• November 14, 1954
• Yanni is one of the most popular modern composers of instrumental music, with huge clusters of fans across North America, Europe, China, Russia and the Middle East. His most famous work is Live At The Acropolis, a 1994 performance that in America alone sold over 4 million copies as an album and over 500,000 on home video.
• Yanni is a completely self-taught musician. Hard though it is to believe, he cannot read or write music. He composes his pieces in a shorthand form of his own devising.
• As a teenager he was a member of the Greek National Swimming Team and dreamed of being an Olympic swimmer.
• He was raised in Kalamata, Greece (perhaps you've had their olives) but left in 1972 to attend the University of Minnesota in the United States, where he got a degree in psychology. Instead of entering that field, he devoted himself full time to music, giving himself a year as a trial run. He quickly learned that music was what fulfilled him.
• In college, Yanni played rock music, and when he graduated he joined a band called Chameleon as a keyboard player. The band played a form of theatrical progressive rock that was a great training ground for Yanni. They developed a large following in and around Minnesota but never got a label deal.
• Yanni released his first album, Optimystique, in 1980 as an independent artist. When he signed with Atlantic Records in 1984, the label gave it a wide release, and Yanni was off to the races. He started touring with a small band and by the early '90s was a huge star. He embarked on his first international tour in 1993.
• The music press classified Yanni as "New Age," a term popularized by the music press in the 1980s to describe music that's ambient in nature and evokes a spiritual journey. Other artists in this box include Eyna, George Winston, David Lanz and another Greek composer, Vangelis.
• Yanni was one of the first to mix electronic music with orchestras at a grand scale. He uses an array of synthesizers and keyboards in a addition to playing acoustic piano.
• He's very popular on PBS, the American public TV network. Yanni's fanbase skews toward the mature and affluent, which is a perfect fit for the network, which has often used his specials in their fundraising.

Comments: 1

• Joel Schmendrick from Dublin, Irelandhas any body here seen my old friend martin. can you tell me where he's gone. he freed a lot of people but it seems the good they die young
  Dion

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