Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
Yanni once titled an album "Dare to Dream," and he'll be doing
exactly that in a wide-ranging new deal with Disney Music Group. On
March 24, the company's new
Disney Pearl imprint will release "Yanni Voices," the artist's
first studio album in six years, and its Buena Vista Concerts
division will produce an extensive tour beginning in April.
Disney is also working closely with PBS, which will air the first
of two
Yanni
specials Nov. 29. The program chronicles the creation of "Yanni
Voices," which blends fresh interpretations of vintage Yanni tracks
with newly written material. It also introduces the four new
vocalists at the center of the project: Nathan Pacheco, Chloe,
Ender Thomas and Leslie Mills. On March 2, PBS will air a "Voices"
concert from the Forum at Mundo Imperial in Acapulco, Mexico.
Disney will devote formidable resources from throughout the company
to promote "Voices," which Yanni conceived in partnership with
producer Ric Wake.
"There's such an opportunity to include the music in Disney motion
pictures," says Buena Vista Concerts senior VP/GM Chip McLean, who
worked closely with Disney Music Group chairman Bob Cavallo on the
worldwide 360 partnership. "Some of these songs sound like they
could be classics and work in any number of Disney films we're all
familiar with."
According to McLean, the album "creates the same sense of wonder in
adults that we think Disney generally is perceived as doing with
kids. We've long been thinking of ways to try to expand Disney's
reach on the music side and not just go for the newest Disney
fans." It was thus the perfect inaugural project for Disney Pearl,
which is targeting an older demographic. For now, the imprint is
being staffed by a "dream team" from throughout Disney Music
Group.McLean is particularly excited about Yanni's four new
singers, who bring vocals to the forefront of his music for the
first time in his career. Thomas is a Venezuelan TV personality,
while Chloe is a Florida native who had a record deal at age 11.
Mills has impressed McLean with her "poetic lyrics," and Pacheco is
comfortable singing in Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and English.
Eventually the singers could release their own albums, record in
pairs or pursue film or TV roles. But McLean says that Disney will
let Yanni and Wake guide the quartet. "We're standing beside them
and trying to help leverage our infrastructure and talent," he
says. "We want to let Yanni and Ric do exactly what they've been
doing."
For the first decade of his career, Yanni recorded for Private
Music, becoming one of the biggest names in new age music despite
widespread critical drubbing. His best-selling album, "Live at the
Acropolis," has sold 3.6 million copies in the United States,
according to Nielsen SoundScan.
And though his sales have waned since that set came out in 1994 --
his last studio album, the 2003 Virgin release "Ethnicity," has
sold 324,000 -- he remains a top touring act internationally. His
last two treks, the 2003-04 Ethnicity tour and the 2004-05 outing
Yanni Live, grossed nearly $49 million, according to Billboard
Boxscore.
McLean says that even music fans who have ignored Yanni may think
twice after hearing "Voices." "This is different than any other
project Bob or I have ever seen before," he says. "It led us to
marvel at just what it is. It was like, 'This is Yanni?' This is
amazing.