Peter Baumann formed the core line-up of the German electronic group
Tangerine DreamTangerine Dream is a German electronic music group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The band has undergone many personnel changes over the years, with Froese being the only continuous member...
with
Edgar FroeseEdgar Wilmar Froese is a German artist and electronic music pioneer, best known for founding the electronic music group, Tangerine Dream. Although his solo and group recordings prior to 2003 name him as "Edgar Froese", his solo albums from 2003 onward bear the artist name "Edgar W. Froese".Froese...
and
Christopher FrankeChristopher Franke is a German musician and composer. From 1971 to 1988 he was a member of the 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...
in 1971. While touring with the band, Baumann composed his first solo album in 1976. Shortly thereafter, in 1977, he left the band and started his own solo career.
Background
Peter Baumann was born in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, in 1953, his father a composer, his mother an actress. When he was eight, the
Berlin WallThe Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
was built, and Baumann entered the American/German Community School in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, where he learned English and was first exposed to American culture. At age 14, Peter joined a
cover bandA cover band , is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the cover band format marketable for smaller gigs, and these bands may be known as a wedding band, party band and function band. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is...
and performed at G.I. clubs. Then, in 1971, at age 18, he met
Christopher FrankeChristopher Franke is a German musician and composer. From 1971 to 1988 he was a member of the 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...
, and ended up joining
Tangerine DreamTangerine Dream is a German electronic music group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The band has undergone many personnel changes over the years, with Froese being the only continuous member...
in replacement of their former organist Steve Schroyder.
Two years later, Tangerine Dream signed with
Virgin RecordsVirgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
and their first album on the label,
PhaedraPhaedra can refer to:*Phaedra *Various artistic works based on the legend:**Hippolytus by Euripides**Phaedra by Seneca the Younger**Phèdre by Jean Racine...
, became a Top 10 seller on the
Melody MakerMelody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
charts. As a result of this and other recording successes, Tangerine Dream toured the world for eight years. They also made successful forays into film scoring.
Baumann had temporarily left Tangerine Dream twice, first in 1973 (returning in time for Franke & Froese to shelf their current work on
Green Desert-Personnel:* Christopher Franke* Edgar Froese* Pete Beaulieu – engineering* Mark Weinberg – sleeve design...
and the three to start anew on what was to become
Phaedra), and again in 1975, leaving
Michael HoenigMichael Hoenig is a German composer who has composed music for several movies and games, in addition to two solo albums...
as a temporary substitute for an Australian tour. His departure in 1977, shortly after the completion of the band's first U.S. tour, was final and led to a brief solo career.
During the 1980s, he founded a
record labelIn the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
,
Private MusicPrivate Music is a United States record company founded in 1984 by experimental musician Peter Baumann, as a home for instrumental music. Initially signing such artists as Yanni, Suzanne Ciani, Patrick O'Hearn, and Baumann's former bandmates Tangerine Dream, the record label specialized in New Age...
, specializing in instrumental music in a style popularly referred to as
New AgeNew Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often...
. Artists signed to the label included
YanniYanni , born Yiannis Hrysomallis is a Greek self-taught pianist, keyboardist, and composer who has spent most of his life in the United States.He earned Grammy nominations for his 1992 album, Dare to Dream, and the 1993 follow-up, In My Time...
,
Patrick O'HearnPatrick O'Hearn is an American multi-instrumentalist musician, composer and recording artist. While his musical repertoire spans a diverse range of music, he is an acclaimed New Age artist in his solo career...
,
Jerry GoodmanJerry Goodman is an American violinist best known for playing electric violin in the bands The Flock and the jazz fusion Mahavishnu Orchestra. Goodman actually began his musical career as The Flock's roadie before joining the band on violin. Trained in the conservatory, both of his parents were...
,
Suzanne CianiSuzanne Ciani is an Italian American pianist and music composer who found early success with innovative electronic music.-Education:...
, and former bandmates
Tangerine DreamTangerine Dream is a German electronic music group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The band has undergone many personnel changes over the years, with Froese being the only continuous member...
. In 1996, the label was sold to
Windham Hill RecordsWindham Hill Records is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment specializing in Acoustic, New Age and Folk music. Originally founded in 1976 as an Independent record label by guitarist and carpenter William Ackerman and his then-wife Anne Robinson, Windham Hill was a successful and well-respected...
' parent company,
BMGBertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japan's Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...
, who continue to distribute some of the back catalogue of its more successful artists. Baumann has since kept a low profile from the music business, devoting his time to studying Eastern and Western spiritual traditions, religions and philosophies. He has since founded the Baumann Foundation and developed a
philosophical theoryIn the general sense, a philosophical theory is a theory that explains or accounts for a general philosophy or specific branch of philosophy. While any sort of thesis or opinion may be termed a theory, in analytic philosophy it is thought best to reserve the word "theory" for systematic,...
focused on human suffering and liberation called Natural Enlightenment.
Personal life
Baumann has been married for 27 years, and has three adult children. He is the director of several real estate and natural resource companies. In addition to creating the Baumann foundation, he is on the board of directors of the
California Institute of Integral StudiesCalifornia Institute of Integral Studies is a private institution of higher education founded in 1968 and based in San Francisco, California. It currently operates in three locations just south of the Civic Center district...
and is a fellow of the
Mind and Life InstituteThe Mind and Life Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the relationship of science and Buddhism as methodologies in understanding the nature of reality...
.
Albums
- Romance '76 (1976) (LP)
- Trans Harmonic Nights (1979) (LP)
- Repeat Repeat (1981) (LP)
- Strangers In The Night (1983) (LP)
- Phase by Phase: A Retrospective '76 - '81 (1996) (CD)
EP
- Bicentennial Present (7" single) (1976)
- Biking Up The Strand (7" single) (1979)
- Realtimes (7" single) (1981)
- Daytime Logic (Extended Dance Mix) (12" single) (1981)
Hidden baumann
- Welcome to Joyland (as Leda) (1978)
- Grosses Wasser (co-producer on Cluster Album) (1979)
- Novels for the Moons (as Howard Bedman on AXXESS album) (1981)
- The Russians are Coming (12" single with Conrad Schnitzler) (1984)
- Blue Room (promo cassette with Paul Haslinger & John Baxter) (1991)
Other Baumanns
An album from 1978 named
Baumann / Koek is sometimes believed to be a Peter Baumann collaboration, as the album is German, the music is in a style similar to early 1970s Tangerine Dream and contains a track called
TD-Mem. Despite all this the album was actually composed by two musicians called Wolfgang Baumann and Eta Koek, and is not connected with Peter Baumann in any way.
In 2001, a musician/technician called Peter Baumann was credited with
audio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
work on
LandingLanding is an indie rock outfit from Connecticut, USA. Terms used to describe the music created by Aaron Snow and Adrienne Snow include ambient, shoegaze, slo-core, and space rock...
's EP Oceanless, and has since become a group member, rounding out the quintet for 2005's Brocade. However this is a different, much younger and unrelated Peter Baumann.
External links