Personal life
Ralf Stemmann was born in Germany. He received broad classical piano instruction from 1965 to 1981. With time, he gained experience and developed his talent through hundreds of live appearances and by writing vocal and instrumental parts for the top 40 artists. Later, he learned comprehensive studio techniques in engineering, arranging, synthesizer programming, and sound design at Studio 33 (formerly Star Studio) together with Spanish producer Luis Rodriguez. He also instructed adults and children in piano, organ, and harmony theory at the private music school of Frank Valdor. His musical art was sought after by artists from all over the world, which made him travel extensively. He lived and worked in Hamburg, Berlin, London, Miami, and for more than 20 years now in Los Angeles, allowing him to collaborate with a diverse array of artists and earn many awards.[2] On 7 August 2017, he died at age 59.[1]
Professional career
He started his music career in the early 80s with Schampus, with the project "Phantom In Rom" for the label Night’n’Day Records where he collaborated with Mike Mareen.[3] In the mid 1980s, Stemmann worked as a studio engineer and sound designer at Studio 33 with Modern Talking, being co-arranger together with Luis Rodríguez.[4]
His credits as a producer, composer, arranger and keyboard player include collaborations with: Modern Talking, Chris Norman, C.C. Catch, Blue System, Engelbert Humperdinck, London Boys, Nino de Angelo, London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Baccara, Marianne Rosenberg, Roberto Blanco, Howard Carpendale, Mary Roos, Bonnie Bianco, Ricky Shayne, Audrey Landers, Jason Everly, Paul Bennett, The Three Degrees, Michael Holm, Denyce Graves, Thelma Houston, Trini Lopez, Smokie, The Tremeloes, Thomas Anders and many others.
Ralf also composed, produced, and arranged music for films, TV, and videos including ZDF-Hitparade and several episodes of the TV crime show Tatort, The Old Fox and TV series such as Rivalen der Rennbahn, videos for Sportschau, themes for the PBS Kids series The Huggabug Club,[citation needed] themes for the Buscando Estrellas series from 1992-1993 as well as Supermodels of the World, International Auto-Show Detroit and others. He worked on the scores for the animated TV series History of Mexico and for the movies The Pearl and Ring of the Musketeers [de].[citation needed]
After moving to USA, he worked as composer, producer, arranger of Latin stars, some of them are Ricky Martin, Thalia, Paulina Rubio, Marta Sanchez, Luz Rios, Paloma San Basilio, Martin Nievera, Cusco, Sarah Geronimo, Pablo Ruiz, besides others. He won the Latin Grammy for his productions and is considered one of the best music producers in this music market.
