Yanni

Greek keyboardist and composer Yanni is a globally famous New Age artist, whose emotional, mostly instrumental recordings blend classical, soft rock, and a wide variety of world music. ∙ A pianist since childhood, he moved to the US in 1972 and joined the Minneapolis rock band Chameleon in 1977, then self-released his solo debut album, Optimystique, in 1980. ∙ Between 1990 and 2016, 17 of his albums topped the Billboard New Age chart, and 18 made it into the Billboard 200. ∙ He received Grammy nominations for Best New Age Album for 1992’s Dare to Dream and 1993’s In My Time. ∙ Live At the Acropolis—his hugely successful 1994 concert album and video—launched a series of performances recorded at such historic venues as the Taj Mahal and Egypt’s pyramids. ∙ His 2003 autobiography, Yanni in Words, was a New York Times nonfiction best-seller. ∙ In 2011, Yanni became the first Western artist invited by China’s Chengdu Panda Base to symbolically adopt a giant panda cub, which he named “Santorini” after the Greek island.