Yanni facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Yanni
Yanni in 2007
Background information
Native name	Γιάννης Χρυσομάλλης
Birth name	Yiannis Chryssomallis
Born	(1954-11-14) November 14, 1954 (age 70) Kalamata, Greece
Genres	Contemporary instrumental, instrumental crossover, world, new-age
Instruments	Piano, keyboards
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Private Music/Windham Hill/BMG Virgin/EMI Image Entertainment Yanni Wake/Disney Pearl Series

Yiannis Chryssomallis (born November 14, 1954), known as Yanni, is a Greek composer, keyboard player, pianist, and music producer.

Yanni creates mostly instrumental music. He mixes different styles like jazz, classical, soft rock, and world music. Even though his music wasn't always played on pop radio, Yanni became famous worldwide. He did this by holding concerts at amazing historical places and by making videos shown on public television.

His most famous concert, Live at the Acropolis, became the second best-selling music concert video ever! Yanni has also performed at other famous spots. These include the Taj Mahal in India, the Forbidden City in China, the Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates, and the Egyptian pyramids and Great Sphinx of Giza.

Many of Yanni's albums have reached number one on Billboard's "Top New Age Album" list. Two of his albums, Dare to Dream and In My Time, were even nominated for Grammy Awards. Yanni has performed in over 30 countries. By late 2015, he had played live for more than 5 million people. He also had over 40 platinum and gold albums, selling more than 25 million copies around the world.

Yanni is known for combining electronic music synthesizers with a full symphony orchestra. He works with musicians from many different countries. He also uses unique instruments from around the world. This creates a special mix of sounds. People call him a "true global artist" because his music shows his idea of "one world, one people."

Early Life and Music Beginnings

Yanni was born on November 14, 1954, in Kalamata, Greece. His father was a banker, and his mother was a homemaker. He showed musical talent very early, playing the piano at age 6. His parents let him learn music his own way, without formal lessons. Yanni still uses his own special "musical shorthand" instead of traditional music notes.

When he was 14, Yanni even set a Greek national record in a 50-meter freestyle swimming competition!

In November 1972, Yanni moved from Greece to the United States. He started studying psychology at the University of Minnesota in January 1973. He worked washing dishes to earn money. Yanni said that learning English was hard but helped him remember things better. He earned his psychology degree in 1976.

While in college, Yanni played in a local rock band. He also kept practicing piano and other keyboard instruments. After graduating, he spent a whole year just on music. He realized this made him the happiest, so he decided music would be his life's work.

Yanni's Music Journey

In 1977, Yanni joined a rock band called Chameleon in Minneapolis. He played with the band's founder, drummer Charlie Adams, for many years. Yanni also created music for dance shows by the Minnesota Dance Theatre. After touring with Chameleon from 1980 to 1984, Yanni moved to Los Angeles to work on movie music.

Becoming Well-Known: The 1980s and Early 1990s

In 1980, Yanni recorded his first album, Optimystique. It was re-released several times later.

Yanni started his own band in 1987 and began touring in 1988. His band included pianist John Tesh and drummer Charlie Adams. They promoted his early albums like Keys to Imagination and Out of Silence. A big moment was a concert with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. This performance helped Yanni become more widely known. His music became popular just as contemporary instrumental music was growing. During this time, Yanni also wrote music for several movies.

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus at the Acropolis of Athens, where Yanni's famous September 1993 concert Yanni Live at the Acropolis took place in his home country, Greece.

Yanni gained more attention in November 1990 when he appeared in People magazine and on The Oprah Winfrey Show. However, it was his popular shows on public television, best-selling albums, and sold-out concerts that truly made him famous.

His album Dare to Dream, released in 1992, was nominated for a Grammy Award. It included the song "Aria," which was used in a famous British Airways TV commercial. Another Grammy-nominated album, In My Time, followed in 1993.

Global Concerts and New Experiences: The 1990s

Yanni's most famous concert, Live at the Acropolis, was filmed in September 1993. It took place at the 2,000-year-old Herodes Atticus Theater at the Acropolis of Athens in Greece. The album and video were released in 1994. This was Yanni's first live album, featuring his band and a sixty-piece orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Yanni took a big risk, spending $2 million of his own money on the Acropolis production. He wanted to show his art to more people and reach new audiences. The video was shown on PBS and became one of its most popular programs ever. It was seen in 65 countries by half a billion people! It sold over 7 million copies worldwide, becoming the second best-selling music concert video of all time.

In March 1997, Yanni was one of the few Western artists allowed to perform and record at the Taj Mahal in India. In May 1997, he performed at the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. He was the first Western artist in modern times to perform at this historic site. Live broadcasts of these two concerts were watched by 100 million TV viewers globally. These events became the live album and video, Tribute, released in November 1997.

After these huge concerts and a long world tour, Yanni took a break from music. He later shared that he felt down and went back to Greece to live with his parents for three months. He then traveled the world, wanting to see how other people lived.

