Everything's coming up Yianna

Talking to Yianna Stavrou is a refreshing experience. You'd think at that at only 20, this soulful diva with the looks and the voice, may just have an ego to match. But this wasn't the case at all. Yianna is as grounded and as down-to-earth as your neighbour. An effervescent young lady, don't let her young age deter you. Yianna has seen every side of the music industry, and is feeling stronger than ever to keep going.
Born and bred in Melbourne, Yianna grew up in a tight-knit Greek Australian family. As a youngster, she remembers singing around the house and her mum, picking up on her daughters talent, taking her to singing school at the tender age of eight. And it "was an instant connection"; she was passionate about singing from her very first lesson. Her singing teacher suggested she audition for a label at the age of 15 and Yianna was signed straight away.
"For me it was the best thing of my life," she tells Neos Kosmos about the signing, "but at 15 you don't really know the ins and outs of the industry."
Yianna began work on her first album and then was asked to join the girl group Trinity, the all singing and all dancing female pop group that would be her world for the next five years.
"[Trinity] kept changing members; it was hard to find the right members to gel, but once we found the right mix we started blossoming," she explains.
Trinity took her to America to shoot a clip in LA and they even opened for Jason Derulo on his world tour. But for Yianna, her passion in her art form leans towards a solo career and her most recognisable career move so far, was auditioning for the hit television show The Voice.
Her blind audition saw her get selected for Team Joel, which was a valuable experience for this young veteran of the music business. Working with Joel Madden, of Good Charlotte, saw Yianna evolve as a solo artist even more.
"He was an incredible coach," says Yianna of her time with her coach from The Voice.
"He's very down-to-earth and he lets you be who you want to be." That type of realness and truth is something Yianna feels she can find in her solo work.
"I believe I can express myself as an artist, I can find my true identity," she says.
"Being in a girl group you are kind of lost as you have to be something that you aren't. It's a glamour group, but for me there is more depth to me and my art that you can only express solo."
A lover of soul music, R&B and pop, Yianna is a versatile artist not shy of taking on a musical challenge. A true lover of music, she believes in catering to everyone's taste by maintaining artistic integrity with an inner truth to her work.
And five years into the music business, she's just released her first single Intervention, a driving dance floor anthem with an equally infectious chorus.
"I am now releasing my first single at 20," says Yianna who started in the industry at 15 but has never given up on her dream.
"That's the development process - you have to go through all that. I have suffered so many times but if you are passionate I believe you have to fight for it."
Yianna admits the music industry is hard. A rocky road with many ups and downs but says "that's the journey to becoming the artist you want to be".
And with her first musical single under her belt, Yianna is about to add another notch as the face of OPA! magazine's new television show, OPA! tv.
"OPA! adds a different taste to the typical Greek magazines and tv shows we have out there now," says Yianna of OPA! tv that starts July 19 on Foxtel, "I feel honoured to host this show."
With her new single released now on iTunes, Yianna says she is trying to reach out to the Greek community even more so, after the support she received from her appearance on the show The Voice.
For more information on Yianna and to download her new single, visit www.yianna.com.au/