"Are you still into the music scene? You always knew the good bands. Do you have any good music that I should get?"
Well T, in addition to the usual suspects, I have been listening to alot of Enigma lately. Enigma, who Waist High did not know until today, is just one man:
Born on May 18, 1957, in Bucharest, Romania, Michael Cretu pursued an early goal of becoming a concert pianist by studying classical music. In 1965 he attended Lyzeum No. 2, a college for young and gifted musical talents, with piano as his main subject, and he also studied for five months in 1968 in Paris, France. From 1975 to 1978 he attended the Academy of Music in Frankfurt, Germany, where he earned a degree in music. Deserting his goal of classical music, he claimed, "I started writing hits the day I sold my piano."
In 1980 Cretu won his first gold record for his production work. The artists with whom he has been associated include Hubert Kah, Peter Cornelius, Moti Special, and Sylvie Vartan. Cretu has also won gold record awards for producing albums by his wife, Euro-dance chanteuse Sandra, and multi instrumentalist/composer Michael Oldfield. Since 1985 Cretu has produced seven albums for Sandra, including her first international hit single, "Maria Magdalena," which went to Number One in more than 30 countries.
Cretu released his first solo album on Virgin, Legionare in 1983, but his solo efforts before taking the name Enigma failed to earn U.S. distribution.
Inspired by such groups as the Art of Noise and Pink Floyd, Cretu assembled Enigma's debut album, MCMXC a.D., on an AudioFrame system at his home studio in Spain. MCMXC a.D. was released on December 3, 1990, in Europe through Virgin Germany, and on February 12, 1991, in the U.S. through Virgin/Charisma.
The LP eventually sold more than 12 million units worldwide, and won gold and/or platinum awards in 25 countries. In the United States, MCMXC a.D. went platinum by the first week in May of 1991 and earned double platinum status by the fall of 1993.
A mixture of sixth century Gregorian chants, bewitching French whispers (provided by Cretu's wife Sandra), and hypnotic, ethereal music set to intoxicating dance rhythms, MCMXC a.D. is definitely more a cathartic aural journey than a collection of individual songs.
The record would ultimately attain the Number One position in 15 countries.
In 1993 film producer Robert Evans asked Cretu to write the title song for the motion picture Sliver. The result was "Carly's Song" and "Carly's Loneliness," both of which appeared as "Age of Loneliness" on Enigma's next album, The CROSS Of Changes.
In May of 1991 Cretu told Larry Flick of Billboard Magazine, "It is my plan for Enigma to be an outlet for music that boldly strays away from the norm of pop music. I have several ideas for the next album that I think are fascinating. Part of the fun of projects such as these is watching how all of the various elements come together in the studio." Though it was released in Europe in December of 1993, it was not until February 8, 1994, that The CROSS Of Changes was released in the United States. Cretu's belief that "music is part of my soul--and this ultimately decides everything" perhaps best explains the three years it took him to produce his second album.
The CROSS Of Changes went platinum in the United States just seven weeks after its release, and "Return to Innocence" reached gold status one month later, in July of 1994. In Keyboard Magazine, Cretu summed up perhaps a major reason for Enigma's success: "Enigma is a vehicle for doing things outside the rules that you normally have to follow when you make a dance record." He went on to say, "Basically, I will keep on doing Enigma records until I run out of new ideas. Then I'll move on to something else."
Material quoted directly from: enigmamusic.com
