Beginnings
At the age of 4 Górniak formed a band and was playing at private parties and evening dances. After studying and 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 with an honourable mention. During the next three years she was the star of the musical Metro ("Subway") - the most popular and longest running homegrown musical in Polish history and in two music performances Do grającej szafy grosik wrzuć ("Put a Dime in the Jukebox") -- with classic Polish pop songs from the pre-rock'n'roll era and Brel -Polish versions of songs by the Belgian French-speaking singer-songwriter Jacques Brel.
[edit] Eurovision breakthrough
In 1993 Górniak took part in the Baltic Song Contest and finished in third place. In 1994 she 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. Górniak was signed to Pomaton-EMI. Her first studio album Dotyk ("The Touch") released a year later, sold 500,0000 copies in Poland, bringing new hits "Jestem kobietą" ("I'm a Woman") and the eponymous "Dotyk", which was the biggest Polish radio hit of 1995. In 1996 she signed a contract in London with EMI International for five albums. However, she continued recording for the Polish market, and had three more hits in Poland: Kolorowy wiatr (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 released her first English-language album Edyta Górniak a year later with producer Chris Neil, who was responsible for the international success of Celine Dion. However, the mediocre success of the singles When You Come Back To Me (especially in Scandinavia and Portugal) and One & One (especially in France and Germany) limited the album's global impact, with sales of 200,000 units internationally, but also 150,000 units in Poland. Two Edyta's songs from that album, One & One and Perfect Moment were international hits for other artists: the first one for Robert Miles in 1996 (before Edyta even released her original version) and the latter for Martine McCutcheon in 1999. During the promotion of that album, Górniak had another two hits recorded for her Polish audience: Lustro (Polish version of the song hit Reflection from the Disney movie Mulan) and Dumka na dwa serca (theme from the Polish film With Fire and Sword), which became the biggest Polish hit of 1999.
[edit] Falling sales
In 1999 Górniak began a tour through Poland and released the concert album Live ´99. In 2002 she was dropped from EMI International and signed to Virgin Germany. Then her next international album Perła ("Pearl") was released in Poland, a year before its international premiere. It was produced by the team Absolute, which was responsible for the success of The Spice Girls. The Polish edition was a double album, which contained new Polish songs, including hits "Jak najdalej" ("As Far As Possible") and "Nie proszę o więcej" ("I'm Not Asking for More").
Górniak was also asked to sing the Polish National Anthem at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but her performance had a decidedly mixed reception. In 2003 an English-language version of Perła was released internationally as Invisible with the club tune Impossible as a bonus track, which 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 - 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 also left her Polish label Pomaton EMI.
[edit] Independent music
That same year she gave birth to her son, Allan. She then started her own independent label EG Production and began 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 May 2005, she released the single Lunatique, which was performed in French. In November, Edyta married the father of her child, Dariusz Krupa, who was also a guitarist in her band.
In February 2006 she appeared on the cover of Polish edition of Playboy magazine for the third time and released another club single "Sexuality". Górniak then left Mathplanete unexpectedly, dumping the idea of recording club music, and began working on her new international pop album, seeking a new major record label. She chose Sony BMG and the first result of this new direction was the hit "Cygańskie serce" ("Gypsy Heart") presented in June at the Opole Polish Song Festival. Her English-language single "Loving You", in December 2006, was a flop. In January 2007 Górniak sang another movie theme, this time for Smocze wzgórze - the Polish-language version of the animated Spanish movie Dragon Hill.
Since March 2007 she has appeared as the juror in a TV show "Jak oni śpiewają" ("Soapstar Superstar"), in which stars from popular Polish soap operas compete for a record deal.
Her first studio album in five years, "E.K.G.", finally was recorded for independent label Agora, not for Sony BMG. It was released in October 2007 and promoted by the single "List", which was a Polish version of Celine Dion's "I Surrender". The album also contained Edyta's previous two singles recorded for Sony BMG. "E.K.G." has moved almost 40,000 copies in Poland.
In November 2008 Gorniak released a single "To nie tak jak myślisz", which was the movie theme from the Polish comedy To nie tak jak myślisz, kotku. It was another breakthrough in her career, because it was her first hit after six years of absence in Polish radio and music television. In June 2009 Gorniak will go the U.S.A. to try again with her international career.
[edit] Discography Main article: Edyta Górniak discography
[edit] Albums (Polish and international releases): Dotyk (released in Poland, 8 May 1995) Edyta Górniak (first released 1997 in Japan as "Kiss Me, Feel Me", 1998 in Europe; 1999 re-released in Poland as Edyta Górniak - Special Edition with 3 bonus tracks earlier available only on international editions) Live '99 (1999, Europe) Invisible (first released in Poland as "Perła" 2002, with bonus disc containing 7 Polish tracks; European release: 31 March 2003; re-released in Poland as "Perła - Special Edition" 2003 with many bonus tracks and remixes) Złota Kolekcja - Dotyk (compilation released in Poland, 22 March 2004) Edyta Górniak - Dyskografia (released in Poland, 2006 - boxset with complete Polish 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)
[edit] 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 Jose 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 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) Perla (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 2004 (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) Dziękuję Ci (released in Poland, Agora, 2007, promotional radio single) To nie tak jak myślisz" (released in Poland, Sony BMG, 2008, promotional radio single, from the o.s.t. "To nie tak jak myślisz kotku")
[edit] Videography To nie ja Once in a lifetime Jestem kobietą Dotyk (Version 1) Dotyk (Version 2) Kolorowy wiatr To Atlanta When you come back to me (Version 1) When you come back to me (Version 2) Anything Hope For Us (Edyta & J. Carreras) Lustro Dumka Na Dwa Serca (Edyta & M. Szcześniak) One & One Jak najdalej Nie proszę o więcej Impossible Nie było (Edyta & Sweet Noise) List Mizerna cicha To nie tak jak myślisz
[edit] International charts
[edit] Singles Year Title Chart positions Album GER AUS SWI FRA BEL (Fla) BEL (Wal) NOR SWE FIN AFR . 1998 "When You Come Back To Me" - - - - 39 - - 23 - 13 Edyta Górniak 1999 "Anything" - - - - 59 61 - - - - Edyta Górniak 1999 "One & One" 79 - 42 46 - 72 - - - - Edyta Górniak 2003 "Impossible" 55 50 64 - - - - - - - Invisible
[edit] Albums Year Title Chart positions Sales GER AUS SWI FRA BEL (Fla) BEL (Wal) NOR SWE FIN AFR . 1997 Edyta Górniak - - 40 - - 84 13 18 22 - 350,000 copies 2002 Invisible/Perła - - - - - - - - - - 50,000 copies
[edit] Covers of Edyta Górniak's songs One & One Robert Miles feat. Maria Nayler (Dreamland, 1996) Perfect Moment Martine McCutcheon (You, Me & Us, 1999) Perfect Moment Rochelle (singel, 1999; Higher, 2004) Coming Back To Love (as Back To Love) Suzy K. & Donny Osmond (As I Am, 2000) Perfect Moment Mary Griffin (singel, 2000; Purified, 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) When You Come Back To Me Robin Beck (Wonderland, 2003) Whatever It Takes Anthony Callea (A New Chapter, 2006) Love Is A Lonely Game Jenniffer Kae (Faithfully, 2008)
