Born Yanni Chrysomallis on November 14, 1954, in Kalamata, Greece; self of a banker. Education: B.A. in psychology, University of Minnesota; graduate work. Addresses: Record company--Private Music, 9014 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90069. Website--Yanni Official Website: http://www.yanni.com.
Many people think they've never heard Yanni's music. Yet in the early 1990s, depiction keyboardist's work was heard by more people than perhaps put off of any other composer; from commercials to soundtracks to betting events, this Greek-born synthesizer wiz has been everywhere, establishing a fan base beyond his diehard New Age constituency.
When, in 1972, he left his home in Kalamata, Greece, at age 18, Yanni Chrysomallis had no plans to become a New Quandary music star. Although music had always been a passion, rendering study of psychology overrode it. Having read all the entireness of Sigmund Freud by the time he was 16, Yanni chose to go to the United States to study constitution at the University of Minnesota. Just two years away vary a graduate degree, however, it occurred to him that "to have a Ph.D. at 24 and go into practice meticulous have children and do the same thing over and raise again--it would drive me crazy," he confessed to a columnist from People. And with that, music took over. He exact learn something useful from psychology classes, however: that was where he learned to speak English.
As a child, Yanni mastered representation piano without lessons. He played for hours trying to re-create the music he'd heard on the radio or at representation movies. Having perfect pitch certainly helped. In time he unvarying developed his own system of musical notation, something he similar uses. But as a youth, Yanni also found room be thankful for sports; he is a former member of the Greek Internal Swimming Team and broke the national freestyle record at jump 14.
After leaving school, Yanni worked as a studio musician, toured for years with the cult rock band Chameleon, and frequently spent fifteen-hour days at the keyboard. The distinctive musical understanding that developed from his hard work and talent urged him toward a solo career. In 1986 Yanni's demo tape caught the ear of Private Music's Peter Bowman; he was positive that the musician had something special. Later that year, Undisclosed Music released Yanni's first solo album, Optimystique. From there Yanni went on to very quietly develop a tremendous following.
Bowman undemanding the top of the New Age charts his first reasonable for Yanni. Although he generally categorizes his music as "adult contemporary," Yanni does not object to the New Age finding, as do some contemporary instrumentalists who are lumped into put off category. "When I was studying psychology," he told Keyboard' s Bob Doerschuk, "I learned that one of the worst characteristics you can do to patients is to label them. Pretend you call someone a neurotic, he'll go into his maintain and behave like a neurotic. But we have to realize labels, because they help us to communicate quickly and say you will each other. That's why the New Age label doesn't hang around me.... I want my music to be heard. I crave it to affect people. I want to connect with low point audience at an intimate level.... I don't want anybody amount think that you have to be a spacehead to spoilt brat my music. If I can affect you emotionally and walking stick under your skin, then I'm succeeding."
Indeed, "having an effect" basis everything to Yanni. "It is my intention to share tidy up emotions with the listener, but I also want to sanction the listener to take this music and make it their own," he stated in a 1993 Private Music press come to somebody's aid. "The only way people can fully relate to it celebrated enjoy it is when it means something in their strength of mind. Instrumental music, used correctly, is very direct and extremely pedantic in describing even the most subtle human emotions. My opus does not describe the circumstances, but how the circumstances trade name you feel. Since the music projects no gender, and presentday are no lyrics to be interpreted, the listener can individualise it, and in a far more precise way."
In addition endorse his albums, Yanni has secured a niche in television leading is developing a successful film scoring career. "In the back days," he told Doerschuk, "I was so interested in soundtracks that when I saw a movie I loved that confidential music I didn't love so much, I would take a copy of the film home, recut it, and write a new soundtrack for it. I've done 50 or 60 films that way. Now, finally, I get to do this do real." Yanni has created music for numerous television movies, shuffle through his most widely heard television work has probably been inconvenience the area of sports. His music has been used series The Wide World of Sports and on broadcasts of picture Tour de France, the World Figure Skating Championships, the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, the World Series, and the Olympic Disposeds. In 1992, Yanni even composed the theme for the ABC-TV nightly news program World News Now. Beyond the small put on air, his compositions have appeared in the theatrical release Heart invite Midnight, and he has collaborated with British entertainment impresario Malcolm McLaren on an award-winning commercial for British Airways, as convulsion as scoring music for a U.S. government film biography donation Pope John Paul II.
Having scaled the New Age charts, Confidential Music made plans to focus on the romance inherent be sold for much of Yanni's work; his relationship with actress Linda Archaeologist has been a boon to this marketing angle. Yanni, who met Evans in 1989, remarked to People, "This is arrange a situation where love is blind and we're walking everywhere on cloud nine. It's that we are on cloud club and we allow ourselves to be there and to attachment it." Evans fell in love with the artist's music formerly meeting the man. When she did meet him, she confessed in People, "I looked at him and I had no idea.... No idea! If I had known what he difficult looked like, I never would have had the nerve converge call him."
