Biography

     Irena Jarocka. For many people, she is the icon of Polish music. Charismatic, sensitive, and energetic. Gifted with a voice that has a unique warm tone, going straight to the heart of audiences. Many albums released in Poland and abroad, dozens of hits. Anyone can list them in one breath. Who doesn’t know I Dreamed You Up, I’m a  Butterfly, The Vistula Gondoliers, You Only Love Once, Gone are Those Years, Beatlemania Story, The Coffee Shops are Floating Away, or her many, many other songs? Her foreign phonographic successes include albums released in the USA, France, and the former West Germany, USSR and Czechoslovakia.

    Irena Jarocka debuted in 1968 at the Sopot Music Festival with The Vistula Gondoliers. She has won many prestigious awards at music festivals worldwide, and has on many occasions been voted the most popular singer of the year in Poland.  She has performed with such stars as Mireille Mathieu, Charles Aznavour, Michel Legrand and ABBA. She has recorded for the world’s largest studios, such as Phillips, Supraphon, Warner Brothers, Cristal-EMI, Melodia, and Polish Records.    

    Jarocka also tried her hand at acting. She acted in the hit movie, a serial spin-off, The Butterfly, or Turning-Forty’s Romance, playing Irena Orska, a beautiful temptress and singer at the height of her career, opposite the serial’s hero Stefan Karwowski. She embodied all the traits of the character created by Director Jerzy Gruza. Several years later, the artist confirmed her acting skills at Washington’s Polish Theater, successfully appearing in Mrozek’s play A Beautiful View.    

     In 2007, Jarocka’s autobiography was published, entitled The Butterfly, or a Song about Myself; it was written in the form of an interview conducted by Magdalena Walusiak. The publication by Proszynski and Co. contains many emotions, recollections, and previously unknown facts about the star, as well a multitude of lovely photos.

    Irena Jarocka has been very busy since then. Universal Music Polska released her new album, entitled Little Things. It includes mood-setting ballads as well as catchy hit songs with sensational lyrics. All the songs have excellent innovative arrangements by young artists. Jarocka also won the Ms. Elegance award for the most elegant Polish woman, bestowed by Italian fashion designer Vinicio Pajaro. Back in the USA, Business Media Agency, publisher of the Polish Bi-Weekly, named her Person of the Year 2008 for promoting Polish culture in the USA and spreading the word about Poland worldwide. In addition, the radio listeners of Polish Radio 1 voted her Music Maniac of 2008, while the readers of PANI (MS) magazine awarded Jarocka and her husband Michal Sobolewski the Silver Apple for the couple of the year.

     2010 proved to be a productive one for Irena Jarocka, both from a musical and a publishing standpoint. She released a two-CD compilation with the artist’s great hits in new arrangements. Her Christmas album Because the Holidays are Here Again was a big success. But the most spectacular event of 2010 was Jarocka’s recording of a duet with one of the most famous and popular American singers, Michael Bolton!

    Irena Jarocka is known for her live performances, full of dynamics, energy and intimate communication with the audience. At concerts, she sings works in eight languages, in various styles ranging from pop to rock, country, French chanson, Broadway, all the way through jazz. Irena Jarocka is full of a contagious joy of living. She continuously shares it with her audiences. Anyone who’s been at even one of her concerts knows that.

Translated by

Gerard Majka