21 Facts About Michael Cretu

Michael Cretu gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the musical project Enigma, which he formed in 1990.

Michael Cretu worked with artists through the 1980s, including Peter Cornelius, Hubert Kah, and Mike Oldfield.

Michael Cretu continues to produce Enigma albums and singles; the most recent is The Fall of a Rebel Angel, its eighth overall.

Michael Cretu was born on 18 May 1957 in Bucharest, Romanian People's Republic, to a Romanian father and Austrian mother.

Around this time, Michael Cretu wished to pursue a career in pop music after listening to "Golden Slumbers" on Abbey Road by The Beatles, calling the song "beautiful".

Michael Cretu left the group before they released their second album in 1990.

In 1985, Michael Cretu produced, arranged and played the keyboards, drums, and programming on The Long Play, the first studio album from West-German pop singer Sandra.

In 1992, Michael Cretu worked with Peter Cornelius on Return to Innocence, to provide the guitar riffs.

Michael Cretu's former house, near Sant Antoni de Portmany on the western coast of Ibiza, was a Moroccan-style mansion that was designed and built by Bernd Steber and Gunter Wagner in more than nine years.

Michael Cretu was encouraged to pursue a solo project by Oldfield, who was impressed by his studio production skills and musical ideas.

Michael Cretu was not surprised by the album's unexpected success, as he recalled telling his wife before its release, "This will be a huge hit or nothing at all".

Michael Cretu changed Enigma's direction from Gregorian chants to tribal chants for its second album, culminating in its second international hit single "Return to Innocence".

Michael Cretu purposefully reduced the use of Gregorian chants as numerous artists had started to use them in their music, causing "an avalanche of bad copies", but later regarded it as a compliment.

Michael Cretu was approached by Paramount Pictures to write the soundtrack of the film Sliver and he came up with another 1993 single "Carly's Song" after the main female character's name.

In 1999 Michael Cretu steered the project in another direction by using samples of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana for the fourth album The Screen Behind the Mirror, released in 2000.

In 2001, Michael Cretu released two Enigma compilation albums: Love Sensuality Devotion: The Greatest Hits and Love Sensuality Devotion: The Remix Collection that include credits to ATB.

Michael Cretu continued to record Enigma albums, releasing Voyageur in 2003.

Michael Cretu married Sandra on 7 January 1988; together they have twin sons who were born in July 1995.

The Ibiza home was bulldozed after Michael Cretu lost a legal battle in which he did not obtain planning permission to renovate and build on the site.

Michael Cretu became known as an artist who kept a low profile, giving few interviews and avoiding concert tours.

Michael Cretu worked as writer, producer and background vocalist for Sandra's albums:.