Born Yiannis  Hrysomallis in Kalamata, Greece on November 14, 1954, his experience in music was derived largely from piano recitals held for friends and family. Although he had no formal musical education – he taught himself how to play – piano was a big part of his childhood.

Yanni, New Age Icon

“Music is an incredibly direct language. It bypasses language and logic, and speaks directly to your soul.”

There are those artists who find out early on that they should enter the world of music at any cost. Take Yanni, for example; despite his lack of musical training and experience in several other fields, he still made an active choice to get into music and stay there. Now with almost three decades in the music industry under his belt, this New Age icon could probably say that he made the right choice.

Yanni’s Unique Youth

Born Yiannis  Hrysomallis in Kalamata, Greece on November 14, 1954, his experience in music was derived largely from piano recitals held for friends and family. Although he had no formal musical education – he taught himself how to play – piano was a big part of his childhood.

At 18, he was admitted to the University of Minnesota, where he joined Chameleon, a local musical act. He finished his degree there, after which he uprooted to California to look for commercial musical work. In 1987, he assembled a new group – it included John Tesh and Chameleon alum Charlie Adams – which he put under his own mononym. It took rounds of touring to promote their first few albums like 1986’s Keys to Imagination.

By 1992, his music was already turning heads, as with the Grammy nominated Dare to Dream. Another Grammy nod came in 1993 for In My Time, around which time his music began to be played extensively, from airline ads to the Olympics.

Yanni Successful

Major success came with Yanni Live at the Acropolis, a live album shot in September 1993 at the Herod Atticus Theater in Athens. The video for the album is one of the best-selling of all time, cementing Yanni’s place as a commercial heavyweight. He then went on to perform live at the Taj Mahal in India and the Forbidden City in China, one of very few Western artists to have done so. The performances helped create 1997’s Tribute.

He took a two-year sabbatical, after which he returned to the scene with 2000’s If I Could Tell You, his first studio release since 1993. Another tour followed in 2003 to support the release of Ethnicity, which underlined the “One World, One People” credo that had become his signature. Another tour, Yanni Live! in 2004, became the Yanni Live! The Concert Event album of 2006.

Another studio album would not be in the works until 2009, when Disney Pearl released his Yanni Voices album that featured several vocal artists. Yanni has released 12 studio albums and 6 live albums to date.

Did You Know That…

• …he was a competitive sportsman in his youth? He broke a Greek national record swimming for the country at 14.

• …he is one of the most played artists at the Olympics?

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