Edgar Froese

Edgar Willmar Froese (6 June 1944 – 20 January 2015) was a German artist and electronic music pioneer, best known for founding the electronic music group Tangerine Dream in 1967. Froese was the only continuous member of the group until his death. Although his solo and group recordings prior to 2003 name him as "Edgar Froese", his solo albums from 2003 onwards bear the name "Edgar W. Froese".

Edgar Froese
Froese (left) and Thorsten Quaeschning performing as Tangerine Dream in the marketplace at Eberswalde, Germany in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Edgar Willmar Froese
Born	(1944-06-06)6 June 1944 Tilsit, East Prussia, Germany (now Sovetsk, Russia)
Died	20 January 2015(2015-01-20) (aged 70) Vienna, Austria
Genres	Electronic music
Occupation(s)	Musician songwriter
Instruments	Piano synthesizer guitar bass guitar harmonica mellotron organ horn mellophonium
Years active	1964–2015
Labels	Virgin/EMI Records
Associated acts	Tangerine Dream Thorsten Quaeschning Hoshiko Yamane

Biography

Froese was born in Tilsit, East Prussia (now Sovetsk, Russia), on D-Day during World War II; members of his family, including his father, had been killed by the Nazis and after the war his mother and surviving family settled in West Berlin.[1] He took piano lessons from the age of 12, and started playing guitar at 15.[2] After showing an early aptitude for art, Froese enrolled at the Academy of the Arts in West Berlin to study painting and sculpture.

One of his most lucrative jobs was to design advertising posters for the Berlin buses. He started an evening degree in psychology and philosophy and received his doctorate on Kant's categorical imperative. Since his interpretation was not in accordance with the academic way of thinking, he left the college with the remark: "The dust of the universities is like a shroud over the truth." [3]

In 1965, he formed a band called The Ones, who played psychedelic rock, and some rock and R&B standards. While playing in Spain, The Ones were invited to perform at Salvador Dalí's villa in Cadaqués. Froese's encounter with Dalí was highly influential, inspiring him to pursue more experimental directions with his music. The Ones disbanded in 1967, having released only one single "Lady Greengrass" (b/w "Love of Mine") on Star Club Records.[4] After returning to Berlin, Froese began recruiting musicians for the free-rock band that would become Tangerine Dream.

Personal life

Froese declared himself to be vegetarian, teetotal, and a non-smoker; he also did not take drugs.[5] Froese was married to artist and photographer Monika (Monique) Froese from 1974 until her death in 2000. Their son Jerome Froese was a member of Tangerine Dream from 1990 through 2006. In 2002 Edgar Froese married artist and musician Bianca Froese-Acquaye.[6]

Froese died suddenly in Vienna on 20 January 2015 from a pulmonary embolism.[7][8] He was posthumously awarded the Schallwelle Honorary Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2015.[9] He was quoted by the BBC as having once said: "there is no death, there is just a change of our cosmic address".[1]

Froese was a friend of such artists as David Bowie, Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, George Moorse, Volker Schlöndorff, Alexander Hacke and Friedrich Gulda.[10] Pop and Bowie lived with Froese and his family at their home in Schöneberg before moving to their apartment on Hauptstraße. Froese also helped Bowie with his recovery and introduced him to the Berlin underground scene.[11][12] Bowie named Froese's solo album Epsilon in Malaysian Pale as a big influence and a soundtrack to his life in Berlin.[13]

Solo discography

Studio Albums

Year	Album name	Label	Notes
1974	Aqua	Virgin	Later re-recorded and remixed in 2005
1975	Epsilon in Malaysian Pale		Later re-recorded and remixed in 2004
1976	Macula Transfer	Brain	Later re-recorded and remixed in 2005
1978	Ages	Virgin	Later re-recorded and remixed in 2004
1979	Stuntman		Later re-recorded and remixed in 2005
1982	Kamikaze 1989		Film Soundtrack
1983	Pinnacles		Later re-recorded and remixed in 2005
2005	Dalinetopia	Eastgate

Tangerine Dreams albums performed solely by Froese

Year	Album name	Label
2005	Phaedra 2005	Eastgate
2007	Summer in Nagasaki
2008	Tangram 2008
	Hyperborea 2008
2009	Winter in Hiroshima
	Chandra

