Sylvia Tosun

by Mark DemingAn expressive singer/songwriter whose material embraces pop, rock, dance music, electronica, and more, Sylvia Tosun was born in rural Wolcott, CT, where her father was a dairy farmer. Tosun's family exposed her to a wide variety of creative and spiritual influences -- her great grandparents on her mother's side were professional musicians who emigrated to the United States from Italy and became vaudevillians, while her paternal grandfather was a Muslim holy man, and her parents embraced Jewish and Catholic religious disciplines. Tosun's home was full of music as she grew up, and she was raised on recordings of Ella Fitzgerald, George Gershwin, and Barbra Streisand, while later Sylvia embraced rock & roll and became a major fan of Queen and Ozzy Osbourne. Tosun began studying piano and dance when she was eight, and after finishing high school she ran away to New York City to pursue a career in music. After studying at Julliard, Tosun's muse has led her down many musical paths: she's performed as a vocalist with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and the New York Grand Opera Company, she's written and staged a musical theater piece called The Venus Concert based on the mythical tale of the goddess of love, she sang as part of the first-ever pop concert at the Great Wall of China (which also featured Cyndi Lauper and Alicia Keyes), she recorded an album of ten national anthems from around the world given striking new interpretations (Anthem, Vol. 1), and landed two songs on the Billboard dance charts, "Sleepless" and "Sanctuary." Tosun has also showcased her talents as a singer and songwriter on two independent discs, the 2000 EP Too Close to the Sun and the 2005 album Jump In.