Christopher Franke
Born: 6 April 1953, Berlin, Germany.
Biography:
German composer and synthesizer exponent Christopher Franke studied music at the Berlin Conservatory under the tutelage of Swiss composer Thomas Kessler. Developing an interest in progressive electronic music, Franke and Kessler established The Berlin School of Electronic Music, which attracted talented composers with similar tastes from all over Europe. Two of these composers, Edgar Froese and Peter Baumann, joined forces with Franke to create the pop group Tangerine Dream, who achieved a great deal of success with their film work and their solo albums. As a member of Tangerine Dream, Franke worked on a number of successful films during the 1970s and 80s, including "Sorcerer" (1977), "Risky Business" (1983), "Firestarter" (1984), "Vision Quest" (1985), "Legend" (1985) and “Near Dark” (1987). Franke decided to make a break from Tangerine Dream in the early 1988, and moved to the United States to embark on a career as a solo film music composer. He worked predominantly on TV projects such as "Tales from the Crypt", "'Walker Texas Ranger", "Pacific Blue" and "Codename: Wolverine", until he scored director Roland Emmerich's action thriller "Universal Soldier" in 1992, which subsequently led to him being hired to write music for the defining project of his career: J. Michael Straczynski's cult TV series "Babylon 5". Franke worked on the series from 1993 until its conclusion in 1998, and scored the six spin-off TV movies. In recent years, his music has been featured in the popular CBS action documentary series “The Amazing Race”, and the hit reality shows “Supernanny” and “Big Brother”. As well as his film work, Franke is the director of Sonic Images Records, a label initially created to release and publicize his own work but which has now developed into one of the fastest-growing soundtrack labels in the world. He is also the founder of the Berlin Symphonic Film Orchestra, and has released many non-soundtrack classical albums.
Filmography:
High School Confidential (2008), Babylon 5: Voices in the Dark (2007), Confrontation (2006), What the #$!*: Down the Rabbit Hole (2006), Berkeley (2005), Firefighter (2005), Green Street Hooligans (2005), Kidnapped: The Elizabeth Smart Story (2004), What the #$!* Do We Know? (2004), A Date with Darkness (2003), Hunter (2003), Manhood (2003), Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers (2002), Dancing at the Harvest Moon (2002), Dear Santa (2002), Johnny Flynton (2002), Manhood (2002), Murder on the Orient Express (2001), Jack the Dog (2001), Turtle Hero (2001), When Dinosaurs Roamed America (2001), The Calling (2000), Fortress 2 (2000), Seventeen Again (2000), A Holiday Romance (1999), Lost in the Bermuda Triangle (1999), Babylon 5: In The Beginning (1998), Babylon 5: The River of Souls (1998), Babylon 5: Thirdspace (1998), Tarzan and the Lost City (1998), Terror in the Mall (1998), The Devil's Child (1997), Kalte Küsse (1997), The Inheritance (1997), Jamaica Beat (1997), Ms. Bear (1997), Tell Me No Secrets (1997), A Face to Die For (1996), Codename: Wolverine (1996), Solo (1996), Tenchi Muyo! In Love (1996), Menno's Mind (1996), In the Line of Duty: Kidnapped (1995), Pacific Blue (1995), Public Enemy #1 (1995), Requiem (1995), Beyond Betrayal (1994), The Yarn Princess (1994), Exquisite Tenderness (1994), Night of the Running Man (1994), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1993), Babylon 5 (1993), Raven (1993), Stephen King's The Tommyknockers (1993), Universal Soldier (1992), She Woke Up (1992), Driving Me Crazy (1992), Eye of the Storm (1991), McBain (1991), Canyon Dreams (1990*), Deadly Care (1987*), Near Dark (1987*), Shy People (1987*), Three O'Clock High (1987*), Tonight's the Night (1987*), Legend (1986*), The Park is Mine (1986*), Zoning (1986*), Heartbreakers (1985*), Vision Quest (1985*), Firestarter (1984*), Flashpoint (1984*), Forbidden (1984*), The Keep (1983*), Risky Business (1983*), Spasms (1983*), Wavelength (1983*), Identification of a Woman (1982*), The Soldier (1982*), Strange Behaviour (1982*), Thief (1981*), Take It to the Limit (1980*), Kneuss (1978*), Game Over (1978*), Geradeuas Bis Zum Morgen (1977*), Sorcerer (1977*). * denotes a score written as a member of Tangerine Dream.
Highest Grossing Films as at end of 2007 (adjusted for inflation):
Risky Business ($142.8m), Universal Soldier ($61.9m), Sorcerer ($43.0m), Firestarter ($36.0m), Legend ($29.6m), Thief ($29.3m), Vision Quest ($25.9m), The Soldier ($15.2m), What the #$!* Do We Know* ($12.5m), The Keep ($9.9m)
Links:
Official Site
Sonic Images
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