New Sounds and World Tours: 2000s to 2010s

In 2000, after a two-year break, Yanni released If I Could Tell You. This was his first studio album in seven years. It sold well and reached No. 20 on the Billboard charts. Yanni said this album was calmer than his live concert albums. He created all the sounds on the album himself in his studio.

Yanni's 2003 album Ethnicity featured music from many different cultures. Yanni said it showed the beauty of a multicultural society. This album came out around the same time as his autobiography, Yanni in Words. In October 2003, Yanni played an instrumental version of The Star-Spangled Banner before a baseball game.

For the first time, Yanni featured singers in his 2009 album Yanni Voices. PBS showed a video of a Voices concert from Acapulco, Mexico, before the album was released.

The album Mexicanisimo, released in November 2010, honored Mexico. Yanni worked with singer-songwriter Pepe Aguilar and singer-actress Lucero to interpret Mexican folk music.

Yanni onstage with his orchestra and vocalists. He plays electronic keyboards and an acoustic piano, and also conducts his orchestra.

Truth of Touch was released in February 2011. This was Yanni's first album of new music in eight years. It included contemporary instrumental, electronic, and cinematic sounds. It also mixed pop, new age, and world music. Yanni said he started the album by trying out new sounds.

In April 2012, Yanni released the Live at El Morro, Puerto Rico album and DVD. These were recorded at two outdoor concerts in December 2011 at the Castillo (Fort) San Felipe del Morro ("El Morro") in Puerto Rico. These concerts were shown on PBS.

Yanni performed in China again on February 9, 2013, at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. This show has an audience of 700 million people! He performed with Chinese zither artist Chang Jing. Yanni released a song called "East Meets West" for this performance.

Yanni's tours in the 2010s included new singers, but his shows were still mostly instrumental.

In March 2014, Yanni released his seventeenth studio album, Inspirato. This album featured famous opera singers performing new versions of Yanni's songs. The songs' titles and lyrics were mostly in Italian.

On October 30 and 31, 2015, Yanni performed two concerts at the Egyptian pyramids and Great Sphinx of Giza. These were his first shows in Egypt. The concerts included fireworks and a video message from astronaut Scott Kelly from the International Space Station. They were recorded in high definition for PBS.

In December 2015, Yanni created a song called "Seven Billion Dreams" for a NASA video. This video celebrated the 15th anniversary of the International Space Station.

On December 18, 2015, Yanni released the single "Desert Soul" from his eighteenth studio album, Sensuous Chill, which came out on January 29, 2016. This album used synthesizers and electronic sounds, similar to his early music from the 1980s.

Yanni's single, "When Dreams Come True," was created during a 60-show North American tour. He improvised parts of it during each show. Its first full live performance was in February 2019 at the Winter at Tantora Festival in Al-'Ula, Saudi Arabia.

Yanni's August 2019 single, "Ladyhawk," honors his daughter Krystalán. In November 2019, Yanni released the single "Blue," inspired by the ocean.

In the 2010s, Yanni's international tours included performances in over thirty countries.

Recent Years: 2020s

In August 2020, Yanni released his nineteenth studio album, "In His Purest Form." This album features solo piano performances of his older songs. It was his first piano solo album since In My Time (1993).

In late 2021, Yanni began offering non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Yanni's Musical Style and Influences

Musical Inspirations

From a young age, Yanni enjoyed many different types of music. He listened to radio stations from North Africa, Arab countries, and Europe. He noticed that these stations played all kinds of music, not just one style. Yanni's music shows his experiences with cultures around the world. It also reflects his idea of "one world, one people."

Yanni's music is influenced by sounds from Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. He also draws from classical, rock and roll, and electronic music. He explained that the 1970s, with new technology and electronic instruments, were very important to him early on. He has loved classical music since he was 8, listening to Bach. He names Beethoven as his favorite classical composer, and Chopin as his second favorite. Yanni also mentioned being influenced by rock bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.

Yanni said that making music for movies influenced him a lot. He loves the work of composers like Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams. Most of Yanni's music is instrumental, meaning it doesn't have words. Yanni believes this is why his music is popular all over the world. He said, "There are no lyrics in my music for the most part, so the whole message is transmitted through the rhythm, melody, and sounds, and I think that has to do with crossing all the borders and being able to go to different countries." He also believes it's hard to "lie" with instrumental music because it only deals with emotions.

However, Yanni did feature four singers in his Yanni Voices project (2008–2009). He also performed with singers on tours and in his Live at El Morro, Puerto Rico concerts (2011). He explained that while he mostly writes instrumental music, he loves using the human voice as another instrument.

Music Categories and Unique Path

While Yanni's music is often called "new age," he says that "new age" is more about a spiritual idea than a music style. His music is also called contemporary instrumental. It's described as a mix of jazz, world music, classical, and soft rock. Yanni has said he doesn't like labels like "new age." He wants his music to engage the audience, not just relax them. He pointed out that his music can be very rhythmic and energetic, unlike some calmer "new age" music.

