Michael Cretu (, ; born 18 May 1957) is a Romanian-German musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the musical project Enigma, which he formed in 1990.
Cretu began his music career in 1976 as a solo artist, releasing three studio albums as well as writing and producing albums for his then-wife, German pop singer Sandra. He also worked with other artists through the 1980s, including Peter Cornelius, Hubert Kah, and Mike Oldfield. Cretu was sometimes identified as "Curly" or "Curly M.C.", in reference to his curly hair and creț meaning "curly" in Romanian.
He scored an unexpected worldwide commercial hit with the debut Enigma album, MCMXC a.D. (1990), helped by its lead single, "Sadeness (Part I)". The project's most recent album is 2016's The Fall of a Rebel Angel, its eighth overall. Enigma has sold an estimated 70 million albums worldwide, and Cretu's produced recordings have sold 100 million copies.
Early life
Cretu was born on 18 May 1957 in Bucharest, Romania, to a Romanian father and Austrian mother. In 1965, he studied piano and classical music at Colegiul Tehnic Nr. 2 in Bucharest, followed by further study in Paris for five months in 1968. Around this time, he decided to pursue a career in pop music after listening to the Beatles' "Golden Slumbers", calling the song "beautiful". After he informed his mother, Cretu recalled: "She goes, 'Aaargh! Disaster! Do you want to end up starving?'" Cretu left the group before they released their second album, in 1990.
His first solo album, titled Moon, Light & Flowers, came out in 1979. It contains the singles "Shadows Over My Head" and "Wild River", released in 1978, and "Moonlight Flower" and "Love Me". His second album, Legionäre, came out in 1983. Cretu's third album, Die Chinesische Mauer, was released in 1985 and featured the song "Samurai". It was issued separately with English-language lyrics and a different track listing under the name The Invisible Man.
Collaborations and projects
In 1980, Cretu cowrote the song "Woman Behind the Man" with Peter Franken, for ex-Ebony singer Isetta Preston, producing it as well.
Sandra
In 1985, he produced, arranged, and played keyboards, drums, and programming on The Long Play, the debut studio album by West German pop singer Sandra.
Peter Cornelius
In 1980, Cretu began a collaboration with the Austrian musician Peter Cornelius, contributing music and production to five of the latter's albums, including Der Kaffee ist fertig (1980, Zwei (1980), Reif für die Insel (1981), Ohne Filter (1982), and Fata Morgana (1983). In 1992, the two collaborated once more, this time on the joint album Cornelius + Cretu.
Cretu & Thiers
In 1988, Cretu released an album with former Moti Special bandmate Manfred Thiers, titled Belle Epoque.
Trance Atlantic Air Waves
In 1998, Cretu teamed up with musician and producer Jens Gad on the project Trance Atlantic Air Waves, which released one album, The Energy of Sound, the same year.
A.R.T. Studios
Cretu formerly owned the A.R.T. Studios in Ibiza. His house, near Sant Antoni de Portmany, was a Moroccan-style mansion that featured a recording studio. The Spanish High Court deemed it to have been built illegally and in infringement of environmental regulations, which led to the €18 million villa being razed in May 2009.
Cretu has stated that 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". On this album, Cretu pivoted away from Gregorian chants, present throughout MCMXC a.D., as numerous artists had started to use them in their music, The same year, he was approached by Paramount Pictures to contribute to the soundtrack for the film Sliver, and he came up with another single, "Carly's Song", after the main female character's name.
In 1996, Enigma released its third album, Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi!. Stylistically, it sounded like a combination of the first and second albums. It did not achieve the same level of success, though it sold over one million copies in the United States and received Gold certification in the United Kingdom nonetheless.
In 1999, Cretu steered the project in another direction by using samples of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana on the fourth album, The Screen Behind the Mirror, released a year later. This was the first Enigma record to feature Andru Donalds and Ruth-Ann Boyle, both of whom would provide vocals for several more of the project's albums. Although Jens Gad had worked with Cretu on earlier Enigma records, this was the first time that he received a liner credit.
Cretu continued to record Enigma albums, releasing Voyageur in 2003. Familiar sounds of the Shakuhachi flute and tribal or Gregorian chants were replaced with more commercially friendly tunes and beat. In 2006, a new single, titled "Hello and Welcome", was issued in anticipation of another album, A Posteriori, which came out later that year.
Seven Lives Many Faces, Enigma's seventh studio album, was published in 2008.
The project's latest release, The Fall of a Rebel Angel, came out in 2016.
Personal life
Cretu and Sandra, who share the same birthday, were married on 7 January 1988; they have twin sons, born in July 1995. They lived in Ibiza, Spain, in a home that also housed A.R.T. Studios, where Enigma albums were produced. In November 2007, the couple divorced. The Ibiza home was bulldozed in 2009 after Cretu lost a legal battle over building permission.
Cretu is known as an artist who keeps a low profile, giving few interviews and avoiding concert tours.