Enigma is a German musical project founded in 1990 by Romanian-German musician and producer Michael Cretu. Cretu had released several solo records, collaborating with various artists, and produced albums for his then-wife, German pop singer Sandra, before he conceived the idea of a new-age, worldbeat project. He recorded the first Enigma studio album, MCMXC a.D. (1990), with contributions from David Fairstein and Frank Peterson. The album remains Enigma's most successful, helped by the international hit single "Sadeness (Part I)", which sold 12 million units alone.Burton, Tony. "Sadeness, Part 1 Review on MFBlogg.no" . Retrieved 25 August 2016. According to Cretu, the inspiration for the project came from his desire to make a kind of music that did not obey "the old rules and habits" and presented a new form of artistic expression with a return to mysticism.Willin, Melvyn J. "Enigma on Music, Witchcraft and the Paranormal. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
Enigma followed MCMXC a.D. with a series of albums that involved different musicians and producers working with Cretu. The first was The Cross of Changes (1993), which incorporated tribal and ethnic influences and sold over eight million copies worldwide,"The Cross of Changes on UDiscoverMusic". Retrieved on 25 August 2016. followed by Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! (1996), which blended the Gregorian chants reminiscent of the first album with the strong intercultural soundscapes present in the second. Enigma's fourth album, The Screen Behind the Mirror (2000), started a slight departure from the previous world music themes towards a heavier electronic atmosphere. This evolution culminated with Voyageur (2003), its fifth and more pop-based album, and A Posteriori (2006), a work inspired by the future collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, with distinct operatic tones and an electronic spectrum closer to Voyageur than earlier releases.Cinquemani, Sal. "Voyageur Review on Slant Magazine". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 25 August 2016.Macneil, Jason. "A Posteriori Review on PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved on 25 August 2016. Seven Lives Many Faces (2008) followed and contained a mixture of classical and modern elements, ranging from ethnic chants to rap and dubstep influences.Monger, James Christopher. "Seven Lives Many Faces Review on AllMusic". Retrieved on 25 August 2016. Enigma's eighth album, The Fall of a Rebel Angel, was released in November 2016."Official announcement on Enigma Space". Retrieved on 25 August 2016.
The project has sold over 8.5 million RIAA-certified albums in the US and an estimated 70 million worldwide, with over 100 gold and platinum certifications. It has also received two Grammy Award nominations."Enigma artist page on the official Grammy Awards website". Grammy Awards. Retrieved on 18 April 2023.
History Formation By the late 1980s, Romanian-born German musician and producer Michael Cretu had collaborated with several musicians, produced albums recorded by his then-wife, German pop singer Sandra, and released solo albums under his name for Polydor and Virgin Records, to varying levels of commercial success across Europe. In 1988, Cretu and Sandra married and relocated to the Spanish island of Ibiza. A home recording studio, A.R.T. Studios, was built, and Cretu began work on a new, worldbeat and new-age musical project named Enigma with David Fairstein and Frank Peterson. Cretu secured a deal with Munich-based Mambo Musik to handle Enigma's management and publishing.
1990s
The first Enigma album, MCMXC a.D., was recorded in eight months and incorporated Gregorian chants mixed with atmospheric music and dance beats. He had previously used a Gregorian-type chant on the opening seconds of Sandra's 1987 single "Everlasting Love". Cretu wished to exclude his name from the album's liner notes so the listener could conjure their own interpretations. He recalled management "fell off their chairs" when he requested it, "but it worked". Cretu credits himself as "Curly M.C." and Peterson is listed as "F. Gregorian". Upon its release in December 1990, MCMXC a.D. became an unexpected commercial success, helped by the international hit single "Sadeness (Part I)", released a month prior that reached number one in 24 countries. The album reached the top 10 in ten countries, including the United Kingdom, and number six on the Billboard 200 in the United States, where it sold over four million copies and charted for more than 150 weeks."This Day in Music on Billboard". Billboard, 18 May 2006. Retrieved on 26 August 2016. The album earned over 50 platinum sales awards worldwide, and made Enigma the most successful act signed to Virgin at the time of release. Following the success of MCMXC a.D., Cretu received many offers for soundtrack work and writing film scores. He turned the majority of them down as he disliked the scripts presented to him except for the erotic thriller film Sliver (1993), for which he produced two songs for its soundtrack: "Carly's Song" and "Carly's Loneliness"."Silver Soundtrack on AllMusic". Retrieved on 25 August 2016. The former was reworked into "Age of Loneliness" in 1993. Cretu was unable to contribute more to the soundtrack as he wished to spend his time working on the second Enigma album.
The Cross of Changes was recorded in 1993. The long period in between the first and second was partly down to Virgin and Cretu's manager forgetting to extend his contract with Virgin. This led to Cretu signing a new, five-album deal. Cretu retained many of the elements from the first album, but "wanted to have a completely different experience. I wanted to mix as much as possible rock elements and ethnic and classical". Numerous samples were used, including from songs by Genesis, Black Sabbath, Vangelis and U2. Cretu made a conscious effort to reduce the amount of Gregorian chants incorporated into the album. Cretu based much of its lyrics on the concepts behind numerology, and read books on the subject. The Cross of Changes was released in December 1993, and reached number one in the UK and number 9 in the US. Four singles were released in 1994: "Return to Innocence", "The Eyes of Truth", "Age of Loneliness" and "Out from the Deep". The first of these became an international top-10 hit in twelve countries and is certified gold in the US for selling half a million copies. The Cross of Changes sold an estimated 8 million copies worldwide.