In 2012, Yanni said he never liked putting art into categories. He always creates music that shows his life experiences and lessons learned. For example, his study of psychology in college influenced his music. He said, "When I create music, it is a reflection of my soul, my experiences in life and my relationships with other people and cultures."

Yanni took a unique path to become famous. His music wasn't usually played on commercial radio or music television. He often risked his own money to fund big events, like his 1993 Acropolis concerts. He also produced specials on public television. Yanni often created music alone in his home studio and handled many production tasks himself. This meant he didn't follow the usual music industry path. In 2000, a newspaper called him "a living metaphor for 'success on your own terms'."

Yanni's Music Style

In the late 1980s, a review of Yanni's concert with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra called it "exhilarating, moving and inspiring." In 1995, The Los Angeles Times described his music as "sweeping romantic melodies underscored with energetic Mediterranean rhythms." More recently, Allmusic said Yanni's music has "a pronounced sense of drama, dynamics, and romanticism."

Yanni is known for combining electronic music synthesizers with a full symphony orchestra. He has been called a "true global artist." He works with musicians from many countries and uses unique instruments from around the world. These include an Australian didgeridoo and a Peruvian charango. His music is described as "an eclectic fusion of ethnic sounds, from Native American chants to African rhythms and Asian harmonies." Before his 2015 concerts at the Egyptian Pyramids, Yanni said that emotions are the same everywhere. He believes his instrumental music can share those emotions with people because it doesn't need language.

Yanni claims to have perfect pitch since he was a child. He still uses his own "musical shorthand" instead of traditional music notes. He hires someone to write down the music for his orchestra members. Even then, Yanni has to teach the musicians what can't be written down.

Concerts and Live Shows

Yanni's concerts are known for their amazing lighting and technical effects. A show needs over 2,000 timing cues for the lighting! The lighting is carefully timed to Yanni's music, even with its different rhythms. The lights also highlight solo performances by band members and special moments in the concerts.

In early 2017, Yanni started a new tour called "An Evening in Conversation with Yanni." In these shows, the audience could ask questions and participate. Yanni played the piano without his band. In May–June 2019, Yanni performed several nights at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York. Videos from these shows topped Billboard's Top Facebook Live Videos chart.

Awards and Achievements

Yanni has performed at many famous places around the world. These include the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Acropolis of Athens in Greece, the Taj Mahal in India, the Forbidden City in China, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the Moscow Kremlin in Russia, and the Egyptian pyramids and Great Sphinx of Giza.

Yanni's music became very popular during the new age music boom of the 1980s and 1990s. His music was played on adult alternative radio, appeared on public television, and was used in TV commercials. It has also been used in many TV shows and sports events. These include the British Open (golf), the U.S. Open (golf), the Super Bowl, and the Olympic Games.

Yanni's song "Acroyali/Standing in Motion" was found to have the "Mozart effect" by a medical journal in 2001. This means it's similar to a Mozart song in ways that might help with brain activity.

In October 2011, during his tour of China, Yanni became the first Western artist invited to adopt a giant panda cub. This honor is usually given to countries, not individuals! Officials said they chose him because of the inspiration and harmony in his music. Yanni named the panda "Santorini," after a Greek island. The Greek word irini means 'peace'.

In February 2013, Yanni and Celine Dion were the first non-Chinese artists invited to perform at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in China.

Billboard magazine has often named Yanni as one of the top new age album artists. He was ranked No. 1 in 2011.

Yanni's albums Dare to Dream (1992) and In My Time (1993) were nominated for Grammy Awards for Best New Age Album.

His PBS specials Live at the Acropolis and Tribute were nominated for Emmy Awards for their lighting design.

At least sixteen of Yanni's albums have reached No. 1 on Billboard's "Top New Age Album" chart.

Besides his psychology degree from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Yanni also received an honorary degree from the same university in 2004.

Helping Others

Yanni has worked with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) for many years to help them raise money. He has reportedly helped raise over $13 million for PBS. The Yanni Live at El Morro, Puerto Rico show in 2012 was his tenth project with PBS.

Yanni has also supported the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in their efforts to protect animals. He sponsored a "Panda Adoption Kit" program, giving $50,000 in donations. Yanni has also been a spokesperson for NASA.

Yanni has performed concerts in places that have faced challenges. For example, he played in Tunisia a week after a terrorist attack in 2014. He also performed in Egypt in 2015 to show that the area was safe, even though a plane crash happened between his two concerts there.

Yanni's Book

Yanni's autobiography, Yanni in Words, was published in February 2003. It came out at the same time as his Ethnicity album. The book became a New York Times best seller in March 2003.

Music Albums

Studio Albums

Live Albums

• Live at the Acropolis (1994)
• Tribute (1997)
• Yanni Live! The Concert Event (2006)
• Live at El Morro, Puerto Rico (2012)
• The Dream Concert: Live from the Great Pyramids of Egypt (2016)

Images for kids

• 

  Yanni onstage with his orchestra and vocalists.

See also

In Spanish: Yanni para niños