Compilations

Year	Album name	Label	Notes
1980	Electronic Dreams	Brain
1981	Solo 1974–1979	Virgin
1995	Beyond the Storm		Includes new and remixed tracks
2003	Introduction to the Ambient Highway	TDP International	Sampler
	Ambient Highway, Vol. 1		Includes new and remixed tracks
	Ambient Highway, Vol. 2
	Ambient Highway, Vol. 3
	Ambient Highway, Vol. 4
2005	Orange Light Years	Eastgate
2012	Solo 1974–1983 - The Virgin Years	Virgin

Other Appearances

Year	Artist Name	Song Title	Album Title	Notes
1981	Tangerine Dream	"Baryll Blue"	'70 – '80	Ages recording sessions outtake
1992	Various Artists	"Michiko"	The Best of the O1/W	Promotion of the Korg 01/W synthesizer.
2011	William Shatner	"Learning to Fly"	Seeking Major Tom	Played guitar and keyboards.[14]
2013		"Do You See?"	Ponder the Mystery	Guitar solo

Edgar Froese solo material as Tangerine Dream

Tangents was a Tangerine Dream compilation album box set of five CDs issued in 1994, compiling music from their years with Virgin Records, 1973 to 1983. Disc five consists entirely of "previously unreleased material": ten tracks, seven of which are credited only to Froese as the composer. No information is given as to where or when these tracks were recorded, or by which line-up of Tangerine Dream. Most Tangerine Dream tracks credit the line-up that recorded it as the composers, therefore these appear to be Froese solo tracks, released under the Tangerine Dream name, and may have been recorded for this album. Furthermore, five tracks on disc three are described as "re-recordings by Edgar Froese", while the remaining tracks on discs three and four are described as "re-mixed plus additional recordings by Edgar Froese". The tracks on discs one and two are also remixed and contain new overdubs, and Froese is credited as producer for the entire album.

Another compilation box set, the 6-CD I-Box (2001) contains further bonus tracks credited only to Froese: "Ivory Town", "Storm Seekers", "Cool Shibuya" and "Akash Deep". Several of Froese's tracks from Tangents are included as well.

The Tangerine Dream album Views from a Red Train (2008) was originally announced as an Edgar Froese solo album. It was eventually expanded with other band members performing, but the album remains composed entirely by Froese.

Books

• Froese, Edgar (2014). Tangerine Dream – Force Majeure – 1967–2014. Eastgate.
• Stump, Paul (1997). Digital gothic: A critical discography of Tangerine Dream. Wembley: SAF.

See also

• List of ambient music artists

References

1. "BBC News - Tangerine Dream's Edgar Froese dies at 70". BBC News.
2. "Features | A Quietus Interview | Our Band's Not Electric: Edgar Froese From Tangerine Dream Interviewed". The Quietus. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
3. Edgar Froese. "Biography". edgarfroese.com. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
4. 45cat - The Ones [Germany] - Lady Greengrass / Love Of Mine - Star-Club - Germany - 148 593 STF
5. "International Vegetarian Union – Edgar Froese". Ivu.org. 6 June 1944. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
6. III, Harris M. Lentz (31 March 2016). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2015. McFarland. ISBN 9780786476671. Retrieved 8 November 2017 – via Google Books.
7. "Tangerine Dream founder Edgar Froese dies". The Guardian. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
8. "R.I.P. Tangerine Dream's Edgar Froese". Exclaim!. 23 January 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
9. "Schallwelle Preis - International Information". Schallwelle Preis. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015.
10. Hugues, Pascale (1 August 2017). "Tangerine Dream im Kiez: Als David Bowie bei Edgar Froese im Bayerischen Viertel wohnte". Tagesspiegel.de (in German).
11. "ZEITGESCHICHTEN Tangerine Dream - Groove". Groove (in German). 26 January 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
12. "Tangerine Dream", Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press, 2001, doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.46639
13. "Bowie's Berlin: the city that shaped a 1970s masterpiece". History Extra. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
14. "Announcing the Song Line Up for Bill Shatner's Upcoming Album Searching for Major Tom". WilliamShatner.com. Archived from the original on 16 April 2011.

External links

• Edgar Froese's Home Page
• Tangerine Dream Home Page