Christopher Franke
Birth name	Christopher Franke
Born	6 April 1953 (1953-04-06) (age 56)
Origin	Berlin, Germany
Genres	Electronic music
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter
Instruments	Drums, Keyboards, Synthesizers
Associated acts	Tangerine Dream

Christopher Franke (born 6 April 1953 in Berlin) is a musician and composer. From 1971 to 1988 he was a member of the German electronic group Tangerine Dream. Initially a drummer with The Agitation later renamed Agitation Free, his primary focus eventually shifted to keyboards and synthesizers as the group moved away from its psychedelic rock origins. While he was not the first musician to use an analog sequencer, he was probably the first to turn it into a live performance instrument, thus laying the rhythmic foundation for classic Tangerine Dream pieces and indeed for the whole Berlin school sound.

After his departure from the group, he founded the Sonic Images record label, the Earthtone New Age Music label and the Berlin Symphonic Film Orchestra, and produced a number of solo music works. He moved to Los Angeles, California in 1991 to pursue film work. In 1995 he scored the AFI short, Requiem. He also composed music for the science fiction television series Babylon 5, as well as the score of the anime movie Tenchi Muyo! in Love and in 2005 the music for German musical Ludwig² (with Konstantin Wecker).

[edit] Solo discography

• Pacific Coast Highway (1991)
• Universal Soldier (1992)
• London Concert (1992)
• New Music for Films Vol. 1 (1993)
• Raven (1994)
• Night of the Running Man (1994)
• Babylon 5 (1995)
• Klemania (1995)
• Perry Rhodan - Pax Terra (1996)
• The Celestine Prophecy (1996)
• Tenchi the Movie: Tenchi Muyo! in Love (1996; rereleased in 2002)
• Enchanting Nature (1996)
• Babylon 5, volume 2: Messages from Earth (1997)
• Babylon 5: In the Beginning (1997)
• Babylon 5: Thirdspace (1997)
• Pacific Blue (1997)
• Transformation of Mind (1997)
• Babylon 5: River of Souls (1997)
• Epic (1999)
• Babylon 5: Episodic CDs - 24 CDs x 30 minutes per CD (1997-2000)
• New Music for Films Vol. 2 (2000)
• The Calling (2000)
• The Best of Babylon 5 (2001)
• What the Bleep Do We Know!? (2004)
• Ludwig² - Das Musical (2005)
• Babylon 5: The Lost Tales (2007)

[edit] See also

• Perry Rhodan

[edit] External links

• Sonic Images Official Homepage
• Christopher Franke at Allmusic
• Christopher Franke at the Internet Movie Database

This article on a German musician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e