Lea Ivanova
Lea Ivanova, Bulgarian Леа Иванова, (* August 13 1923 in Dupniza, Tsardom of Bulgaria; † 28 May 1986) was a Bulgarian jazz singer.
Life and work
Ivanova grew up in Constantinople Opel, where she sang in the children's choir of the Bulgarian Exarchate. In the early 1940s she moved to Sofia to study art, shifted her interest but soon the music. She was a soloist in the Slavic Talk ( Славянска беседа ), a jazz orchestra, which was led by saxophonist Leon L' Alfas. In the early 1950s, she performed in various jazz and swing formations. As at the end of the decade the situation for jazz music in Bulgaria deteriorated since the communist regime tried to stem Western influences, she worked from 1956 as a band singer with the orchestras of Christ Vuchkov and Dimitar Ganev, Big Orchestra Concert Directorate of Boris Simeonov and Emil Georgiev, the most played popular entertainment music. From 1957 formed Lea Ivanova with her husband Eddie Kazassian own band. In 1960, she appeared in Belgrade with the Quincy Jones Big Band in 1962 and 1963 in East Berlin's Friedrichstadt Palast; In 1964 she went to West Germany on tour. Until 1983 she has predominantly been on in variety shows; her repertoire included songs, evergreens, Russian songs, Bulgarian folklore and Italian Canzones, but they rarely occurred in her native Bulgaria, where their music was banned by the censorship. In the late 1970s she was arrested a short time with the accusation " obscene behavior " in a labor camp. Shortly after her release, she suffered a stroke, which tied her to a wheelchair and her singing career ended.
Lea Ivanova published in the course of their careers several albums that have been published in Hungary Qaliton in Germany in German Vogue, in Romania at Electro Record, in Poland and in Bulgaria MUZA Balkanton.
Disco Graphical Notes
- Lea Ivanova & Allegro Quartet with Electrecord Dance Orchestra (10 " LP, Electrecord, 1960 )
- Lea Ivanova, Eddy Kazassian Combo ( Qualiton, 1963)
- Леа ( Balkanton, 1979)