Michael Cretu

Romania, 1976–now

Romanian-German musician, composer and producer. After solo albums from the late 1970s and prolific 1980s production work — most notably for Sandra, whom he later married — he founded the Enigma project in 1990. His atmospheric, sample-layered electronic style shaped a generation of ambient pop.

MusicRoots documents 2 artists who influenced Michael Cretu and 2 artists Michael Cretu influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Michael Cretu?

• Tangerine Dream — Cretu's atmospheric, synthesizer-driven electronic style descends from the German Kosmische / Berlin School pioneered by Tangerine Dream.
• Jean-Michel Jarre — Cretu's lush, melodic synth soundscapes belong to the same ambient-electronic tradition that Jean-Michel Jarre popularised.

Which artists did Michael Cretu influence?

• Enigma — Enigma is Michael Cretu's own project: he created, wrote and produced it, and the concept grew directly from his production experiments — including Gregorian chant on Sandra's 'Everlasting Love' — leading to MCMXC a.D. in 1990.
• ATB — Tanneberger names Cretu as one of his two idols in electronic music. He was making hard dance records as Sequential One when Cretu's Enigma showed him that dance beats could carry spherical, melodic textures — the combination that became ATB's signature. The debt later ran both ways: ATB remixed Enigma's 'Push the Limits', and Cretu is credited as writer, arranger and producer of 'Enigmatic Encounter' on ATB's 2000 album Two Worlds.