Yulia Townsend
| Yulia | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Yulia Beredenko |
| Also known as | Yulia Townsend, Yulia MacLean, Yulia |
| Born | January 1986 |
| Origin | Volgograd, Russia |
| Genres | Classical Crossover |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | Oikos Music |
| Website | www |
Yulia (also Yulia Townsend and Yulia MacLean) is a Russian-born New Zealand classical crossover 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; 'Best Female Solo Artist' and 42 Below 'Best Selling Album in New Zealand'. She has supported Amici Forever and Russell Watson 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 with passion and conviction", and she also have the ability to perform in the mezzo-soprano range.
Yulia was born and raised in Russia. She endured a poverty stricken childhood and was raised alone from the age of five by her mother. Her father was allegedly violent and Yulia and her mother walked out after he allegedly threatened them both with an axe. Yulia has no contact with him to this day. In 2002, the pair left Russia for New Zealand in attempt for a better life.
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.
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