Violetta Villas
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Violetta Villas (real name Czesława Cieślak) was born June 10, 1938 in Liege, Belgium, to Polish emigrants. She is a Polish and international singer and actress. She has a 4-octave vocal range[citation needed] and is known for her conspicuous, outstanding appearance, along with a number of hit records. She is also a very controversial person.
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[edit] Early life
In 1948 she returned with her parents to Poland and settled in Lewin Kłodzki where she began studying music. She continued her artistic education in Wrocław and Szczecin. In 1959 she began receiving classic vocal lessons from Eugenia Falkowska in Warsaw. Her 4-octave vocal range and timbre conditions were significant, just for a promising operatic career, but she had decided to progress in more contemporary forms of music, accepting touring and vocal performances on stage. Soon Villas released her debut songs on Polskie Radio and her first album. She received her first noteworthy prize in Sopot Festival in 1961.
[edit] International career
In the early 1960s Violetta Villas toured many countries in Europe. In 1965, on the 3rd Festival International des Varié té s et Music-Halls in Rennes, France Villas received her Grand Prix International d'Interpretation. She toured USSR, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania.
In 1966 in Paris she was approached by Frederick Apcar, who invited her to Las Vegas. She was to perform with renowned star Line Renaud, but just after few weeks Villas outshined her, with her name in neon lights over the Casino de Paris. She sang with Frank Sinatra, Paul Anka, and Charles Aznavour. In Carnegie Hall she received a standing ovation from the audience.
In New York her concert was sold out. She starred in two movies. She was offered a lucrative 8-year contract with Paramount Pictures but she turned that down, unfortunately.
[edit] The Queen of Music
Later in the 1970s Violetta Villas had to return to Poland to her dying mother. Communist regime authorities confiscated her passport and she was forced to stay in Poland for more than a decade, however she wasn't completely banned from the media and could pursue her local career. But her life became more obscure and isolated. In 1985 she had her great come-back, just a few years after the martial law ended. All the tickets were soldout on-stake, even a few weeks before her concerts. Authorities granted her passport back, and she could return to her international career. She went on tours to USA and Australia. In Las Vegas, Violetta Villas married Ted Kowalczyk her great fan, and American millionaire of Polish descent who gave her the theatre as a wedding present, a building specially designed and built for her vocal capabilities.[citation needed] She was talented and he was very wealthy, however their marriage didn't last even a year. She left him and returned to Poland, again with great acclaim. She became almost an icon on Polish Television along with Irena Santor, Jerzy Połomski and Mieczysław Fogg.
[edit] Isolation, destitution, controversy
Later in the 1990s she began isolating herself from the public. Her fortune dissipated. She sacrificed her life to charity and helping abandoned animals. She has a mansion in Lewin Kłodzki where she lives alone with hundreds of animals to care for. Despite a few million sold records, she lives in total destitution without pension and royalties because she couldn't do all the bureaucratic work that is needed. She is supported only by neighbours and people of good will. Some Polish artists like Michał Wiśniewski and Edyta Górniak have tried to organize charity concerts to raise money for support of her animal shelter but with little or no effect.[citation needed] Recently the state authorities ordered that all the animals must be taken away to the shelters because of horrendous conditions in her farm and the foul smell surrounding the area. She only was left with about 60 dogs and no cats.[citation needed] Violetta Villas gives small concerts only occasionally, usually in small provincial towns.[citation needed]
[edit] Voice characteristics
In her best years Violetta Villas was a mezzo-soprano whose voice had an extraordinary compass - the so-called register- and a very wide range of vocal color. The voice covered four octaves from the tenor middle D3 to the soprano E7. Villas' best range was from C4 to C6. In her songs she was showing a remarkable ability to naturally assimilative styles, and eliciting a multiplicity of voices. Villas was once a tenor, alto, mezzo-soprano, and soprano, a most unique attribute amongst singers of any gender, both in the classical and popular music fields.
[edit] External links
