Villas Violetta, actually Czesława Maria Cieślak, *10 June 1938 Liège (Belgia), †5 December 2011 Lewin Kłodzki, Polish singer, composer, actress, lyricist. From 1956, she studied singing and playing the trombone at secondary music schools in Szczecin and Wrocław (with G. Posch), and from 1959, she continued singing with E. Falkowska in Warsaw. In 1961, she made her first radio recordings with the orchestra of B. Klimczuk and E. Czerny. Villas gained nationwide popularity in 1961, winning the song Dla ciebie, miły in the “Express Wieczorny” Plebiscite and performing at the song festival in Sopot. In 1965, she won the Grand Prix at the 3rd Festival International des Variétés et Music-Halls in Rennes, and in 1966, she achieved success at the Olympia in Paris. In 1966–69, she performed at the Casino de Paris in Las Vegas, where her characteristic stage image was created. In 1970, she starred in the film Dzięcioł (directed by J. Gruza); she cooperated with the Syrena Theatre in Warsaw (1979 variety show Trzeci program, 1986 Violetta), in 1987, she toured with the theatre group in the United States. In 1992, she returned to active concert life (tours around Poland, Sweden and the United States), in 1993 she gave a well-received recital at the Warsaw Operetta, and in 1999, she presented a program of her greatest hits in new arrangements at the Grand Theatre in Łódź. Villas had a unique, strong voice with a range of approximately 4 octaves (in songs she uses the E–D3 range), beautiful timbre and large volume. Vocal virtuosity, based on emission close to classical singing technique, allowed Villas to perform a diverse repertoire, including songs, opera and operetta arias, romances, and world standards. The most popular songs from the Villas repertoire: Dla ciebie, miły 1961, Spójrz prosto w oczy 1962, Do ciebie, mamo 1966, Oczi czornyje 1970, Mechaniczna lalka 1977, Nie ma miłości bez zazdrości 1977.
Literature: W. Filler Violetta Villas. Tygrysica z Magdalenki, Warsaw 1993.
