Yanni is the popular name for Yanni Chrysomallis, a popular keyboardist, singer, and composer. He was born on November 14, 1954 in Kalamata, Greece.

Although many fans and critics call his music "New Age", Yanni himself has distanced himself from that label. In his autobiography, Yanni devotes an entire chapter to the subject, stating that he prefers to call his music "contemporary instrumental."

Early in his life, Yanni tried to forge a career in rock and roll, touring with locally popular bands in the Midwest United States while a student at the University of Minnesota. His most popular group was Chameleon, a band that earned some modest commercial success touring throughout the Midwest, particularly in the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and South Dakota.

Eventually, Yanni grew tired of the rock and roll lifestyle and focused solely on his instrumental career as a soloist. Most of early music relied heavily on the synthesizer and received little airplay, except on New Age radio stations in larger markets.

Yanni's breakthrough commercial success came with the release of his album and video, Live at the Acropolis (1993), which was filmed live at the Herodian Ampitheater , under the Parthenon, in Athens, Greece. This was Yanni's first album which utilized a full orchestra rather than a handful of studio musicians, and his first live album. Subsequently, the concert was broadcast in the US on PBS. It proved to be one of PBS's most popular programs ever, and the resulting album sales brought Yanni's biggest commercial success to date.

While not fluent in standard music notation, he has perfect pitch and composes his pieces in a shorthand form of his own devising.

He dated actress Linda Evans from 1989 until 1998.

Music Albums

• "Keys to Imagination " (1986)
• "Out of Silence " (1987)
• "Chameleon Days " (1988)
• "Niki Nana " (1989)
• "Optimystique " (1989)
• Yanni/Dallas Symphony Feature "Reflection of Passion " (April 24th, 1990)
• "In Celebration of Life " (November 12th, 1991)
• "Dare to Dream " (March 10th, 1992)
• "Heart of Midnight " (1992)
• "In My Time " (April 6th, 1993)
• "Live at the Acropolis " (March 1st, 1994)
• "I Love You Perfect " (1995)
• "Tribute " (November 4th, 1997)
• "Port of Mystery " (1997)
• "In the Mirror " (1997)
• "Winter Light " (1999)
• "Steal the Sky " (1999)
• "Someday " (1999)
• "The Endless Dream " (1999)
• "If I Could Tell You " (October 3rd, 2000)
• "Soaring Free " (2000)
• "Ethnicity " (February 11th, 2003)

External link

• Yanni Music
• Yanni Concert Gallery