Ever Dreamed)" (English Version) [# 3 Austria, No. 2 Switzerland, No. 4 Sweden, No. 1 Greek, No. 4 Italian, No. 12 Germany]
- 1985 - "Silver Water"
- 1986 - "Gambit"
- 1987 - "School's Out" (Cretu & Thiers)
- 1987 - "When Love Is The Missing Word" (Cretu & Thiers)
- 1988 - "Do not Say You Love Me (Let Me Feel It)" (Cretu & Thiers)
- 1988 - "Captain Right" (Cretu & Thiers)
- 1992 - "Rettungsringe sterben aus" (Cretu & Peter Cornelius)
- 1992 - "Nur die Hoffnung nicht" (Cretu & Peter Cornelius)
Collaboration and production
- 1980 - Topas; "Topas"
- 1981 - Peter Kent; "Happy Weekend"
- 1982 - Severine
- 1983 - Mireille Mathieu; "Ein neuer Morgen"
- 1983 - Mary and Gordy
- 1983 - Peter Cornelius; "Fata Morgana"
- 1984 - Hubert Kah; "Goldene Zeiten"
- 1986 - Hubert Kah; Tensongs
- 1986 - Avenue; "Imagination"
- 1985 - Special Moti; Motivation
- 1987 - Mike Oldfield; The Island
- 1987 - Inker & amp; Hamilton; Dancing to Danger
- 1987 - Cretu And Thiers; School's Out
- 1988 - Cretu And Thiers; Belle Epoque
- 1989 - Hubert Kah; "Sound of My Heart"
- 1989 - Sylvie Vartan; "Confidanses"
- 1989 - Peter Schilling; Different Stories (World of Lust and Crime)
- 1992 - Peter Cornelius and Cretu; Peter Cornelius and Cretu
- 1993 - Maggie Reilly; "Midnight Sun"
- 1996 - Kurt Maloo; Captain His Heart (Michael Cretu Mixes)
- 1998 - Trance Atlantic Air Waves; Sound Energy
- 1999 - Andrew Donalds; "Snowin 'Under My Skin"
- 2001 - Andru Donalds; "Let's Talk About It"
- 2007 - Ruth-Ann Boyle; "What About Us"
Sandra
Cretu works as a writer, producer and background vocalist for Sandra's albums:
- 1985: The Long Play [# 12 German, No. 8 Norway, No. 2 Sweden, No. 18 Austria, No. 4 Switzerland]
- 1986: Mirror [# 16 German, No. 14 Norway, No. 40 Sweden, No. 13 Switzerland]
- 1987: Ten on One [# 19 Germany, No. 28 Austria, No. 14 Switzerland]
- 1988: Go to Secret Land <# i> [# 14 German, No. 18 Norway, No. 22 Sweden, No. 13 Austria, No. 9 Switzerland]
- 1988: Eternal Love
- 1990: Yellow Painting [# 4 German No. 30 Sweden, No. 14 Austria, No. 8 Switzerland]
- 1992: Close to Seven [# 7 Germany, No. 20 Norwegian, No. 27 Sweden, No. 26 Austria, No. 13 Switzerland]
- 1992: 18 Biggest Hits [# 10 Germany, No. 7 French, No. 36 Sweden, No. 27 Switzerland No. 1 Finnish]
- 1995: Fading Shades [# 42 German, No. 37 Switzerland]
- 1999: My Favorites [# 16 German, No. 15 Norway, No. 43 Switzerland]
- 2002: Time Wheel [# 8 Germany, No. 63 Austria, No. 68 Switzerland]
References
External links
- Enigma (international) official website
- Michael Cretu on IMDb
- Michael Cretu at AllMusic
- Michael Cretu Discography at Discogs
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments