Edyta Górniak

Edyta Górniak
Edyta Górniak in 2014
Background information
Born	(1972-11-14) 14 November 1972 Ziębice, Poland
Genres	Pop, R&B
Occupations	Singer
Years active	1990–present
Labels	EMI, Virgin Records, Sony Music
Website	www.edytagorniak.com

Edyta Górniak (born 14 November 1972 in Ziębice, Poland) is one of the most popular female singers in the history of pop music in Poland. She is noted for possessing a wide vocal range of approximately four octaves. She started as a musical actor in 1990 and performed on Broadway. Thanks to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 she began her career as a pop singer in her native country and internationally.

Biography

Beginnings

At the age of 14 Edyta formed a band and was playing at private parties and evening dances.^{[citation needed]} After taking singing lessons, in 1989, aged 16, she gave her first public appearance on a Polish television talent show where she won with Sam Brown's hit song "Stop!". In 1990 she performed on the Opole Polish Song Festival in a contest for debuting singers with an honourable mention. During the next three years she performed in music theatres. She was the star of the musical Metro ("Subway") - the most popular and longest running homegrown musical in Polish history, which brought her to Broadway. Later she sang in three musical performances Do grającej szafy grosik wrzuć ("Put a Dime in the Jukebox") - with classic Polish pop songs from the pre-rock'n'roll era, Blues Minus - with songs of Polish author Jonasz Kofta and Brel - with Polish versions of songs by the Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel. In 1993 Edyta took part in the Baltic Song Contest in Sweden and finished in third place.

Eurovision breakthrough

In 1994, Edyta was the first Polish artist to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, in which she claimed a highly creditable second place, which still stands as Poland's best showing in the contest. Her song was "To nie ja" ("That's Not Me"), which was also released on a single in English as "Once in a Lifetime".

"To nie ja" proved to be her breakthrough in Poland, becoming there the biggest hit of 1994. Edyta was signed to Polish division of EMI. Her first studio album Dotyk ("The Touch") released a year later, in May 1995 and sold half-million copies in Poland. It brought new hits "Jestem kobietą" ("I'm a Woman") and the eponymous "Dotyk", which was the biggest Polish hit of 1995. In 1996 she signed a contract in London with EMI International for five albums. However, she continued recording also for the Polish market, and had three more hits in Poland: Kolorowy wiatr ("Colourful Wind") - Polish version of "Colors of the Wind" from the Disney movie Pocahontas), a club hit Love Is on the Line (which was written by Kylie Minogue) and "To Atlanta!" ("It's Atlanta") - Polish hymn of the 1996 Olympic Games).

Edyta Górniak is one of the best selling Polish artists in history.

Edyta released her first English-language album Edyta Górniak a year later, in November 1997. It was produced by Christopher Neil, who was responsible for the international success of Celine Dion. Songs were written by writers of many legendary pop classics like: Billy Steinberg ("Like A Virgin" for Madonna), Simon Climie ("I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" for Aretha Franklin and George Michael), George Merrill and Shannon Rubican ("I Wanna Dance With Somebody" for Whitney Houston), Siedah Garrett ("Man In The Mirror" for Michael Jackson) or Rick Nowels ("Falling Into You" for Celine Dion). However, the mediocre success of the singles When You Come Back to Me (it was popular especially in Scandinavia and Portugal) and One & One (minor hit in France and Germany) limited the album's global impact with sales of 350,000 copies internationally, including 150,000 copies in Poland. Two songs from that album were successfully covered by other artists: One & One by Robert Miles in 1996 (before Edyta's original version was released as a single) - it went to #1 on the European singles chart and Perfect Moment by Martine McCutcheon in 1999 - it went to #1 in the U.K. During the promotion of her international album, Górniak gave concert in Poland with legendary tenor José Carreras and recorded with him a new hit Hope For Us in 1997. She also had two more hits recorded for her Polish audience: Lustro ("Mirror") - Polish version of Reflection from the Disney movie Mulan in 1998 and Dumka na dwa serca ("Dumy On Two Hearts") - theme from the Polish film With Fire and Sword, which became the biggest Polish hit of 1999.

Falling sales

In 1999, Edyta began a tour through Poland and released internationally the concert album Live ´99 in September 1999. In 2002, she was dropped from EMI International and signed to Virgin Germany. Her second international studio album was released in Poland in March 2002 under the title Perła ("Pearl"), a year before its international premiere. It was written and produced mainly by the team Absolute, which earlier worked for Tina Turner and The Spice Girls. New songs also were written by Steve Kipner ("Genie In A Bottle" for Christina Aguilera) and John Reid ("When The Heartache Is Over" for Tina Turner). The Polish edition was a double album, which contained additional seven songs in Polish, including hits Jak najdalej ("As Far As Possible") and Nie proszę o więcej ("I'm Not Asking for More").

Edyta was also asked to sing the Polish National Anthem at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but her performance had a decidedly mixed reception. In March 2003 international version of Perła was released, under the title Invisible. A brand new club tune Impossible was the first international single from the album. Its mediocre success only in Germany, Austria and Switzerland made Invisible a commercial flop with over ten times worse international sales than her previous studio album. Anyway, the Polish version called Perła had quite good results in her native country in a time of phonographic crisis, selling 40,000 units. A year later she was dropped from Virgin and after ten years of cooperation she also left her Polish label. In that time she had another hit in Poland, Nie było ("Wasn't"), recorded with Polish metal band Sweet Noise.

Independent music

That same year she gave birth to her son, Allan. The father of her child was Dariusz Krupa, who worked with her as a guitarist. Together with Krupa she founded their own independent label, EG.Production and Krupa became her manager. First she started a collaboration with the Polish production team Mathplanete to record her new Polish album in a brand new style, with chill-out club music. In 2005, she released the single Lunatique, which was performed in French and she married Dariusz Krupa.

Gorniak performing in 2006.

To promote another club single Sexuality in 2006, she appeared on the cover of Polish edition of Playboy magazine for the third time. Both singles recorded with Mathplanete flopped on charts, so she dumped the idea of recording club music. The same year she began working on her new international pop album, seeking a new major record label. She chose Sony BMG and the first results of this new direction were the songs Cygańskie serce ("Gypsy Heart") and Loving You. In 2007, she sang another movie theme, this time for the Polish-language version of the animated Spanish movie "Dragon Hill". Without any promotion all these songs also flopped on charts.

From March 2007 to November 2009, Edyta appeared as the juror in six seasons of Polish edition of the TV show "Soapstar Superstar", in which stars of soap operas competed for a record deal.

Her first studio album in five years, E.K.G., finally was recorded for her own label. It was released in October 2007 and promoted by the single and her first video in almost five years, List ("Letter"). It was a Polish version of Celine Dion's "I Surrender", which originally was given to Edyta. E.K.G. has moved 40,000 copies in Poland, just like her previous album, and all without promotion.

Return on top

In November 2008 Edyta released a single To nie tak jak myślisz ("It's Not How You Think"), which was the movie theme from the Polish comedy "To nie tak jak myślisz, kotku". This song became another breakthrough in her career - her first after six years of absence in Polish radio and music television. She also recorded her Christmas album Zakochaj się na Święta w kolędach ("Fell In Love With Carols On Christmas"), released in December with the biggest newspaper in Poland, "Gazeta Wyborcza". In 2009 Edyta's marriage was over and she left their own independent label. In 2010 she took part in Polish edition of the TV show "Dancing with the Stars".

In 2011 Edyta released the first single from her fifth studio album, Teraz - tu ("Now - Here") and directed its video. Another single, On The Run, also had video co-directed by her. Later that year she released the single Oj... kotku ("Oh... Kitty"), which was the movie theme from the Polish comedy "Pokaż kotku, co masz w środku". Full album My ("We") was postponed several times until February 2012. It was released by her new own label Anaconda. Next hits were singles Nie zapomnij ("Don't Forget") and the first dance tune since Impossible, Consequences. The same year she took part in Polish edition of the TV show "Clash of the Choirs". Also in 2012 Edyta gave her second concert in Poland together with José Carreras.

In 2013 Edyta recorded Frank Sinatra's classic All The Way, together with Matt Dusk and is planning to record her third international studio album. In July 2013 she became a new judge of the third series of The Voice of Poland.

Discography

Main article: Edyta Górniak discography

Albums (Polish and international releases)

• Dotyk (released in Poland, 8 May 1995)
• Edyta Górniak (first released in 1997 in Japan under the title "Kiss Me, Feel Me" and containing 3 bonus tracks; in 1997 in Poland and in 1998 in the rest of Europe without bonus tracks; in 1999 re-released in Poland as Special Edition with 3 bonus tracks, 2 of them being previously released as bonus tracks on Japanese edition)
• Live '99 (released in Europe, 1999)
• Invisible (released in Europe, 2003) (first released in 2002 in Poland as "Perła", with bonus disc containing 7 tracks in Polish; in 2003 re-released there as Special Edition with several new tracks and remixes)
• Złota Kolekcja: Dotyk (greatest hits compilation released in Poland, 22 March 2004 and re-released with new hits on 16 November 2010)
• Dyskografia (released in Poland, 2006 - box set with complete discography on 5 CDs & DVD with almost all videos)
• E·K·G - (released in Poland, 12 October 2007)
• Zakochaj się na Święta w kolędach - (released in Poland, 22 December 2008)
• My - (released in Poland, 14 February 2012)

Singles (Polish and international releases)

• To nie ja (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 1994, promotional radio single)
• Once in a Lifetime (EDEL, 1994)
• Jestem kobietą (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 1994, promotional radio single)
• Dotyk (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 1995, promotional radio single)
• Kolorowy wiatr (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 1995, promotional radio single; Polish version of Vanessa L. Williams's Colors of the Wind from Disney's movie Pocahontas)
• Love Is on the Line (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 1996; club hit written for her by Kylie Minogue)
• To Atlanta (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 1996; Polish hymn of the 1996 Olympic Games)
• When You Come Back to Me (EMI, 1997)
• Hope for Us (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 1997, promotional radio single; duet with José Carreras)
• Anything (EMI, 1998)
• Lustro (released in Poland, PolyGram Polska, 1998, promotional radio single, Polish version of Christina Aguilera's Reflection from Disney's movie Mulan)
• Dumka na dwa serca (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 1998, promotional radio single; duet with Polish soul singer Mietek Szczesniak from the most expensive Polish movie of the 20th century, Oscar-nominated With Fire And Sword)
• One & One (Toshiba- EMI Japan, 1997; EMI, 1999)
• Linger (EMI, 1999, promotional radio single)
• Stop! (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 1999, promotional radio single; live version of Sam Brown's hit)
• Hunting High & Low (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 2000, promotional radio single; live version of A-ha's hit)
• Jak najdalej (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 2002, promotional radio single)
• Nie proszę o więcej (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 2002, promotional radio single)
• Słowa jak motyle (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 2002, promotional radio single; The Day Before The Rain in Polish)
• Perła (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 2002, promotional radio single; The Story So Far in Polish)
• Impossible (Virgin, 2003)
• Nieśmiertelni (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 2003, promotional radio single; Polish version of Queen's Who Wants To Live Forever)
• The Story So Far (Virgin, 2003, promotional radio single)
• Whatever It Takes (Virgin, 2003, promotional radio single)
• Nie było (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 2004, promotional radio single; collaboration with Polish metal group Sweet Noise)
• To nie ja (remix) (released in Poland, Pomaton EMI, 2004, promotional radio single; club version of Górniak's breakthrough hit with new vocal)
• Krople chwil... (released in Poland, ZPAV-ZAIKS, 2004, promotional radio single; from TV commercial of mineral water Cisowianka)
• Lunatique (released in Poland, EG.Production, 2005)
• Sexuality (released in Poland, EG.Production, 2006)
• Cygańskie serce (released in Poland, Sony BMG Poland, 2006, promotional radio single)
• Loving You (released in Poland, Sony BMG Poland, 2006, promotional radio single)
• List (released in Poland, Agora, 2007, promotional radio single; Polish version of Celine Dion's I Surrender)
• Dziękuję Ci (released in Poland, Agora, 2008, promotional radio single)
• To nie tak jak myślisz (digitally released in Poland, Jazzboy, 2008; from the soundtrack "To nie tak jak myślisz, kotku")
• Teraz - tu (digitally released in Poland, Jazzboy, 2011)
• On the Run (digitally released in Poland, Jazzboy, 2011)
• Oj... kotku (digitally released in Poland, Jazzboy, 2011; from the soundtrack "Pokaż kotku, co masz w środku")
• Nie zapomnij - (digitally released in Poland, Anaconda, 2012)
• Consequences - (digitally released in Poland, Anaconda, 2012)
• Co tylko chcesz - (digitally released in Poland, Anaconda, 2012; Polish version of "Consequences")

