Pati Yang

Pati Yang
Pati Yang in 2006
Background information
Birth name	Patrycja Grzymałkiewicz
Born	(1980-03-26) 26 March 1980
Origin	Wrocław, Poland
Genres	Trip hop
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	1998–present
Labels	Sony Music Entertainment Poland, EMI Music Poland

Pati Yang (real name: Patrycja Hilton, maiden name: Grzymałkiewicz, born 26 March 1980) is a Polish singer-songwriter.

Personal life

Pati Yang, born in Poland during the martial law of the early 1980s, spent the first 7 years of her life in a vibrant and surreal artists enclave under a strict communist regime, most often on tour with her father’s iconic punk band who underwent extreme danger to smuggle their anti regime message through the soviet censorship, playing a hugely influential role in the radical social and political change within the Eastern Block countries. At 16 she escaped her home and country and arrived in London to write her first solo album. Her critically revered debut released by Sony in Poland in 1998 is still considered a genre defining milestone, which paved the way for the newly emerging wave of electronic artists that followed in her footsteps.

Self-taught visual artist, published poet, and a widely influential radio DJ on a national channel, she became a strong and radical voice of her generation. In 2001 she formed a band with Stephen Hilton. The duo released their first EP on Mercury Records under the name Children and were praised alongside the likes of Four Tet, Steve Reed and Prefuse 73 in the Independent Newspaper’s round up of new electronic experimental artists. Stephen programmed the beats behind many iconic soundtracks such as two James Bond movies, Hot Fuzz, Moulin Rouge, and Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13 Together with David Holmes’ The Free Association Pati worked on the soundtrack to Michael Winterbottom’s film Code 46 which was nominated for the best soundtrack at the European Film Awards in 2003.

In 2005 she released a follow-up to her debut solo album - Silent Treatment. Recorded at the legendary Air Studios in London, her album again topped the charts in Poland and earned her an invitation to support The Depeche Mode at their stadium show in Warsaw in 2006. Meanwhile in London Pati and Stephen completed an album to be released under a guise “FlyKKiller”, a musical, photographical and installation art project. The self-titled single rocketed straight into number 1 on the DMC ZZub chart, praised by NME, DJ Mag, Hip Hop Connection and DJ’s such as Annie Nightingale and Rob Da Bank at Radio One and John Kennedy and James Hyman at XFM, Joe Ransom and Loose Cannons at Kiss, with the following release supported by BBC 6 Music as single of the week and resulting in two BBC live sessions, while Times Magazine named FlyKKiller second most important breakthrough act of 2007.

She then teamed up with Manchester based Joe Cross, acclaimed for his work with artists such as Alex Metric, Hurts, The Courteneers, The result was an adventurous and eclectic pop record which captured the attention of press and radio alike and was much talked up by X-Posure at BBC 6 Music as well as DJ Magazine and MixMag, with remixes from Jagz Kooner and The Autokratz.

Pati’s long list of credits up to date includes critically acclaimed 4 major-released solo albums and 4 EP’s as well as 13 film soundtracks including Michael Winterbottom’s ‘A Mighty Heart” starring Angelina Jolie and “ Code 46 “ with Samantha Morton and Tim Robbins, Richard Jobson’s “ New Town Killers” and “The Journey” and Hattie Dalton’s “Third Star” with Benedict Cumberbatch, as well as collaborations with David Holmes, David Arnold, Leo Abrahams and The John Spencer Blues Explosion to name just a few. Pati is also a Yoga teacher, Reiki Master and Ayurveda Yoga Therapist, and she currently resides in the Mojave desert studying Native American medicine and sound healing techniques while she is also writing her first book and working on series of large acrylic canvases and video installation art. Her 5th solo album, produced by Jagz Kooner is due for release in 2015 by Warner Music.

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Music videos

References