Yulia (also Yulia Townsend and Yulia MacLean) is a Russian-born New Zealand

classical crossover Crossover is a term applied to Musical composition, musical works or performers who appeal to different types of audience, audiences. This can be seen, for example, when a song appears on two or more of the record chart, record charts, which tr ...

singer. Her first solo album ''Into The West'' went platinum in its first week of sales in New Zealand. She won two

NZ Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...

; 'Best Female Solo Artist' and ''42 Below'' 'Best Selling Album in New Zealand'. She has supported

Amici Forever Amici Forever is a band of four classically trained singers who mix opera with pop music ( operatic pop). The band's first album, '' The Opera Band'' (2004), reached number one on the Australian classical charts, number two on the United States ...

and

Russell Watson Russell Watson (born 24 November 1966) is an English crossover/popular singer, almost in the tenor range, who has released singles and albums of both quasi-operatic-style and pop songs. He began singing as a child, and became known after per ...

with two sold-out tours in Tokyo. Yulia's albums ''Into the West'' and ''Montage'' had three top 40 radio hits in New Zealand, "Into the West", "Angel" and "We're All Alone". Yulia was the first female vocalist in New Zealand to have two back to back number one hit albums. Yulia's voice was once described as a "lovely rich

contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

with passion and conviction", and she also has the ability to perform in the

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

range.

Life

MacLean was born and raised in

Volgograd Volgograd,. formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area of , with a population ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. She and her mother emigrated from Russia to

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in 2002 after being abandoned by her abusive father.

Career

Within two years of living in New Zealand, Yulia learned to speak English, finished her education and signed a recording deal with Sony Music New Zealand. Yulia was first discovered on regional television as a last minute subject for a ten-minute segment on ''Good Living With Kerry Pierson'' on Christchurch's local television station CTV. Her debut album, ''Into the West'' was released in 2004 and was a commercial success, reaching number one in New Zealand's album chart and went four times Platinum. Two years later, Yulia released her second album, ''Montage'' which also topped the charts. Soon after the release of ''Montage'' Sony and Yulia parted ways. After becoming disillusioned with the music industry, Yulia decided to change her career and become a flight attendant. In 2007, she met Glyn MacLean, the director and owner of Oikos Music Group. MacLean encouraged her to continue with her career in music and signed Yulia to a management and publishing deal. The pair married in February 2008 and invited 168 fans to the wedding at their own cost. In March 2011 the couple announced that Yulia was pregnant with the couple's first child. She gave birth to a son late 2011. She had another son in early 2014. The couple separated in 2015 after their second child was born. Glyn moved to Australia and ceased being her manager, and Yulia reverted to her maiden name. In 2010 Yulia won the Grand Prix in the European Song Competition in Riga, Latvia, and the national award for Best Nationwide Entertainment in the Corporate Events Guide 2010 People's Choice Awards. While in London in November 2010, Yulia "delivered" for producer Craig Leon. Leon, who has worked with a variety of artists including Blondie, The Bangles, The Ramones, and Pavarotti, heard Yulia's music online and requested a meeting. Yulia signed a music production deal with Craig Leon in November 2010 and was reported to be working on pre-production for a third studio album, but this did not materialise. In 2010 Yulia recorded and self-produced four live shows which were presented as limited edition collectable CDs. ''Live at Mills Reef'', ''Live at Mill Bay Haven'', ''Enchanted Song'' and ''Live at Ascension Wine Estate''. In 2013 Yulia's international music career was to be launched by Grammy Award Winning music producer Craig Leon and International Media Executive Gustavo Sagastume. She was part of a world music TV special to appear on PBS TV USA called ''Divinas'' along with Irish singer

Méav Ní Mhaolchatha Méav Ní Mhaolchatha ( , ), mononymously known as Méav, is an Irish singer, songwriter and recording artist specialising in the traditional music of her homeland. She was one of the original soloists in the musical ensemble Celtic Woman, whic ...

and Persian-born Israeli singer Rita. Following the U.S. public television premiere of this special, a Divinas tour was set to take place in the United States in the Spring of 2013.

Discography

Albums

*'' Into the West'' (2004) #1 NZ (4× Platinum – 60,000+) *''Into the West Special Christmas Edition'' (2004) *''

Montage Montage may refer to: Arts and entertainment Filmmaking and films * Montage (filmmaking), a technique in film editing * ''Montage'' (2013 film), a South Korean film Music * Montage (music), or sound collage * ''Montage'' (EP), a 2017 EP by ...

'' (2006) #1 NZ (2× Platinum – 30,000+) 2010 Live Concert Series; limited edition collectables: * ''Live at Mills Reef'' * ''Live at Mill Bay Haven'' * ''Enchanted Song'' * ''Live at Ascension Wine Estate''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yulia 1986 births Living people New Zealand contraltos Russian emigrants to New Zealand Musicians from Volgograd New Zealand women pop singers New Zealand mezzo-sopranos 21st-century New Zealand women singers Sony Music New Zealand artists Musicians from Christchurch