Suzanne Ciani facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Suzanne Ciani
Ciani in 2024
Background information
Born	(1946-06-04) June 4, 1946 (age 79) Indiana, U.S.
Genres	Electronic New age Avant-garde
Occupation(s)	Musician composer sound designer record label executive
Instruments	Synthesizer keyboards piano
Years active	1974–present
Labels	Finnadar RCA Private Music Seventh Wave

Suzanne Ciani (born June 4, 1946) is an American musician, sound designer, and composer. She became famous in the 1970s for her amazing electronic music and cool sound effects used in movies and TV commercials. She has been nominated for a Grammy Award five times for her New Age albums. People have called her the "Diva of the Diode" and "America's first female synth hero" because of her success with electronic music.

Early Life and Musical Journey

Suzanne Ciani was born in Indiana and grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts, near Boston. She has four sisters and Italian family roots. Her father was a doctor, and Suzanne started playing the piano when she was six years old.

College and New Sounds

From 1964 to 1968, Suzanne studied classical music at Wellesley College. She also took evening classes, including one at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This is where she first learned about music technology. She was inspired by artists like German photographer Ilse Bing and classical composers.

Suzanne went on to get her master's degree in composition at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1968 to 1970. There, she met Don Buchla, who invented a special kind of electronic instrument called a modular synthesizer. Suzanne was very impressed by his Buchla synthesizer. She even worked for Buchla to earn enough money to buy her own Buchla 200 synthesizer. She spent time practicing with it at Mills College. She also took a summer course in computer music at Stanford University.

First Steps in Music

Suzanne's first paid job in music was in 1969, creating sounds for 10 Macy's Christmas ads. She also worked on sound art for galleries and dance shows. She composed music for films and made experimental pieces in her garage studio. In 1970, she released her first record, Voices of Packaged Souls. She created it using special sound techniques at a radio station.

A Career in Sound

In April 1974, Suzanne moved to New York City with her Buchla synthesizer. She started working as a session musician, which means she played on other artists' recordings.

Creating Sounds for Famous Brands

In 1978, Suzanne started her own company, Ciani/Musica. Inc. She created short musical jingles and sound effects for commercials. She worked with big companies like Coca-Cola, Merrill Lynch, AT&T, and General Electric. One of her most famous sounds was the sound of a Coca-Cola bottle being opened and poured! She also made "logo" sounds for Energizer and ABC. She was so busy that she sometimes did 10 recording sessions a week.

Suzanne also played as a guest artist on many albums. She created the "swoosh" sound for the song "Afternoon Delight" by the Starland Vocal Band. She also made sound effects for a disco version of the Star Wars soundtrack. She composed music for films like Rainbow's Children and a documentary about Mother Teresa. She even created the themes for Columbia Pictures and Columbia Pictures Television in 1976.

In 1979, Suzanne made sounds for the pinball machine game Xenon. She used her own voice, changed by a special device called a vocoder. This was the first time a female voice was heard in a pinball game! In 2013, she was honored in The Pinball Expo Hall of Fame for her work on Xenon.

TV Appearances and Film Scores

In 1980, Suzanne showed off her sound effects on national television on The David Letterman Show. She also appeared on the PBS children's TV show 3-2-1 Contact, where she showed how her synthesizer worked.

Suzanne composed the music for Lily Tomlin's film The Incredible Shrinking Woman in 1981. This made her the first solo female composer to score a Hollywood film.

Releasing Her Own Albums

In 1982, Suzanne released her first studio album, Seven Waves. It was electronic and new-age music. She had always wanted to make her own albums. The album was first released only in Japan because American record labels found it hard to sell an electronic album by a female artist without singing. In 1984, it was released in the US. She used many different synthesizers and drum machines to create the sounds on this album.

Her 1986 album The Velocity of Love included her most famous song, which was also called "The Velocity of Love". This album also featured her playing the piano again after focusing on the Buchla synthesizer for many years. In 1987, Suzanne performed her first live solo concerts in 15 years.

Later Career and Awards

In 1990, Suzanne released Pianissimo, an album of solo piano music. It became her best-selling album. In 1991, she released Hotel Luna, inspired by her trips to Italy to learn about her family history.

In 1994, Suzanne started her own record label called Seventh Wave. All her albums since then have been released on her own label. Her 1994 album Dream Suite was recorded in Moscow with the Young Russia Orchestra and was nominated for a Grammy.

In 2006, her album Silver Ship won an award for Best New Age Album. In 2015, she received an Achievement Award from Wellesley College.

In 2016, Suzanne released Buchla Concerts 1975, which featured live performances from 1975. She also worked with musician Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith on the album Sunergy, using Buchla synthesizers.

In May 2017, Suzanne became the first woman to receive a Moog Music Innovation Award at the Moogfest electronic music festival. In 2018, she released Live Quadraphonic, a live album from her first solo performance on a Buchla synthesizer in 40 years. This album was special because it was one of the first quadraphonic (four-channel sound) vinyl records released in over 30 years!

In 2019, an earlier album project by Suzanne from 1969 was released, called Flowers of Evil. It features her playing the Buchla synthesizer while a poem is recited.

Personal Life

In 1992, Suzanne was diagnosed with breast cancer. After treatment, she recovered. This led her to move from New York City to California, where she has lived in Bolinas ever since.

Awards and Honors

Suzanne Ciani has received many awards for her music and sound work:

• A2IM Independent Icon Award, 2020
• Moog Innovation Award, 2017
• Pinball Expo Hall of Fame, 2013
• Keyboard Magazine's Hall of Fame, 2012
• Nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album five times: Neverland (1988), Hotel Luna (1991), Dream Suite (1996), Pianissimo II (1997), Turning (2000)
• Best New Age Keyboardist, Keyboard magazine, 1992
• Lifetime Achievement Award (Granny), Women in Audio Section of the Audio and Engineering Society, 1997
• Winner, American Federation of Independent Music (Indie), Silver Ship, 2006
• Most Valuable Synthesizer Player Award, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 1987
• Clio Awards, Excellence in Advertising, 1977–1989
• Bronze Lion Award for Excellence in Advertising, International Advertising Film Festival, 1985

Discography

Solo Albums

Guest Appearances

DVDs

• 1997 Suzanne Ciani and The Wave Live!
• 2008 Natura Poetica
• 2008 Galapagos: A Musical Odyssey
• 2020 "A Life in Waves" Blu-Ray

Film Scores

• 1981 The Incredible Shrinking Woman (Universal Pictures)
• 1986 Mother Teresa, (Petrie Productions)
• 1986 Cradle of wolves (Mexican novel - Televisa Productions)
• 2001 Mother Teresa: The Legacy (Petrie Productions)

Images for kids

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  A Buchla 200 modular synthesizer, an instrument Suzanne Ciani loved.

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  Suzanne Ciani performing live in 2017.

See also

In Spanish: Suzanne Ciani para niños

• List of ambient music artists