| Peter Baumann | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Peter Baumann |
| Born | January 29, 1953 |
| Origin | Berlin, Germany |
| Genres | Electronic music |
| Occupations | Musician, Songwriter |
| Instruments | Keyboards, Organ |
| Associated acts | Tangerine Dream |
Peter Baumann (born January 29, 1953 in Berlin) formed the core line-up of the German electronic group Tangerine Dream with Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke 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.
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Peter Baumann was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1953, his father a composer, his mother an actress. When he was eight, the Berlin Wall was built, and Baumann entered the American/German Community School in Berlin, where he learned English and was first exposed to American culture. At age 14, Peter joined a cover band and performed at G.I. clubs. Then, in 1971, at age 18, he met Christopher Franke, and ended up joining Tangerine Dream in replacement of their former organist Steve Schroyder.
Two years later, Tangerine Dream signed with Virgin Records and their first album on the label, Phaedra, became a Top 10 seller on the Melody Maker 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 and the three to start anew on what was to become Phaedra), and again in 1975, leaving Michael Hoenig 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 label, Private Music, specializing in instrumental music in a style popularly referred to as New Age. Artists signed to the label included Yanni, Patrick O'Hearn, Jerry Goodman, Suzanne Ciani, and former bandmates Tangerine Dream. In 1996, the label was sold to Windham Hill Records' parent company, BMG, 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 theory focused on human suffering and liberation called Natural Enlightenment.[1]
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 Studies and is a fellow of the Mind and Life Institute.[2]
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.[3]
In 2001, a musician/technician called Peter Baumann was credited with audio engineering work on Landing'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.