Kristian Schultze

Kristian Schultze (21 January 1945  – 22 November 2011) was one half of the German New Age band Cusco. Schultze partnered with Michael Holm and the two produced numerous New Age albums. The two met in late 1970s where they discovered they shared a similar interest in pre-colonial America. Schultze has also released a number of solo albums.

Biography

Kristian Schultze was the son of Norbert Schultze — the composer of "Lili Marleen" — and Iwa Wanja, a famous actress and singer in her time.

He grew up in Hamburg, Rio de Janeiro and Berlin, and got his musical education at Konservatorium and Musikhochschule Berlin, Wiener Akademie and Jazzschool Graz. He moved to Munich in 1968 where he worked as composer, arranger, producer and musician for various artists, for movies, television and theater.

As a keyboard player, he joined the group Passport of Klaus Doldinger in 1973 and recorded the albums "Looking Thru", "Cross Collateral", "Infinity Machine" and "Iguacu" with them. They undertook tours of Asia, United States, Australia and Brazil and Germany. In 1977, he left the band and played in the group "Snowball" with Curt Cress (drums), Dave King (bass guitar) and Roy Albrighton, the former lead singer with NEKTAR.