Most frequent collaboratorMichael Kunze · 12 tracks
GenresWorldbeatNew AgeDowntempoElectronicaAmbient
Complete Artist
100%
Authorship
Holds writing credit on 86 of 86 tracks
Does Enigma write their own music?
Yes, and it is one person doing it. Enigma is a studio project rather than a band, and Michael Cretu has written, arranged and produced every album since 1990. He told the BBC in 2003 that he handles seven different jobs on an Enigma record, as composer, arranger, singer, pianist and sound engineer, and that only the guitar is performed by someone else. The honest complication is the source material. A large part of the Enigma sound is built from samples of other people's recordings, and twice that ended in court. Cretu settled with the Munich choir Capella Antiqua in 1991 over the chants used in "Sadeness (Part I)" and "Mea Culpa (Part II)", and settled again in 1999 with the Taiwanese Amis singers Difang and Igay Duana, whose voices open "Return to Innocence". Later releases of that song credit the Duanas and pay them royalties.
By the Numbers
8
Studio Albums
86
Tracks Credited
100%
Self-Written
70 million
Records Sold
36
Years Active
32
Collaborators
Authorship Breakdown 86 / 86 self-written
Who wrote the songs?
Across all 86 tracks: how many Enigma wrote alone, how many they co-wrote, and how many were written by others. The bracket marks every track they hold any writing credit on.
Enigma has a writing credit100%
53%
47%
Sole author46tracks53%
Co-written40tracks47%
Outside writers0tracks0%
Role Fingerprint how they contribute
Enigma's roles across the catalogue
Share of all 86 tracks where they are personally credited, by role.
Lyricist (words)81%
Composer (music)100%
Producer100%
Performer83%
Authorship Over Time writing credit per album
Enigma's writing credit per album, in release order. Hover any bar for the album.
avg 100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
1990MCMXC a.D.
1993The Cross of Changes
1996Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!
2000The Screen Behind the Mirror
2003Voyageur
2006A Posteriori
2008Seven Lives Many Faces
2016The Fall of a Rebel Angel
Early · 100% written
Mid · 100% written
Late · 100% written
Authorship by Decade track-weighted
100%
1990s
MCMXC a.D., The Cross of Changes +1 more
100%
2000s
The Screen Behind the Mirror, Voyageur +2 more
100%
2010s
The Fall of a Rebel Angel
Authorship Spectrum pure performer to complete author
Where Enigma sits on the scale from a pure performer (0%, sings songs written by others) to a complete author (100%, writes everything). The bright marker is their catalogue authorship score, plotted against other artists on the site.
Enigma
Other artists on the site
Reference artists spread across the scale, closest by genre and era.
Bubble size = tracks worked on together. MK Michael Kunze · JG Jens Gad · DF David Fairstein · SC Sandra Cretu · AD Andru Donalds · CO Carl Orff
The Authorship Story
Data Insight
Enigma is one man. Michael Cretu writes or co-writes every one of the 86 tracks, sometimes under his birth name Mihai Cretu and sometimes as Curly M.C., and no track on any album goes without him. 40 are his alone. The 46 co-writes lean on two long-running collaborators, lyricist Michael Kunze and David Fairstein, plus Jens Gad on the later records. The outside names that do appear are mostly the sources of the samples the project is built on, which is why Carl Orff turns up as a composer.
Quick Facts
One man, not a bandEnigma is a studio project. Michael Cretu is the only constant member, writing, arranging, producing and engineering the records himself. He told the BBC that only the guitar is played by someone else.
Rotating guest voicesSandra sang on the project from 1990 to 2003. Andru Donalds and Ruth-Ann Boyle joined in 2000, and the 2016 album brought in Anggun and the duo Aquilo.
Sales and certificationsOver 8.5 million RIAA-certified albums in the United States and an estimated 70 million worldwide, with more than 100 gold and platinum certifications.
A debut single that went everywhere"Sadeness (Part I)" reached number one in 24 countries and sold 12 million units on its own.
Five years on the US chartMCMXC a.D. peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 and ran 282 weeks on the American album chart, going quadruple platinum.
Two sampling suitsCretu settled with the Munich choir Capella Antiqua in 1991 over the chants in "Sadeness (Part I)" and "Mea Culpa (Part II)", and settled again in 1999 with Amis singers Difang and Igay Duana over "Return to Innocence".
Creative Fingerprint
Michael Cretu has written, arranged, produced and engineered every Enigma album since 1990, so the authorship never moves; what moves is everything around it, because the guest vocalists change from record to record and much of the raw material is sampled from other people's recordings.
The Story
Enigma is a German studio project founded in 1990 by the Romanian-German producer Michael Cretu, who had already made solo records and produced albums for the singer Sandra. He wanted music that did not obey what he called the old rules and habits, and built the first album around Gregorian chant, breakbeats and a whispering voice. MCMXC a.D. arrived that December with contributions from David Fairstein and Frank Peterson, and its single "Sadeness (Part I)" sold twelve million copies on its own. Every album since has paired Cretu with a different set of guest singers and players, so the writing sits with one person while the voices keep changing.
