I Feel Your New Age Pain
Yanni is back in town and he's got a lot to say:
At the end of his 1998 concert tour, the Greece-born, Minnesota-educated instrumental icon was -- to put it simply -- burned out. His single-mindedness had forced a breakup with actress Linda Evans, his companion of nine years. He was unsettled and unbalanced, tired and restless -- driven, he says, yet low on passion. He had gone nonstop for six years. He was unhappy, with no sense of direction.
"It was painful because it was two breakups at the same time -- one with Linda and one with my career," said Yanni, who performs Friday in St. Paul. "And I got very lost."
To pull himself out of his doldrums, Yanni immersed himself in two projects: building a recording studio at his new home in south Florida and writing his autobiography.
"The building of the studio was part of my healing process," said Yanni, who took a nearly five-year hiatus from live performances until this winter. "It took my attention away from the music [for two years] and put it into something else creative. We built it from the pilings up. It's about 100 feet from the ocean."
Yanni, 48, had previously refused offers to write his autobiography because he thought he was too young. Having taken "a pause" from his career, he finally accepted an offer from Miramax Books because he had time for "introspection and retrospection." Still, he insisted on the proviso that he could pull the plug on the project at any time.
He's an inspiration to us all. No word yet on a possible Chameleon reunion tour.
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