Emu

Biography

Varius Manx is a Polish band, formed in 1989 in Łódź, Poland. The original line-up consisted of Robert Janson, brothers Michał Marciniak and Paweł Marciniak, Piotr Sobczak and Tomasz Ziułkiewicz. The name is a variation on the English word "various" plus Manx, a breed of domestic cat. The band's debut album, The Beginning, which consisted entirely of instrumental music, was released in 1990 with average success. By 1993, the band released the follow-up, The New Shape, with the line-up expanded...

Varius Manx is a Polish band, formed in 1989 in Łódź, Poland. The original line-up consisted of Robert Janson, brothers Michał Marciniak and Paweł Marciniak, Piotr Sobczak and Tomasz Ziułkiewicz. The name is a variation on the English word "various" plus Manx, a breed of domestic cat.

The band's debut album, The Beginning, which consisted entirely of instrumental music, was released in 1990 with average success. By 1993, the band released the follow-up, The New Shape, with the line-up expanded to include Sławomir Romanowski and Robert Amirian. The album featured vocals by Robert Janson and Robert Amirian, along with guest vocalists including Edyta Bartosiewicz.

The band's breakthrough was the 1994 album Emu, which marked a significant change in musical direction, i.e. the band now had a lead singer, Anita Lipnicka, and started performing primarily in Polish. This formula was highly successful, and both Emu and the following 1995 album, Elf, sold more than half a million copies each. In 1995, the band won a Polish music award, the Fryderyk, for best Polish music group. Furthermore, the band provided a number of songs (mostly from Elf) for the soundtrack of the movie Młode wilki.

In 1996, Varius Manx appeared on the television show "Szansa na sukces", a kind of karaoke show in which the participants sing the songs of the visiting band. The winner of the show was the 19-year-old Kasia Stankiewicz. When, shortly afterwards, Amirian and Lipnicka both left the band, the remaining members asked Stankiewicz to join the band as new lead singer. This new line-up recorded Ego, which featured the band's biggest hit to date, the song "Orła cień".

In 1997, the band released its 6th album, End, which was a commercial hit, though it sold far less that the band's preceding albums.

In 2000, Varius Manx released their first compilation album Najlepsze z dobrych, which included four new songs along with remastered versions of the band's greatest hits. Shortly afterwards, Kasia Stankiewicz left the band and was replaced by Monika Kuszyńska. With her as lead singer, the band recorded the albums Eta (2001), Eno (2002) and Emi (2004).

In 2006, during the band's summer tour, the band members were involved in a car accident, which left lead singer Monika Kuszyńska paralyzed from the waist down. The band suspended its activities until 2010, then with a new lead singer, Lari Lu, with whom the band recorded the album Eli (2011).

The band's current lead singer, since 2013, is Edi Ann. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.