Yanni: I was ready to explore the world much closer. The idea of sex in itself was not a mystery to me. My father was very liberal and open. My father had no problem with mild bad language. My mom was a little more uptight than my father, but although she giggled and turned red in the face, she didn't reprimand my dad for talking that way. In Europe, sexuality is much more accepted than in all of America. Which frankly, was a big shock to me when I came to the United States, because in my experience Americans at least on holiday abroad had always seemed so uninhibited.
Yanni: My parents wanted us to appreciate our good fortune. Kalamata had a orphanage, and some of the locals thought the kids there were worthless, but not my mother. On some weekends she would invite one or two of them to come over and eat with us. And many times she would send me over to eat at the orphanage. And I still remember the very long tables and how bad the food was.
Yanni: When my brother, sister and myself were very young our father decided that he wanted to teach us how to withstand the cold. My father didn't just send us outside without our jackets on a winter day and tell us to be brave, as always he was more creative. My father took us to the beach of all places in January. My father thought that if we could survive the dead of January at the beach that we could survive anything. And we did.
Yanni: The most embarrassing childhood misadventure that I ever really regret certainly merited my father's anger.
Yanni: I believe in my heart that my passionate desire to succeed and the single mindedness needed to do what it takes to achieve my goals comes from both of my parents.
Yanni: As my records began to sell I came to the attention of a very attractive actress by the name of Linda Evans. We spoke often on the phone, and we met. We began a wonderful and a miraculous nine year relationship. Linda was my mentor as well as my lover. Being with Linda gave me the insight into myself and into show business, and she gave me the support I really needed to grow into my career.
Yanni: When I was 14 years old I became a Greek national swimming champion, and I moved to America at the age of 18 years old to earn a B.A. in Psychology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and played in an assortment of wild midwestern rock bands. I scored some movies, wrote some music for television commericals, and even worked as a dishwasher and an employment counselor. But mostly I just wanted to bring the songs that I heard in my head of life.
Yanni: If all of our souls can come together in our music, then they can come together anywhere, and as a race we can always achieve harmony and peace in our music.
Yanni: I know that our world is in turmoil, but I truly believe that we are on a one way street, and that for all of us to survive we have no choice but for all of us to become a global community.
Yanni: I really and truly believe that music represents humanity's soul.
In Greek there are many words to describe the different kinds of love. Yanni's parents raised their kids with agape, which means unconditional love. Simply putting it, no matter how they acted or what they did wrong Yanni's parents never withdrew their love or threatened to.
Yanni's name in English means John, in honor of St. John the Baptist.
Yanni's father taught himself five languages. He taught himself to speak English, Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguse, in addition to Greek. As a result in speaking those many languages he handled all the bank's overseas correspondence.
Yanni's father helped Allied soldiers escape the Germans by way of ferrying them offshore to wait for sea vessels.
Yanni's father Sotiri was born in Mani in 1923. Mani is a region in the southernmost end of the middle peninsula of the Peloponnese. It is one of the most beautiful places in Europe.
On beautiful summer nights Yanni and Yanni's brother, and a couple of their friends would go to the lighthouse by the breakwater where all of the ships came in and sit there on the benches and play guitars and sing.
When Yanni was three years old he could remember listening to his mother sing and just loved it. Yanni also noticed how adoringly his father would look at her when she sang. Even at the tender age of three, Yanni made a mental note of his father's reaction. Yani always loved it when his mother would sing.
Discograph: KEYS TO IMAGINATION (1986) OUT OF SILENCE (1987) CHAMELEON DAYS (1988) Swept Away (1988) NIKI NANA (1989) OPTIMYSTIQUE (1989) Yanni/Dallas Symphony Feature & Reflection of Passion (1990) REFLECTIONS OF PASSION (1990) IN CELEBRATION OF LIFE (1991) DARE TO DREAM (1992) Romantic Moments (1992) Heart of Midnight (1992) IN MY TIME (1993) LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS (1993) I Love You Perfect (1995) DEVOTION - THE BEST OF YANNI (1997) TRIBUTE (1997) IN THE MIRROR (1997) PORT OF MYSTERY (1997) Nightbird (1997) Forbidden Dreams: Encore Collection, Vol. 2 (1998) Steal the Sky (1999) Songs from the Heart, Vols. 1 & 2 (1999) LOVE SONGS (1999) Someday (1999) Winter Light (1999) Private Years (1999) SNOWFALL (2000) IF I COULD TELL YOU (2000) SOARING FREE (2000) THE VERY BEST OF YANNI (2000) ETHNICITY (2003) ULTIMATE YANNI (2003) LIVE AT THE ACROPOLIS (2005) YANNI LIVE (2006) YANNI - THE COLLECTION (2006)
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