Kristian Leontiou
| Kristian Leontiou | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 1982 (age 35) London, England, United Kingdom |
| Genres |
Pop Adult Contemporary |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | Polydor |
| Associated acts | One Eskimo |
Kristian Leontiou (born February 1982) is a British singer of Greek Cypriot descent, and is the singer for the indie rock band One eskimO.
Leontiou went to Hatch End High School in Harrow, he finished school and worked several jobs in and around London whilst concentrating on music when he had any free time. When he was 17 he met Mike Sault of Warner Chappell publishing in 2001, a subsequent deal allowed him to work on his music full-time and in 2003 he signed a major record deal with Polydor. He was dubbed "the new Dido". His debut single "Story of My Life" was released in June 2004 and reached number 9 in the UK Singles Chart. His second single "Shining" peaked at #13 whilst the album Some Day Soon’' was certified gold selling in excess of 150,000 copies
Leontiou toured the album in November 2004 taking him to the US to work with L.A Reid, Chairman of the Island Def Jam music group. Unhappy with the direction his career was going, on a flight back from the US in 2004 he decided to take his music in a new direction. Splitting from his label in late 2005, he went on to collaborate with Faithless on the song "Hope & Glory" for their album ‘'To All New Arrivals'’. It was this release that saw him unleash the One eskimO moniker. It was through working with Rollo Armstrong on the Faithless album, that Rollo got to hear an early demo of "Astronauts" from the One eskimO project. Being more than impressed by what he heard, Rollo opened both his arms and studio doors to Leontiu and they began to co-produce the ‘'All Balloons’' album.
It was at this time that he paired up with good friend Adam Falkner, a drummer/musician, to introduce a live acoustic sound to the album. They recorded the album with engineer Phill Brown (engineer for Bob Marley and Robert Plant) at Ark studios in St John's Wood where they recorded live then headed back to Rollo's studio to add the cinematic electro touches that are prominent on the album.
...
Wikipedia