Michael Cretu (, ; born 18 May 1957) is a Romanian-German musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the musical project Enigma, which he formed in 1990. Cretu 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. He also worked with artists through the 1980s, including Peter Cornelius, Hubert Kah, and Mike Oldfield. Cretu was sometimes identified as "Curly" or "Curly M.C.", in reference to his curly hair and creț meaning "curly" in Romanian. Cretu scored an unexpected worldwide commercial hit with the debut Enigma album MCMXC a.D. (1990), helped by its lead single, "Sadeness (Part I)". Cretu continues to produce Enigma albums and singles; the most recent is The Fall of a Rebel Angel (2016), its eighth overall. Enigma 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. Early life Cretu was born on 18 May 1957 in Bucharest, Romanian People's Republic, to a Romanian father and Austrian mother. In 1965, he studied the piano and classical music at Colegiul Tehnic Nr. 2 in Bucharest, followed by further study in Paris for five months in 1968. 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". After he informed his mother, Cretu recalled: "She goes, 'Aaargh! Disaster! Do you want to end up starving?'" In 1975, Cretu relocated to Bad Homburg, Germany and studied at the Academy of Music in Frankfurt, where he graduated with a degree in musical composition in 1978. Cretu went on to speak four languages. Career 1976–1988: Solo career, producer, and early bands After graduating from the Academy of Music, Cretu remained in Germany and took up work as a session musician. Among Cretu's first jobs was being taken on as keyboardist and producer for German recording artist Frank Farian, and playing keyboards on "Rivers of Babylon" by Boney M. In 1981, Cretu co-formed the German new wave band Moti Special with other session players. Their debut album Motivation (1985) contained the single "Cold Days, Hot Nights" which became a hit around Europe. Cretu left the group before they released their second album in