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Yanni Burton Yearns To Break Free from a Sleepy Stagnant Relationship
in New Single, “Awake”
“Awake,” the new song by out singer-songwriter Yanni Burton, was inspired by Yanni’s own experience, coming to terms with the realization that it was time to break free from a stagnant relationship and find passion in life again. “I was stuck in a long distance relationship,” Yanni explains. “The days and weeks apart left me feeling lonely and empty. I remember being in a constant fog of self doubt and indecision.” Sitting down to write “Awake” helped Yanni to refocus his goals and pull himself out from his sleepy funk. The end result is a broody song that brilliantly combines his passion for pop and classical music. Produced by Yanni and mixed and edited by multi-platinum record producer Kieran Kelly, “Awake” is available on iTunes, Spotify and all major digital platforms. The music video is on Youtube.
Yanni Burton grew up in Adelaide, Australia – a small town that was first put on the map as the birthplace of pop singer Sia. He lived most days in the city with his mother but holidays were spent in the country on his dad’s farm. “The farm was in the middle of nowhere and I’d arrive in solid gold sneakers, booty shorts and a tank top, like I’d just come off the set of Priscilla Queen of the Desert,” he remembers. “I loved hanging with the kangaroos and Klunk, my dad’s pet Emu.”
He came out as gay a bit later than most in his generation. Yanni had his very first relationship at 22. When he told his mother he was dating a guy, she slapped him. Not because he was gay. She had already had a vision about that. (When Yanni was born, she noticed a rainbow light up the sky and declared to his father that their boy would be gay.) She was more upset by the man’s advanced age. No son of hers was going to be a sugar baby!
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| Yanni, Yanni, Yanni! Photo: Charles Quiles |
His dad took the news much better. Yanni told him while they were on a trip to rural Pennsylvania, visiting the Amish. “I was bawling my eyes out under the fluorescent lights of a moldy Motel Six hallway and Dad simply hugged me and said, ‘Its ok, I love you.’”
For college, Yanni attended the prestigious Juilliard School in Manhattan where he studied the double bass. In fact, he holds a bachelor's and master’s degree in orchestral performance and is Producer and General Manager of the Salome Chamber Orchestra, where he has performed alongside a long list of celebrated artists including John Legend, Michelle Williams, Natasha Beddingfield and Rufus Wainwright. John Legend and Rufus Wainwright were instrumental in helping Yanni to obtain an artist green card. Both graciously agreed to write a letter of support for his US residency.
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He describes life today as a “gay thirty-something in New York City”. Yanni attends Barry’s Bootcamp religiously, pays too much rent and complains about it every second he can. He’s also found love again! His fiancĂ© is smart, attractive and most importantly, twenty-something, which means he is mom-approved.
He is not the man featured in the music video for “Awake”. That is Reed Laplau, a fellow Aussie who danced for the Sydney Dance Company before moving to NYC where his career has taken off on Broadway in productions of The Great Comet of 1812, Fiddler on the Roof, and the upcoming Moulin Rouge.
The video was shot in an incredible 20,000 square foot warehouse in Brooklyn. “It was abandoned and the lovely lady who owns it offered us the opportunity to do whatever we wanted with it…so naturally we filled it with lighting rigs, skeletons, and flour,” Yanni laughs.
Yanni aspires for his audience to connect, see, and feel themselves in his music and lyrics so that ultimately, they hear their own story being told. “I hope my music conveys to listeners that it is okay to be yourself. Never censor who you are or hold back in expressing yourself. Step up for what you believe in and most importantly, have fun.”
Visit YanniBurton.com
