Fernando Fromm-Abrantes (born 1960) is a German-Portuguese producer and

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

Background

He is a former member/keyboardist of the electronic/experimental pop band

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

. He went to the German school in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. After finishing school he moved to Germany and studied music and electronics in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

together with Kraftwerk members

Fritz Hilpert Friedrich "Fritz" Hilpert (born 31 May 1956) is a member of the electropop group Kraftwerk. Background Fritz Hilpert studied trumpet and percussion at the Musisches Max-Reger-Gymnasium, Germany, until 1976. He also played drums in several live ...

and

Henning Schmitz Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

. Afterwards he returned to Portugal. He lives in Lisbon, where he owns a music production studio. He is fluent in German, Portuguese and English. In 1985-1986 he performed a few shows as keyboardist of Sandra and her world hit " Maria Magdalena". Abrantes joined Kraftwerk in winter 1990-1991 during production of the album '' The Mix'', shortly after the departure of electronic

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

and songwriter

Karl Bartos Karl Bartos (born 31 May 1952) is a German musician and composer known for his contributions to the electronic band Kraftwerk. Career Karlheinz Bartos was born on 31 May 1952 in Marktschellenberg, Germany, named after his grandfathers Karl and ...

. Abrantes performed in ''The Mix'' UK-tour (10 concerts) in 1991. He can be seen in

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

ic form in promotional pictures from this period and in the booklet of the album ''The Mix'', in addition to the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the updated version of "The Robots", made the same year. He also performed "The Robots" live with the band in the popular German TV show ''Mensch Meier''. Due to divergences about the band's artistic direction with the band's co-founder

Ralf Hütter Ralf Hütter (born 20 August 1946) is a German musician and composer best known as the lead singer and keyboardist of Kraftwerk, which he founded with Florian Schneider in 1969. On May 12, 2021, Kraftwerk was announced as one of the inductees of ...

, Abrantes left Kraftwerk soon thereafter and was replaced by

Kling Klang Kling Klang (also spelled as Klingklang) is the private music studio of the band Kraftwerk. The name is taken from the first song on the ''Kraftwerk 2'' album. The studio was originally located at Mintropstraße 16 in Düsseldorf, Germany, adja ...

studio

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, who remains in the band to this day. Abrantes is one of the producers of the official music of the

Expo '98 Expo '98 (1998 Lisbon World Exposition) was an official specialised World's Fair held in Lisbon, Portugal from Friday, 22 May to Wednesday, 30 September 1998. The theme of the fair was "The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future", chosen in part to c ...

References

Portuguese musicians Portuguese male musicians Kraftwerk members 1960 births Living people {{Portugal-musician-stub German people of Portuguese descent Portuguese people of German descent