Yanni

Yanni Hrisomallis (pronounced Chrysomallis) was born in Kalamata, Greece, on November 14, 1954. At the age of 14 he was an accomplished swimmer, he broke a national swimming record in Greece and had aspirations of becoming an Olympic Swimmer. In 1972 he traveled to the United States and attended the University of Minnesota where he earned his B.A. in psychology. While studying he tried to build a career in rock and roll, touring with locally popular bands in the Midwest United States. After finishing college he became the keyboardist of his most popular group, Chameleon, which earned some modest commercial success touring throughout the Midwest. Yanni grew tired of the rock and roll lifestyle and decided to dedicate on his solo career. Yanni is a self-taught musician, not being able to read or write music, he used his own special shorthand and has the quality of possessing perfect pitch. His early work received little airplay, except on New Age radio stations in larger markets.

In 1992, Yanni Released his album “Dare to Dream”. The record received Yanni’s first Grammy nomination, its single “Aria” was used in an award-winning British Airways commercial. The following year, he released his next album, In My Time, which attained Platinum status and was also nominated for a Grammy Award. In 1994, he achieved great commercial success when he returned to his homeland and recorded Live at the Acropolis, which was filmed at the Herodian Amphitheater, under the Parthenon in Athens (released as both album and video). The album became one of the best-selling videos of all time, selling more than seven million copies worldwide.




Following the success of Live at the Acropolis, Yanni set out to record at India's Taj Mahal and China's Forbidden City giving birth to his next multi-platinum album Tribute (1997). In 2000, Yanni released a studio album called If I Could Tell You, followed by the 2003’s record Ethnicity. Through the tracks of Ethnicity, Yanni captures a wide variety of rhythms and voices of cultures around the world.