Artur Gadowski
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Artur Gadowski (born 1 June 1967) is a Polish musician, vocalist of a rock band IRA.


Biography

Gadowski comes from a musical family. His father played the saxophone whereas his mother was a vocal instructor. His life's turning point happened in 1979 when he first heard
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
' album titled ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (often referred to simply as ''Sgt. Pepper'') is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept ...
'', which formed his musical style for a long time afterwards.


Beginnings and career with IRA

In 1985, he established his first amateur music band together with his schoolmates, ''Kurcze blade'', dissolved after merely a year. Then in 1986 he co-founded another band, ''Landrynki dla dziewczynki'', in which Gadowski initially played the guitar but he later replaced the vocalist of the group who had been called up. The band gave many concerts at that time stirring up an interest, but they did not manage to qualify for the Jarocin Festival. During the band's performance in a club in
Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship. Radom is the fifteenth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in its province w ...
, Gadowski along with his group were spotted by Kuba Płucisz who was seeking a vocalist for his new music project. Artur Gadowski met Płucisz a few days later and received a proposal from him, accepting it. Meanwhile, he continued his education attending a night secondary school. When the members of the group which was being founded were selected, the new band began their first rehearsals in an
amphitheatre An amphitheatre (American English, U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meani ...
in Radom. IRA was officially launched in November 1987. They gave successful performances during various festivals and contests, gaining interest and awards. After one of those concerts, IRA were invited to take part in the
National Festival of Polish Song in Opole The National Festival of Polish Song in Opole (, KFPP), commonly known as the Opole Festival () is an annual music festival in Opole, Poland. Together with the Sopot Festival it is one of the two most important music festivals in Poland. The Op ...
, in which they presented themselves to the public in 1988. Gadowski was granted an award as a vocalist during that festival. The band debuted with their first album in December 1989 and toured all over
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
as well as in the former
USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. IRA became the most marvellous rock band in Poland in the first half of the 1990s. Band's albums ''Mój dom'', ''1993 rok'' and ''IRA Live'' assured their rapid success. They performed about 150 concerts all around the country each year as well as
opening act An opening act, also known as a warm-up act, support act, supporting act or opener, is an entertainment act (musical, comedic, or otherwise), that performs at a concert before the featured act, or "headliner". Rarely, an opening act may perform ...
s for well-known rock and
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
bands from abroad, e.g.
Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...
in 1994. However, in the second half of the decade, the band fell into crisis which led to its suspension in 1996.


Solo career

From this moment on, Gadowski started his solo career. He signed a contract with
Bertelsmann Music Group Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music c ...
(BMG). The first album was intended to be released in October 1996, but the recorded material did not satisfy the vocalist. In 1997, Gadowski recorded a song ''Szczęśliwego Nowego Jorku'' (''Happy New York'') together with Marek Kościkiewicz of De Mono. The song promoted a film with the same title, which turned out to be a hit that reached leading places in music charts. Works on Gadowski's first solo album were resumed in 1998 but only one of the records which were found in the album's first version appeared on the CD published on 20 April. Gadowski participated in Opole Festival in the same year, i.e. 1998. Then he performed three songs: ''Na kredyt'', ''Szczęśliwego Nowego Jorku'' and a song by Czerwone Gitary titled ''Biały krzyż''. At that time, he also collaborated with other artists, including Zbigniew Hołdys. On 30 September, he performed before the concert of Queen's guitarist,
Brian May Sir Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, animal welfare activist and astrophysics, astrophysicist. He achieved global fame as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Queen ...
in
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
. He sang a
duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...
with
Anna Maria Jopek Anna Maria Jopek (born 14 December 1970) is a Polish vocalist, songwriter, and improviser. She represented Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997, 1997 Eurovision Song Contest, with the song "Ale jestem" and finished 11th out of 25 participat ...
at another occasion. In February 2000, Gadowski took up composing soundtracks for
TVP2 TVP2 (TVP Dwa, ''Telewizja Polska 2'', ''Program Drugi Telewizji Polskiej'', ''"Dwójka"'') is a Polish public mainstream TV channel operated by TVP. Launched in October 1970, its varied line-up contains a variety of programming (documentary, h ...
programs. The following month brought his second album ''G.A.D.''. All of the lyrics were written by Krzysztof Jaryczewski, whereas the very songs were composed by a Swedish producer Mark Tysper. In the same month, Gadowski appeared on stage before
Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances featuring expressive body movements. Most of his best-known singles, such as "Feelin' Alright ...
at concerts in
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
and
Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...
. He also sang (with Ryszard Rynkowski and Grzegorz Markowski) a song titled ''Najlepszy z najlepszych'' (''The best of the best'') which was the official hymn of the Polish Olympic team in
2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
.


