Biography
Who is Michael Cretu?
Early life and education
Michael Cretu was born in Bucharest, Romania, on May 18, 1957. His father was Romanian and his mother was Austrian. He began his formal musical training in 1965 at Colegiul Tehnic Nr. 2 in his home city, where he studied classical music and piano. He later continued his studies in Paris for five months in 1968.
After hearing the Beatles song Golden Slumbers, he decided to focus on a career in pop music. In 1975, he moved to Bad Homburg in West Germany. He enrolled at the Academy of Music in Frankfurt, eventually graduating with a degree in musical composition in 1978.
Starting a music career
Following his graduation, the musician remained in West Germany to work as a session player. One of his early professional roles involved playing keyboards for producer Frank Farian, contributing to tracks like Boney M's Rivers of Babylon. By 1981, he co-founded the new wave band Moti Special, which saw success with the single Cold Days, Hot Nights.
His solo work began with the 1979 album Moon, Light & Flowers, which featured songs like Moonlight Flower. He followed this with albums titled Legionäre in 1983 and Die Chinesische Mauer in 1985. Throughout the 1980s, he also produced music for various artists, including Peter Cornelius, Hubert Kah, and Mike Oldfield.
The Enigma project
In 1990, the musician launched Enigma, a project born from his desire to blend personal musical interests with a sense of mysticism. He collaborated with Fabrice Cuitad and Frank Peterson to create the debut single, Sadeness (Part I). The song became an unexpected global hit, propelling the debut album, MCMXC a.D., to big commercial success.
He continued to evolve the project's sound over the following decades. While the first album relied heavily on Gregorian chants, he shifted to tribal chants for his 1993 album, The Cross of Changes. Subsequent records like Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi! And The Screen Behind the Mirror kept the project active. By 2016, Enigma had released eight studio albums, with the most recent titled The Fall of a Rebel Angel.
Personal life and studio work
He was married to singer Sandra from 1988 until their divorce in 2007. The couple shared twin sons born in 1995. During their marriage, they lived in Ibiza, Spain, where he operated his A.R.T. Studios. This recording facility was part of a Moroccan-style mansion that was later demolished in 2009 after a legal dispute regarding building permits.
Known for maintaining a low public profile, he rarely gives interviews and does not tour. He speaks four languages. Following his divorce, he remarried and has lived in Munich since at least 2017. His production career has been highly successful, with his produced recordings selling an estimated 100 million copies worldwide.
Birthday and age
Michael Cretu was born on May 18, 1957, which makes Michael 69 years old today. That birthday falls under the Taurus sign. Michael shares the date with 71 other famous people.
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