Frank Peterson

Not to be confused with Frank Petersen.
This article is about the German music producer. For the English footballer, see Frank Peterson (footballer).

Frank Peterson
Frank Peterson wearing a bright blue shirt and blue plastic-rimmed sunglasses, smiling directly at camera while leaning on something off-camera with right hand
Peterson in 2025
Background information
Born (1963-12-20) 20 December 1963 (age 62)
Hamburg, Germany
OccupationMusic producer
Instruments
Member ofGregorian
Formerly ofEnigma

Frank Peterson (born 20 December 1963)[1] is a German music producer known for his work with Enigma and Gregorian as well as artists such as Sarah Brightman, Ofra Haza, and Andrea Bocelli.

Life and career

Peterson was born in Hamburg, Germany.[1] As a child, he learned to play the piano, synthesizer, and guitar, going on to work in a music store.[1] It was here that he met Michael Cretu and became lead keyboardist for Sandra, appearing on her 1985 hit single "(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena". In 1988, after Cretu married Sandra and the couple moved to Ibiza, Peterson joined them. He became a member of Cretu's new-age project Enigma, under the moniker "F. Gregorian", and contributed to the group's 1990 debut album, MCMXC a.D.[1]

Peterson left Enigma in 1991 and returned to Hamburg to pursue other projects.[1] He formed the group Gregorian with keyboardists Thomas Schwarz and Matthias Meissner, and they released the pop album Sadisfaction the same year, with Birgit Freud and Susana Espelleta (who was then married to Peterson) providing vocals as "the Sisters of Oz".[1] Peterson subsequently put the project on hold and went on to work with English soprano Sarah Brightman, producing and contributing instrumentation to her albums Dive (1993), Fly (1995), Timeless (1997), Eden (1998), La Luna (2000), Harem (2003), Symphony (2008), A Winter Symphony (2008), and Hymn (2018). In 1995, he produced the song "Time to Say Goodbye" for the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, and in 1997, he produced the eponymously titled final studio album by Israeli singer Ofra Haza.

In 1998, Peterson resurrected Gregorian as a group performing Gregorian chant arrangements of popular songs, moving away from its original pop style. His inspiration, as he stated in an interview, was the approaching new millennium and its spiritual aspect.[2]

In 2008, he produced the studio album Drama by the German musical actress and singer Carolin Fortenbacher.

Peterson runs his own recording studio, called Nemo-Studios.[3]

Lawsuit against Google/YouTube

On 16 April 2009, Billboard magazine reported that Peterson had filed a lawsuit at the Higher District Court in Hamburg against Google/YouTube, claiming that his music videos and other audiovisual repertoire were used illegally.[4] In his lawsuit, Peterson claimed infringement of his copyrights and master rights.[4] He stated that more than 125 million streams of his productions—for which he owns the copyrights and master rights as author, publisher, and producer—had been viewed, for which he never received payment from Google/YouTube.[4]

Discography

Gregorian

Main article: Gregorian discography

As producer

Sarah Brightman

Other artists

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Frank Peterson". gregorian-music.com. Archived from the original on 5 September 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
  2. ^ Best, Sophie. Q&A: Frank Peterson." The Age. 26 August 2001. Retrieved 6 August 2006.
  3. ^ "Nemo-Studio". nemo-studio.de. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  4. ^ a b c "German Composer Sues Google/YouTube". Billboard. 16 April 2009. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Peterson