In 1996, Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! was released. Cretu's idea was that this third album was the child of the previous two albums, and therefore included familiar elements of Gregorian chants and Sanskrit chants in it. It did not achieve the same level of success that they enjoyed previously, and as a result, only two of the three singles originally slated were released. Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! sold over one million units in the United States, achieved a Gold certificate in the United Kingdom and two Grammy nominations: one for its artwork design and the second as Best New Age Album."Le Roi est Mort, Vive le Roi! on UDiscoverMusic. Retrieved on 25 August 2016. After the album's release, Cretu found that several fake Enigma albums were released onto the market that Cretu deemed as "awful messes".
2000s
The 2000 release of The Screen Behind the Mirror included samples from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana on four tracks on the album. This time the Gregorian chants were toned down tremendously, although Shakuhachi flutes and other traditional Enigma signatures remain. Only "Gravity of Love" and "Push the Limits" were released as singles from the album."The Screen Behind the Mirror on AllMusic". Retrieved on 25 August 2016. Ruth-Ann Boyle (from the band Olive) and Andru Donalds mark their first appearances on the Enigma project."Andru Donalds' Official Site Statement on Enigma". Retrieved on 25 August 2016.
In 2001, Cretu released a new single called "Turn Around" together with Love Sensuality Devotion: The Greatest Hits and Love Sensuality Devotion: The Remix Collection to end what he considers to be the first chapter of Enigma. A light show was held at the Munich Planetarium in conjunction with the release of the compilation albums."Love Sensuality Devotion on AllMusic". Retrieved on 25 August 2016."A. R. T. Studios on EnigmaMusica (in Spanish)". Retrieved on 25 August 2016.
2003's Voyageur saw a change of direction for the project, with most of the prominent Enigma signature elements (the ethnic and Gregorian chants, the Shakuhachi flutes) no longer employed."Voyageur on AllMusic". Retrieved on 25 August 2016.
To commemorate the fifteen years of Enigma, a limited-edition album called 15 Years After was launched, which was the size of an LP vinyl disk, with Leonardo da Vinci's art in the cover, a big booklet with extra art, and featured eight compact discs: all the previous albums, the DVD Remember the Future, and a special and exclusive bonus CD, The Dusted Variations, which included chill-out versions of several of the project's greatest hits. All of the songs are different from the originals and use minimal percussion."15 Years After on AllMusic". Retrieved on 25 August 2016. This disc also contained the single version of "Hello and Welcome", which was later released as a single. On 28 August 2005, Enigma's management Crocodile Music announced the release of "Hello and Welcome" as a single. It was released in Germany on 10 March 2006."Crocodile Music's Note on Hello and Welcome". Crocodile-music.de, Retrieved on 25 August 2016.
On 26 September 2006, Enigma's sixth album A Posteriori was released worldwide, containing a new version of "Hello and Welcome" and the new song "Goodbye, Milky Way". A DVD version of A Posteriori was released on 16 December 2006, which featured kaleidoscope images in synchronization with the multi-channel remastered music. A Posteriori received a Grammy nomination as Best New Age Album, its second in that category following 1996's Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! nomination."49th Annual Grammy Nominees". Librarything.com, Retrieved on 25 August 2016. In late March 2007, a Private Lounge remix album version of A Posteriori was released on the iTunes Music Store. This compilation includes twelve new remixed tracks from the album by artists such as Boca Junior, Tocadisco and more. Some of these tracks were available previously on the original A Posteriori iTunes version of the album and the previously mentioned DVD release.
On 19 September 2008, Enigma's seventh album Seven Lives Many Faces was released worldwide. The lead single, "Seven Lives", is a fusion of modern and classical elements.
The Platinum Collection, a three-disc compilation, was released on 27 November 2009 in Germany, and on 9 February 2010 worldwide. The first CD contains Enigma hits. The second CD contains remixes. The third CD is a collection of "lost tracks", musical experiments which never were finalized and released previously."The Platinum Collection on AllMusic". Retrieved on 25 August 2016.
2010s–present On 5 October 2010, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the first album MCMXC a.D., the "Enigma's Social Song" project began. Enigma fans were asked to submit vocals for a new Enigma song. The public was then asked to vote, with the winning submission "Fei mea" being provided by Latvian singer Fox Lima (real name Alise Ketnere) for the chorus. The top three runners-up, Mark Joshua from Brazil, J. Spring from Spain, and Rasa Serra from Lithuania, provided other important parts of the vocals like the bridge, backing and verse of the final version of the single. Fans also influenced further stages of the song's creation by voting on elements such as a lead instrument, general mood, and style of the track. The final mix of the single named "MMX (The Social Song)" was released on 15 December 2010. It became the first song ever created for and by the fans via the internet.