''Lea Ivanova'' (13 August 1923 – 28 May 1986) was a Bulgarian jazz singer.

Biography

Ivanova was born in

Dupnitsa Dupnitsa, or Dupnica ( (previously ), ), is a town in Western Bulgaria. It is at the foot of the highest mountains in the Balkan Peninsula – the Rila Mountains, and about south of the capital Sofia. Dupnitsa is the second largest town in Ky ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

on 13 August 1923. She moved to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

( Underaged?? ), where she spent the rest of her childhood and sang in the children's choir of the

Bulgarian Exarchate The Bulgarian Exarchate (; ) was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in 1953. The Exarchate (a de facto autocephaly) ...

. In 1940s, she came back to Bulgaria ( 17 years old ?? ), where her intention was to study art at Sofia, Bulgarian capitol. She joined Slavic Talk jazz orchestra as a soloist instead when saxophonist Leon L'Alfàs suggested her to join. In the early 50s, she performed with various jazz and swing outfits. In 1956, she worked with the orchestras of Christo Vuchkov and

Dimitar Ganev Dimitar Ganev Varbanov ( Bulgarian: Димитър Ганев Варбанов) (28 October 1898 – 20 April 1964) was a Bulgarian communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the soc ...

for Big Orchestra Concert Directorate conductors of which were Boris Simeonov and Emil Georgiev. During this period, she wrote a commercial jingle for a department store TsUM and ''Chico from Puerto Rico'' which was in Latin American style. In 1957, she and her husband, Eddie Kazasyan, formed Eddy Kazassian Combo orchestra with which they spent 30 years together. They performed in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

in 1960 with Quincy Jones And His Orchestra, and in 1962 and 1963 at Friedrich Shtadt Palace in Berlin. From 1963 to 1983, Ivanova worked in various variety shows which included French

chanson A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

Russian romance Russian romance ( ''románs'') is a type of sentimental art song with hints of Romani people, Romani influence that was developed in Imperial Russia by such composers as Nikolai Titov (1800-1875), Alexander Alyabyev (1787–1851), Alexander Egoro ...

s, Bulgarian

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

and Italian

canzone Literally 'song' in Italian, a canzone (; : ''canzoni''; cognate with English ''to chant'') is an Italian or Provençal song or ballad. It is also used to describe a type of lyric which resembles a madrigal. Sometimes a composition which ...

. She also shared a stage with

Gilbert Bécaud François Gilbert Léopold Silly (24 October 1927 – 18 December 2001), known professionally as Gilbert Bécaud (), was a French singer, composer, pianist and actor, known as "Monsieur 100,000 Volts" for his energetic performances. His best-know ...

and

Udo Jürgens Jürgen Udo Bockelmann (30 September 1934 – 21 December 2014), generally known as Udo Jürgens, was an Austrian composer and singer of popular music whose career spanned over 50 years. He won the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 for Austria, ...

. Her music was banned in her home country, and she even was imprisoned and sent to a

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...

for promoting retrogressive sound and obscene behavior. After her release, she continued with her career till her final days. She died of cancer on 28 May 1986. Her labels include Bulgarian

Balkanton Balkanton () was a state-owned record manufacturing company in Bulgaria founded in 1952. Many of the produced records were, or still are available in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. Balkanton's plant in Sofia was equipped for all aspec ...

, German Deutsche Vogue, Hungarian Qaliton, Polish MUZA and Romanian Electrorecord.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivanova, Lea 1923 births 1986 deaths 20th-century Bulgarian women singers Bulgarian jazz singers Bulgarian women jazz singers People from Dupnitsa