Reactivation of the band

A deteriorating financial situation, however, forced him to go to
America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
with Piotr Sujka and Wojciech Owczarek of ''IRA'', to work on a building site. There they played their old repertoire on days off. They employed a guitarist, Tomasz Ciastko, and started to perform in clubs. After their return to Poland, they reactivated the band, at first as ''Artur Gadowski & IRA''. Gadowski has recorded albums with the band as well as given plenty of concerts all over Poland since then. In addition, he has appeared as guest performer on the albums of other artists, including Ewelina Flinta and Krzysztof Jaryczewski. The year 2003 brought the 15th anniversary of IRA's existence. On that occasion the whole group gave a jubilee concert in
Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship. Radom is the fifteenth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in its province w ...
.


Health problems in 2004

At the end of 2004, Artur Gadowski started to have problems with his voice and was operated on on 18 October because of ineffectiveness of the treatment he had undergone with use of medicines. His
goitre A goitre (British English), or goiter (American English), is a swelling in the neck resulting from an enlarged thyroid gland. A goitre can be associated with a thyroid that is not functioning properly. Worldwide, over 90% of goitre cases are ...
was removed, but suddenly some serious and unexpected complications appeared, leaving him unconscious for two days. Eventually he recovered and soon regained his voice as well as his physical strength. He was able to play with his band again in 2006.


After recovery

Apart from other appearances, he took part in an annual charity concert organized by
Anna Dymna Anna Dymna (née Dziadyk ; born 20 July 1951) is a Polish TV, film and theatre actress, foundress of a charity foundation Mimo Wszystko (Against the Odds). Career Anna Dymna intended to study psychology before she decided to take an entrance exa ...
on the Main Market Square in Cracow. On 15 October he was guest on a TV show ''Weekend z Gwiazdą'' (''Weekend with the Star'') which was, by way of an exception, broadcast from the Stansted airport near London, UK. On 15 December he appeared on a special concert in
Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...
dedicated to a Polish musician,
Grzegorz Ciechowski Grzegorz Zbigniew Ciechowski (29 August 1957 – 22 December 2001) was a Polish rock musician and film music composer. Ciechowski was born in Tczew. He was the founder and frontman of the band Republika, which was one of Poland's most popula ...
. At the beginning of 2008 Gadowski sang a duet with a vocalist of a debuting band, Nefer. They recorded a song titled ''Samotni w sieci'' (''The lonely on the net''). Gadowski was the author of lyrics for the song.


Discography


Albums with the band IRA

* ''IRA'' (1989) * ''Mój dom'' (1991) (PL Gold, Platinum) * ''1993 rok'' (1993) (Gold) * ''IRA Live'' (1993) (Gold) * ''Znamię'' (1994) (Gold) * ''Ogrody'' (1995) * ''Tu i Teraz'' (2002) * ''Ogień'' (2004) * ''IRA Live 15-lecie'' (2004) * ''Londyn 08:15'' (2007) * ''9'' (2009) * ''X'' (2013) *"My" (2016) *"Jutro" (2021)


Albums as a Solo Artist

* ''Artur Gadowski'' (1998) * ''G.A.D.'' (2000)


References


External links


Official website of IRA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gadowski, Artur 1967 births Living people Polish guitarists Polish male guitarists People from Radom Polish male songwriters Polish pop singers Polish rock singers 20th-century Polish male singers 21st-century Polish male singers 21st-century Polish singers