After he informed his mother, Cretu recalled: "She goes, 'Aaargh! Disaster! Do you want to end up starving?'" From 1975 to 1978, Cretu studied at the Academy of Music in Frankfurt, where he graduated with a degree in music. Around this time, Cretu wished to pursue a career in pop music after listening to " Golden Slumbers" on Abbey Road (1969) by The Beatles, calling the song "beautiful". 2 in Bucharest in 1965, followed by further study in Paris in 1968. 2.1 1976–1988: Solo career, producer, and early bandsĬretu was born on in Bucharest to a Romanian father and Austrian mother.
Cretu continued to release Enigma albums and singles the most recent is The Fall of a Rebel Angel (2016), its eighth overall.Įnigma has sold an estimated 70 million albums worldwide, Cretu's management company Crocodile-Music stated that Cretu's produced recordings have sold 100 million copies worldwide. (1990) which charted worldwide helped by its lead single, " Sadeness (Part I)". In 1990, Cretu formed Enigma and released its first album, MCMXC a.D. He also worked with artists through the 1980s, including Peter Cornelius, Hubert Kah, and Mike Oldfield. Ĭretu began a music career in 1976 as a solo artist and released numerous studio albums as well as writing and producing albums for his then-wife, German pop singer Sandra. Initially Cretu was identified as "Curly" or "Curly M.C." in reference to his curly hair and creț meaning "curly" in Romanian. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the German musical project Enigma, formed in 1990. Michael Cretu ( Romanian: Mihai Crețu, pronounced born ) is a Romanian-German musician, singer, songwriter, and producer.