Jerzy Kossela (né Kosela; 15 July 1942 – 7 January 2017) was a Polish

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

and founding member of the bands Electron,

Niebiesko-Czarni Niebiesko-Czarni (Blue-Blacks) were one of the most popular Polish big-beat and rock groups of the 1960s and early 1970s. The band was founded by Franciszek Walicki. Czesław Niemen Czesław Niemen (; February 16, 1939 – January 17, 2004), ...

, Pięciolinie and

Czerwone Gitary Czerwone Gitary ( lit. The Red Guitars) is one of the most popular rock bands in the history of Polish popular music. The band formed in 1965 and achieved its greatest success from 1965 to 1970. Often considered the Polish equivalent of the ...

. He was the first founding member of the band Czerwone Gitary, during 1965–1967. Following his departure from the band, he continued to remain active in

Polish music The Music of Poland covers diverse aspects of music and musical traditions which have originated, and are practiced in Poland. Artists from Poland include world-famous classical composers like Frédéric Chopin, Karol Szymanowski, Witold Lutosł ...

and performed on stage until 1976 after which he would then spend 15 years as a music presenter. Upon the band's reunion in 1991, he once again became its guitarist and singer. In 1993, he left the band again due to a conflict with former band founder,

Seweryn Krajewski Seweryn Krajewski (born 3 January 1947, Nowa Sól, Poland) is a Polish singer and songwriter who rose to fame in the 1960s and 70s with the popular Polish band Czerwone Gitary. After leaving the group in 1997, he recorded several solo albums. He ...

. By 1999, Kossela had rejoined Czerwone Gitary again. He composed such hits as "Bo ty się boisz myszy" (music and lyrics), "Historia jednej znajomości", "Matura" (lyrics to the music of Krzysztof Klenczon). He co-authored the book ''Czerwone Gitary to właśnie my!'' On the Czerwone Gitary's album Jeszcze raz (One More Time), which debuted 14 March 2015, the song "Kocham dwie dziewczyny" appeared, originally written in 1965. From May 2015 he stopped performing in concerts with the band Czerwone Gitary, citing health reasons.

Personal life

Kossela was married to Janina Karst. In 2010 he received the

Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

. Kossela died in

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and ...

on 7 January 2017, aged 74.

References

External links

Jerzy Kossela profile
, Archiwum Polskiego Rocka
Jerzy Kossela profile
Polish Catalogue of Gramophone Records {{DEFAULTSORT:Kossela, Jerzy 1942 births 2017 deaths Polish rock musicians People from Częstochowa Polish male guitarists 20th-century Polish male singers 21st-century Polish male singers 21st-century Polish singers