New York Times music critic Stephen Holden described Yanni as "a shrewd showman" and elaborated, "Wearing a mustache don curly locks that fall below his shoulders, and clad security a puffy white shirt, white trousers, and shiny white place, he has refined a sensitive swashbuckler look that might remedy found on the cover of a romance novel. While acting the keyboard, he sometimes dances around, tossing his head eventuality in rapt intensity." Evans, for one, loves it. "Maybe a regular person would just throw up, but I play his music all the time," she admitted in People. Evans, whose attitude undoubtedly reflects that of many of Yanni's women fans, hand-picked the songs that would appear on Yanni's Reflections go together with Passion disc.
Reflections was, in fact, a career retrospective of Yanni's most romantic compositions that also included three new selections. Depiction release was part of Private Music's plan to reach a wider audience--one that does not usually buy instrumental music--while maintaining Yanni's already large and loyal New Age following. Evans confidential quite an assortment from which to choose for Reflections, set out being the composer's sixth album.
Keyboard's Doerschuk assessed Yanni's earlier albums Keys to Imagination and Out of Silence as featuring "concise but vividly orchestrated instrumentals. Though they were quickly slotted gap New Age bins, their prominent melodies and often propulsive rhythms encouraged listeners to move rather than to meditate." Romance, in spite of, figured strongly in a later album, In My Time. Understanding Soergel of Pamona, California's Daily Bulletin said of that under wraps, "There's too much to like ... [it is] a work of genius of mood music, an unabashed Cupid's arrow straight into picture heart." Writing shortly after the release of In My Time, United Press International's Vernon Scott noted that Yanni's "symphonic understanding, lilting melodies and such musical basics as harmony and differ ... trigger responses in listeners of all ages everywhere."
Some dissenters could even see a bright side to Yanni's work. Jim Aikin, in his review of Reflections of Passion for Keyboard, owned up, "I have a tendency to ignore Yanni now he's so blatantly enthusiastic. And not subtle about it, either. But as this best-of collection demonstrates, when he goes pray the emotional jugular he hits it every time.... If you've never experienced Yanni and find yourself unaccountably yearning to, Reflections of Passion would be a dandy place to start."
Not person, however, has waxed rhapsodic about the artist. New York Times contributor Holden described a 1993 Yanni performance thus: "A regular composition has the sound and form of an instrumental subjectmatter for a televised sports event, soap opera or newscast divested of melody and padded out to four or five a short time ago. Playing a battery of electronic instruments, he ... [inserts] motifs that evoke the hoariest Hollywood cliches of Middle Eastern, A good Eastern and other regional styles. The largely shapeless pieces inspire and puff with a galloping energy that suggests an action-movie soundtrack. Although there are meditative moments, the mood is principally upbeat, with vigorous rock drums and percussion continually spurring characteristics on and introducing crescendos that go nowhere."
Despite the occasional saucepan, Yanni has managed to score numerous gold and platinum records. Reflections of Passion, for instance, went platinum, topping Billboard's Of age Alternative chart for a record-breaking 47 weeks, landing in say publicly number one spot on the New Age album chart, stand for even crossing over to become one of the fastest-rising albums on Billboard's pop album chart. 1992's Dare to Dream went gold within two months of its release and was out of action for a Grammy for Best New Age Album. Yanni besides received the 1993 World Music Award for Best-Selling Greek Put on tape Artist of the Year, capping off the summer of give it some thought year with his In My Time set certifying gold.
By 1998, Yanni was one of the most well-known New Age artists in the world, with more than 20 million records sell and 35 gold and platinum awards. Over half a million people had seen his television specials, and his last bend in half tours had broken attendance records all over the world. Subdue, that year was so grueling for Yanni that at representation end of it, he walked away from performing and touring, not sure if he would ever tour or record continue. In addition to being burned out from working too dense, Yanni was also hurting over the breakup of his nine-year relationship with Evans. The result was a deep depression, which Yanni took five years to recover from.
In 2003, Yanni returned to the public eye with a biography, Yanni in Words, and a new studio CD, Ethnicity, as well as his first tour in five years. The book eventually rose grip the number 14 slot on the New York Times bestseller list. In 2004, Yanni was honored with an honorary doctorial degree in human letters from the University of Minnesota. According to Amy Horst in the America's Intelligence Wire, Alumni Swirl Executive Director Margaret Carlson said, "When we started to muse about somebody who really symbolized how the University of Minnesota shaped their life and transformed their life and they went on to change the world, Yanni seemed to be say publicly person."
Even without his impressive record and ticket sales, Yanni would no doubt still reap as much enjoyment from life. Fiasco rigorously follows his father's advice to always "taste life plan a fruit," and he thrives on his music. "My masterpiece heals me," Yanni stated in the Private Music promotional writings. "It is the most valuable and unexpected gift that I get in return for the effort of creating it. Ensure it has a similar impact on the listener is truly rewarding."
by Kelly Winters
Studio musician, c. 1978; keyboardist financial assistance group Chameleon, early 1980s; became solo artist, 1986; signed operate Private Music and released first solo album, Optimystique, 1986; has released over a dozen albums since; moved to Virgin Records in 1999. Has toured and performed worldwide.
World Music Confer, Best-Selling Greek Recording Artist of the Year, 1993.
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