Christopher Franke

German drummer and synthesizer player born April 6, 1953 in Berlin. In 1965, he co-founded the Beat band "The Tigers", which eventually changed its name to "The Sentries". In 1967, parts of the band merged with a band "The Ugly Things". This new band was named "Agitation" and "Chrille" became the drummer of this band. In 1969, the band was renamed to Agitation Free, as there was a second band with the name "Agitation" in Berlin. While he played in the band, he studied classical music and composition at the Berlin Conservatory. The band had the same rehearsal venues with Ash Ra Tempel and Tangerine Dream. In 1971, Franke left Agitation Free and switched to his "rehearsal neighbours" Tangerine Dream, where he already was active the year before. He took over the drum parts, played synthesizer and later also percussion. He became an important member of the band, so in 1974, when co-founder Edgar Froese made his solo debut, Franke was suppoerting musician for him. Franke played with the Electronic/New Age band Tangerine Dream between 1970 and 1987. Tangerine Dream enjoyed a very successful run, as they were signed and very successful in UK, releasing over 36 albums and several motion picture soundtrack recordings. After leaving Tangerine Dream in 1987 to explore new creative concepts and directions, Franke founded the The Berlin Symphonic Film Orchestra in an effort to combine his signature "musical expressions" with an equal balance of orchestral, ethnic and electronic music. During this period, Franke released his first solo album, Pacific Coast Highway, followed by The London Concert in 1992. In 1994 he released Enchanting Nature, the positive response to that album paved the way for his biggest-selling solo effort to date, The Celestine Prophecy - A Musical Voyage which is considered by many to be one of the most creative new age albums ever produced. This was followed by a unique collaboration, Transformation Of Mind, which paired several poetic readings by Deepak Chopra, along with nine delicate compositions by Franke. While being recognized as a major force in new age music, Franke has also garnered a tremendous amount of attention for several film and television scores including Babylon 5 and Tarzan And The Lost City. In 1993, he also opened a recording studio for film soundtracks in West Hollywood.