Awards & Recognition
World Music Award, Most Popular German Solo Artist, 2002
ECHO Award, Most Successful German Production Abroad, 1991
ECHO Award, Best Marketing, 1992
ECHO Award, Best National Artist, 1992
ECHO Award, Most Successful German Production Abroad, 1995
ECHO Award for "Beyond the Invisible", 1997
Grammy nomination, Best New Age Album, for Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!
Grammy nomination for the artwork design of Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!
Grammy nomination, Best New Age Album, for A Posteriori
Over 100 platinum awards worldwide, including 7 RIAA platinum awards, 2 RIAA gold awards, 5 BPI platinum awards and 2 BPI gold awards
Frequently Asked Questions Enigma
Does Enigma write their own music?
Yes, and it is one person doing it. Enigma is a studio project rather than a band, and Michael Cretu has written, arranged and produced every album since 1990. He told the BBC in 2003 that he handles seven different jobs on an Enigma record, as composer, arranger, singer, pianist and sound engineer, and that only the guitar is performed by someone else. The honest complication is the source material. A large part of the Enigma sound is built from samples of other people's recordings, and twice that ended in court. Cretu settled with the Munich choir Capella Antiqua in 1991 over the chants used in "Sadeness (Part I)" and "Mea Culpa (Part II)", and settled again in 1999 with the Taiwanese Amis singers Difang and Igay Duana, whose voices open "Return to Innocence". Later releases of that song credit the Duanas and pay them royalties.
Is Enigma a band or one person?
One person, with guests. Enigma was founded in Germany in 1990 by the Romanian-German musician and producer Michael Cretu, and he is the only constant member. Frank Peterson worked on samples and production for the first album and left in 1991. David Fairstein, the alias of Fabrice Cuitad, wrote lyrics through the 1990s. Everyone else on the records passed through. Cretu has said the arrangement lets him make a record without any help from outside, which matters on music he cannot easily describe to another person.
Who sings on Enigma songs?
The voices change album to album. Sandra, Cretu's then wife, provided the whispers and vocals on the early records and stayed with the project until 2003. Andreas Harde, credited as Angel X, sang the English vocal on "Return to Innocence". Andru Donalds and Ruth-Ann Boyle of Olive first appeared on The Screen Behind the Mirror in 2000. The 2016 album added the Indonesian singer Anggun, the English electro-pop duo Aquilo, Brazilian singer Mark Josher and a voice credited as Nanuk. Cretu sings on the records himself as well.
Why was Enigma sued over "Return to Innocence"?
The chant that opens the song and repeats through it is a recording of the Amis singers Difang and Igay Duana of Taiwan. Their performance was taped in Paris in 1988 during a cultural exchange programme by the Maison des Cultures du Monde and later issued on CD. Cretu obtained the disc and sampled it without credit. In March 1998 the Duanas sued him, Virgin Records and several other companies. The case settled out of court in 1999 for an undisclosed sum, with full attribution to the couple in the liner notes of every later release carrying the work. Cretu said he had been led to believe the recording was in the public domain and did not intend to infringe.
What was the lawsuit over "Sadeness (Part I)"?
In 1991 the Munich choir Capella Antiqua and its label Polydor Germany sued Cretu over the chant samples in "Sadeness (Part I)" and "Mea Culpa (Part II)". The samples came from the choir's 1976 LP Paschale Mysterium. The compositions were public domain, but the choir's recording of them was copyrighted, and European law also recognises moral rights in a work. Cretu settled and compensated the choir for the unauthorized use.
Why is Michael Cretu credited as Curly M.C.?
He deliberately kept his own name out of the liner notes of MCMXC a.D. so listeners would form their own interpretation of the music rather than hear it as a known producer's record. Management "fell off their chairs" when he asked for it, he recalled, "but it worked". He signed himself Curly M.C., and Frank Peterson was listed as F. Gregorian.
What does Enigma sample?
Gregorian and ethnic chant is the best known part of it, and the reach goes well past that. MCMXC a.D. tucked a Maria Callas sample into "Callas Went Away". The Cross of Changes drew on songs by Genesis, Black Sabbath, Vangelis and U2. The Screen Behind the Mirror used Carl Orff's Carmina Burana across four tracks. Cretu has described his own method as looking for the unknown, and told the BBC that once he had done something new, other acts copied it: after the first album everybody had monks, after the second everybody had ethnic vocals.
Has Enigma ever performed live?
Not as Enigma. The project was made in the studio and never toured. Through 2019 and into 2020, three former Enigma vocalists, Andru Donalds, Angel X and Fox Lima, went out on a world tour billed as Original Enigma Voices. That was the first time Enigma's music had been performed live.
What did Michael Cretu do before Enigma?
He released several solo records and produced albums for his then wife, the German pop singer Sandra. He had also used a Gregorian-style chant on the opening seconds of her 1987 single "Everlasting Love", three years before Enigma. Mike Oldfield, impressed by his studio work, encouraged him to start a project of his own.
Is Enigma still releasing new albums?
The most recent studio album is The Fall of a Rebel Angel, released on 11 November 2016 with Anggun, Aquilo, Mark Josher and Nanuk among the guests. Since then the catalogue has been reissued rather than extended. In May 2018 the whole run appeared as The Colours of Enigma, a limited coloured vinyl series with new artwork and remastered stereo mixes made from the original master tapes.