Edyta Bartosiewicz

Edyta Małgorzata Bartosiewicz (born 11 January 1965) is a Polish rock singer, composer, and songwriter. In Poland, she's known for her highly reflective and unusual lyrics. Sixteen of her singles reached the top of Polish Radio charts. Over the course of her musical career, she has received five Fryderyk awards – the most important recognition in the Polish music industry. Bartosiewicz learned to play guitar at age ten. She studied at Nicolaus Copernicus High School in Warsaw (XXXIII L.O. im. Mikołaja Kopernika), and was interested in sports, and later attended SGPiS in Warsaw (now SGH, Warsaw School of Economics.) Interested in music and having played in a few bands, she left for London in 1986 where she met The Blue Aeroplanes. After her return to Warsaw, having dropped out of college, she joined the Staff group. In 1989 she won Mokotowska Jesień Muzyczna. In the following year, she appeared on The Big Beat, an album by the band Holloee Poloy (formerly the Staff group). She received a number of awards and sang guest and backing vocals on various records. Edyta quit Halloee Poloy due to, as she said herself, resistance to her composing and songwriting style. At the end of 1991 she started recording the album Love in studio S-4 in Warsaw. Rafał Paczkowski was responsible for the production of that album. This time her album was successful. By 2001, 67,000 copies had been sold and finally the album achieved Gold status. The most popular singles from this album were: “If”, “Goodbye to the Roman Candles,” “Blues for you”, “Have to Carry On”. The album was also released in Western Europe by Chrysalis Records but didn't make much noise there. On 18 May 1994 the album “Dream” (Sen) was released by Izabelin Studio. It was recorded with a completely new band i.e. Michał Grymuza (guitars), Radosław Zagajewski (bass), Krzysztof Palczewski (keyboard). Leszek Kamiński ( Bartosiewicz's husband as of 1990) was responsible for the production. This time her new album was sung mostly in Polish unlike the previous one "Love", sung mostly in English. The music can be described as eclectic, including acoustic songs as well as hard rock songs such as cover of the song "Move Over" by Janis Joplin. Her songs: “Dream” (Sen), “Capricorn” (Koziorożec), “Tattoo” (Tatuaż), or “Joke at a Zoo” (Żart w zoo) were a huge success on the music charts. In 1994, at the end of September, nine concerts were given in the nine biggest Polish cities. The tour was a huge success, as well as the album, which achieved Platinum status after selling over 300 thousand copies. Bartosiewicz herself was declared the best singer by the readers of the Polish magazine "Only Rock" ("Tylko Rock" – now known as "Teraz Rock" ["Now Rock"]), and the album's title song "Dream" ("Sen") is still one of her best known. The singer also received two 1995 Fryderyk Awards in the category: Best Artist and Best Pop/Rock Album. By the beginning of 1995 a new single “Wonderful tonight” was released. It was a cover of Eric Clapton song and it reached second place on Hit Parade of Program 3 (Polish radio station). At the beginning of July the single "Madness" ("Szał") was released to promote the album "Shock’n’show (Szok'n'show)". In October people saw Edyta perform live in 13 cities. The tour ended in May 1996. The biggest hits were: the promotional single “Madness”, Time of high tide”, “The Clock” (“Zegar”) which was released as a single in November, and the great, immortal ballad “The Last One” (“Ostatni”). The single “Anger is no use” (“Na nic gniew”) which was released during that summer is also worth noting. The album “Shock’n’Show” received the platinum status and to this day more than 280.000 of MC and CD copies have been sold. In 1995 the album won the Fryderyk (Polish music award) in the category Rock Album, and was nominated in eight different categories. The readers of music magazines lauded her work: The Best Album Award – readers of “Only Rock” (“Tylko Rock”) plebiscite The Best Singer Award – readers of “Only Rock” plebiscite Second place in Hit of the year category – readers “Only Rock” plebiscite Seventh place for “The Clock” Second place in the Best Singer category – readers of “Brum” plebiscite The Best Video of the Year Award for “Madness” – readers of “Brum” plebiscite The video for “The Clock” won “Zloty Yacht” in category The Best Video of the Year. A new challenge for Bartosiewicz at the end of 1995 was a music production of an album of the group Firebirds. The year 1996 was as impressive in Bartosiewicz's career as the previous one. She played dozens of concerts, including July 9 when she opened Bryan Adams’ concert in the Spodek Katowicki. She was a star during "Wegorzewo 1996" (Polish music festival). Edyta's recital during Sopot Festival was very well received. It was there that she achieved Platinum status for her albums "Dream" and "Shock’n’show". She received a warm reception. The recital lasted about 40 minutes but thanks to enthusiastic reaction of the public it was prolonged for 4 encores. Edyta performed her biggest hits but also presented her two new songs "Only a moment" ("Tylko moment") and "Think about me" ("Pomyśl o mnie"), which became a single. In October she started working on her new album, which was recorded in January and February 1997. The premiere of Edyta's fourth album entitled "Dziecko" ("Child") took place on June 9, and the single "Jenny" got airplay in radio stations from April 21. By September more than 100.000 copies were sold, and the album was in the top ten of bestselling albums of the year. The album was promoted on tour and a second single "Skłamałam" ("I Lied"), became a big hit. During a concert in "Stodola" (Stodoła) in Warsaw she went platinum yet again for the "Dziecko" (more than 200.000 CD and MC sold). Next singles: "Nie znamy się” („We Don't Know Each Other”), ‘Boogie czyli zemsta slodka jest’ and the title track “Dziecko” enjoyed popularity. In February Edyta played three concerts in the United States and Canada. In March 1998 Edyta once again won the Fryderyk for “Best Rock Album”. Additionally, she was nominated in five other categories. The album “Dziecko” is thought to be the most honest album of Polish rock and, generally speaking, Polish entertainment music. (Machina 03/02). In July 1998 Edyta entered the studio to record a new album. This time it was not with Leszek Kaminski but with an English publisher Rafał Mckenna who also worked with artists such as Blur, Pulp, or Radiohead. The first song from this album was "Miłość jak ogień" ("Love Like Fire") which immediately reached No. 1 on Polish hit lists. The premiere of the album "Wodospady" ("Waterfalls") took place on 9 November 1998. Another single was the title track. The reviews characterized it as the most mature of her albums. Songs like "Mandarynka" ("Mandarin") revealed Edyta's interest in psychedelic music. On the other hand, Edyta did not turn her back on the image known from her previous albums, confirmed with songs like "Miłość jak ogień" and "Wodospady Łez". In many reviews it is said that the most distinguished long plays are "Dream", "Child" and "Waterfalls". The video to the third single "Siedem mórz, siedem ladów" ("Seven Seas, Seven Lands") was shot in picturesque landscapes in the US (precincts of Los Angeles). In May 1999 the last single promoting "Waterfalls", entitled "The Rebel" ("Buntowniczka") was released. To date, 75,000 copies have been sold which gave Edyta another golden status title. In 1998 she was nominated to the Fryderyk in multiple categories. On 29 November 1999 the album Today are my birthday- the best of ("Dziś są moje urodziny- the best of") was released. This was the album summing up Edyta's artistic work and was promoted with the song "21st century" ("XXI wiek"). The album, as Edyta admitted, a contractual obligation. At the beginning of 2000 the song "Master" ("Mistrz") was released and promoted a medley. She ended 1999 with a departure from her