Videography

• Wieża Babel (1991)
• Litania (1992)
• To nie ja (1994)
• Once in a Lifetime (1994)
• Jestem kobietą
• Dotyk
• Dotyk (alternate edit video)
• Kolorowy wiatr
• To Atlanta (1996)
• When You Come Back to Me
• When You Come Back to Me (alternate edit video)
• Hope for Us (1997, with José Carreras)
• Anything
• Anything (tour video)
• Lustro
• Lustro (alternate edit video)
• One & One
• Dumka na dwa serca (with Mietek Szcześniak)
• Jak najdalej
• Nie proszę o więcej
• Impossible
• Nie było (with Sweet Noise)
• Sexuality
• List
• To nie tak jak myślisz
• Teraz - tu
• On the Run
• Oj... kotku
• Consequences
• Co tylko chcesz
• Hallelujah (2012, studio video)

International charts

Singles

Albums

Covers of Edyta Górniak's songs

• One & One Robert Miles feat. Maria Nayler (Dreamland, 1996)
• When You Come Back to Me (as Böyle Sevdim Seni) Ayşen (Bir Günah Daha, 1999)
• Perfect Moment Martine McCutcheon (You, Me & Us, 1999)
• Perfect Moment Rochelle (single, 1999; Higher, 2004)
• Coming Back to Love (as Back To Love) Suzy K. & Donny Osmond (As I Am, 2000)
• Perfect Moment Mary Griffin (single, 2000; Purified, 2002)
• Sleep With Me (as Sleep) Conjure One (Conjure One, 2002)
• Soul Boy Melanie C (Reason, 2003)
• When You Come Back to Me Robin Beck (Wonderland, 2003)
• If I Give Myself (Up) to You (as Miracolo) Lisa (Oceano, 2003)
• Sleep With Me (as Sleep) Lola Ponce (Fearless, 2004)
• Whatever It Takes Anthony Callea (A New Chapter, 2006)
• Sleep With Me (as Casino Royale) Sandra (The Art Of Love, 2007)
• Love Is a Lonely Game Jenniffer Kae (Faithfully, 2008)
• Miles & Miles Away Monika Evans (2010)

"Dancing with the Stars"

Edyta Górniak participated in the 12th season of Polish Dancing with the Stars - Taniec z Gwiazdami. She was eliminated after the semifinal round.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edyta Górniak.

• Edyta Górniak - Official Site
• Message board
• VH1 profile
• Edyta Górniak on Yahoo!Music
• Edyta Góniak at hi5.com
• Edyta.info.ms - Fansite