Christopher Franke

Born in Berlin, Germany in April, 1953, Christopher Franke studied classical music and composition at the Berlin Conservatory. At that time he was influenced by such composers as Krzysztof Penderecki, John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen and was actively involved in rock and jazz music. Together with his composition teacher, Franke set up a sound studio within a Berlin music school. The experimental excursions resulted in a project that evolved into the Berlin School of Electronic Music. It was there that Christopher Franke met Edgar Froese and became a member of the group Tangerine Dream. He pioneered the fascinating soundscape of the Moog Synthesizer and the Moog Sequencer creating driving, hypnotic rhythm patterns. One year later, Franke brought Peter Baumann into the band. Between 1970 and 1988, Tangerine Dream released 37 albums and composed scores for more than 30 feature films, including Legend (1985), Sorcerer (1977), Thief (1981), Firestarter (1984), Risky Business (1983) and Near Dark (1987). After leaving the Group in 1988, he released his first solo album, "Pacific Coast Highway" in 1991. That same year he founded the Berlin Symphonic Film Orchestra and opened a new, much needed recording studio in Hollywood as he became a successful film music composer on his own. In 1993, Christopher founded the record label, "Sonic Images Records", and subsequently released numerous studio recordings and soundtracks. He has composed the music for feature films, such as the blockbuster Universal Soldier (1992), as well as for television, including the cult Sci-Fi series Babylon 5 (1993). 1997 witnessed the release of Franke's critically acclaimed "The Celestine Prophecy - A Musical Voyage", a companion CD to James Redfield's best selling book "The Celestine Prophecy". More recently, Franke completed the score to the epic "Tarzan and the Lost City", the influential documentary What the #$*! Do We (K)now!? (2004), the hit-movie Green Street Hooligans (2005) starring Elijah Wood and the new Sci-Fi movie Babylon 5: The Lost Tales (2007).