Olivia Anna Livki

Olivia Anna Livki
Birth name Olivia Anna Schnitzler
Born (1988-04-02) 2 April 1988
Opole, Poland
Genres Indie pop, Afrobeat, Worldbeat, indie electronic
Instruments Vocals, bass, djembe
Years active 2007–present
Labels L I V V Music, EMI
Website oliviaannalivki.com

Olivia Anna Livki (born Olivia Anna Schnitzler; 2 April 1988) is a German singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and filmmaker currently living in Berlin.

Life

Olivia Anna Schnitzler was born on 2 April 1988 in Opole, Poland and raised in Black Forest, South Germany. Her mother, a Polish singer, and father, a German electronics engineer, met in Jordan where they both were engaged professionally. At age 6, Olivia and her mother moved to her father's home-country and settled down in Black Forest, Germany.

Within the next few years they changed their residence several times, eventually ending up in Villingen-Schwenningen. Olivia graduated from Gymnasium am Hoptbühl, VS in 2004. After half a year of directing-study at a filmschool she moved to Berlin and went on to study Film Studies, English Philology and Comparative Literature at Freie Universität Berlin, which she finished with Bachelor of Arts in 2008.

Having earned her first degree, Olivia began working full-time as a musician. Currently she lives in Berlin and works, depending on the task, in Berlin, at her studio near Warsaw, or (often long-distance) with engineers and artists from the US and UK. She regularly tours Europe.[1]

Work and Career

From early childhood, she showed a great interest in art and literature, yet especially music and motion picture. She began playing the piano at early age as well as taking part in school performances. Among her childhood idols were African American artist Aretha Franklin, John Lee Hooker and Dr. Dre and filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Orson Welles and Stanley Kubrick. At age 10, Olivia wrote, directed and edited (as well as performed in) her first 45-minute-film "Die Erben", a parody of film noir and Hitchcock-classics.

At age 16, she made an English-spoken short-documentary on Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" (featured at Jugend-Medienfestival Berlin) as well as a Holocaust-shortfilm based on Janusz Korczak's "Ghetto Diaries", and "Unbetitelt" (which won her several festival-appearances and awards). During her study in Berlin she made the shortfilm "Origin of Species".

In 2009, Olivia finished her 3rd demo "The Smiling Face of Progress" and made two internet-videos: "Girl vs. City" (live-performance) and "Hologram" (stop motion-animation-video). In June she began playing her first concerts in Berlin, a short tour in NYC, New York followed in October and November. In 2010 she began sessions for her debut-album in Berlin. In order to fund the project she took part in a music talent-show on Polish television.[2]

Her appearance caused an overnight-hype on the internet and throughout the media. Her videos were watched by more than 300.000 people, the YouTube-video of her TV-performance of "Tel Aviv" by more than 180.000. Her demos were shared throughout the internet by fans of both alternative and mainstream origins.

The Name Of This Girl Is

In November 2011, the 9 track-concept-album (quoting classic concept-albums like Talking Heads' "Remain In Light" and Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin On?") "The Name Of This Girl Is" was released. It was written, arranged and produced by Livki and mixed by Patrick Dillett and Ron Allaire. On the album and its artwork, Olivia also collaborated with Scottisch drummer Robin Thomson and graphic novelist Iain Sommerville.

She designed the artwork (containing drawings by Sommerville) which shows characters from her songs, but also quotes movies, TV shows and themes of modern lifestyle and pop culture. The cover is a quote of Katsuhiro Otomo's "Akira", the booklet shows Olivia's head surrounded by drawings echoing Lisa Simpson, South Park, Franz Kafka, Pam Grier, an electronic dog. The album contains songs of which several had already been spread throughout the internet in their early demo-versions: "Hologram", "Tennis Rackets", "No Memory". Two other songs found on the album where known to Polish TV-viewers: "Tel Aviv" and "Abby Abby". The album was released on her own label L I V V and sold through her internet-shop. It was critically well received.[3] On the day of the album's release, she opened for Lenny Kravitz in Torwar, Warsaw.[4]

She performed in e.g. Berlin, London, Tokyo, NYC, Prague as well as numerous festivals, including OFF Festival 2011,[5] Coke Live Music Festival 2011[6] and Soundrive 2012.

In July 2012, Olivia signed a license-contract with EMI. In September 2012, "The Name Of This Girl Is" was re-released as Extended Edition with 3 bonus tracks, and appeared in physical stores, accompanied by a promotional campaign.[7]

Discography

Studio albums

  • The Name Of This Girl Is (L I V V, 2011)
  • The Name Of This Girl Is - Extended (EMI, 2012)
  • Strangelivv (LIVV, 2015)

Singles

  • Tel Aviv (L I V V, 2011)
  • Tennis Rackets/ Song For The TV (L I V V, 2011)
  • Abby Abby! (Choir Girl Remix) (EMI, 2012)
  • Earth Moves (EMI, 2013)
  • Blood Ponies (Parlophone/ L I V V, 2013)
  • Dark Blonde Rises (Silver Scream 2014)
  • Geek Power (2015)

Music videos

  • Hologram (2009)
  • Tennis Rackets (2009)
  • Abby Abby! (Choir Girl Remix) (2012)
  • Earth Moves (2013)
  • Blood Ponies (2013)
  • Geek Power (2015)

References

  1. ↑ "OLIVIA ANNA LIVKI profile". oliviaannalivki.com. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  2. ↑ "TYLKO MUZYKA - MUST BE THE MUSIC". studio.wp.pl. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  3. ↑ Kowalczyk, Piotr (23 November 2011). "Nie jesteśmy na nią gotowi". muzyka.interia.pl. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  4. ↑ "Olivia Anna Livki: nie znałam nazwiska Wojewódzki". 23 October 2012.
  5. ↑ "Olivia Anna Livki - zagra na OFF Festival". 2012.off-festival.pl. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  6. ↑ "Coke Live Music Festival: Olivia Anna Livki i inni - Muzyka w INTERIA.PL". muzyka.interia.pl. Archived from the original on 22 June 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  7. ↑ www.4s.pl, 4S NOWE MEDIA -. "OLIVIA ANNA LIVKI // official". www.oliviaannalivki.com.
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