Kvitka Cisyk (April 4, 1953 – March 29, 1998, born Kvitoslava-Orysia Cisyk; also known as Kacey Cisyk) was an American singer of Ukrainian origin. She had coloratura soprano voice while being a classically trained opera singer. Cisyk achieved success in four musical genres: popular music, classical opera, Ukrainian folk music and commercial jingles for radio and TV advertisements.

Cisyk recorded "You Light Up My Life" for the film of the same title (Oscar and Golden Globe Awards win in 1978), sang the "Have you driven a Ford lately?" and "You deserve a break today!" jingles, and released two critically acclaimed albums of Ukrainian songs.

Early life

Cisyk was the daughter of two Ukrainian immigrants from Eastern Galicia; her given name, Kvitka, is Ukrainian for "flower". She received a violin scholarship to the Mannes College of Music, but had switched to classical voice training by the time of her graduation.

In January 1971, the initiative committee (chaired by Lubomyr Zobniv), which consisted mainly of Harpur College students, created a television program called "Thoughts of Ukraine" to mark the Day of Unity of Ukraine. The script was prepared by Maria Cisyk (music teacher) and Maria ("Mima") Koropiy (graduate student in French; host of a Ukrainian radio program). The program featured Ukrainian folk dances, poems by Taras Shevchenko, songs performed by Kvitka Cisyk with guitar accompaniment by Bohdan Sokhan (a student from New York) and Yuriy Turchyn (a student at Rutgers University), and songs accompanied by Maria Tsysyk's piano. The individual performances were harmoniously combined with photographic material from Ukraine and background music selected and played for the program by Maria Cisyk. On the evening of January 22, the program "Thoughts on Ukraine" was broadcast on WINR-TV.

Music career

Cisyk's original goal was a career as an opera singer, but her father's death left the family without a source of income. Needing to earn money immediately, Cisyk pursued a career as a session singer in popular music. She drew her professional name (Kacey) from her first and last initials.

Cisyk began singing in clubs, while submitting audition tapes to producers and advertising agencies. She had a successful career as a background singer in popular music, working as a backup singer for Carly Simon and Michael Franks and for artists produced by Quincy Jones.

Soundtrack and commercial jingle success

right|thumb|Cisyk performing in 1989

right|thumb|Cisyk in 1989

Cisyk's work in commercials brought her to the attention of Joe Brooks, who worked as a composer and arranger of jingles. Brooks, who wrote, directed and composed the score for the movie You Light Up My Life chose Cisyk to dub the singing voice of actress Didi Conn.

Cisyk's performance of the song appears on the original soundtrack album, and was released as a single, although she was not listed as the performing artist in the final credits of the film (for which she successfully sued the producers). Her single release of the song reached No. 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

The song was also recorded by singer Debby Boone, with Brooks producing and arranging. This recording of "You Light Up My Life", became a No. 1 single on the Billboard chart for ten consecutive weeks. People magazine ran a substantial article about "The real voice behind 'You Light Up My Life" inasmuch the similarity between her and Debby Boone's voice led many to assume the latter had sung the songs in the movie. In a 2013 biographical essay about Cisyk, her second husband, Ed Rakowicz wrote that Brooks "withheld payment" and "tried to evade payment by false promises and by asking her to be an incidental actor in his film, implying huge rewards yet to come." Later, (according to Rakowicz's biographical essay He was indicted in May 2009 by the state Supreme Court for Manhattan (a trial-level court) on 91 counts of rape, sexual abuse, criminal sexual act, assault, and other charges. While awaiting trial, Brooks killed himself in May, 2011.

Cisyk also recorded lead vocals for the soundtracks of the movies The One and Only and Circle of Two. She also contributed backing vocals to the Carly Simon songs used on the soundtrack for the movie Working Girl.

Cisyk achieved her widest success as a singer of the musical jingles used in TV and radio commercials.

In addition to Ford, Cisyk sang for automakers General Motors and Toyota. She recorded spots for the three national television networks in the 1980s (ABC, NBC and CBS), four major airlines (American, Delta, Eastern and TWA), two national retailers (Sears and JCPenney), and the two most popular soft drinks: Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

According to her New York Times obituary, "a typical day, she later recalled, would begin with a 9 am session for Trans World Airlines, followed by Coca-Cola at eleven, Hartz Mountain at 1 pm, Eastern Airlines at two, Datsun at three, L'Eggs at five, McDonald's at six, and, after all that, a recording session from 8:30 pm to 3 am".

Ukrainian music

As the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants, Cisyk was raised with Ukrainian music, and she is well known in the Ukrainian-speaking world for her two albums of Ukrainian songs. arranged and conducted them both. Her sister, Maria Cisyk, a concert pianist and teacher, performed the solo piano selections on the record, and her mother, Iwanna, made sure her Ukrainian pronunciation was perfect.

Death and legacy

Kvitka Cisyk Rakowicz died of breast cancer on March 29, 1998, at the age of 44.

For what would have been her 60th birthday, Ukrainian Inter TV channel broadcast a documentary film Kvitka. Single copy voice. The film examined the phenomenon of her life and career, and interviewed her relatives and close friends: husband Ed Rakowicz, son Eddie, family from Lviv and the United States, as well as peers and fans. On April 4, 2013 premieres of the film took place in Kyiv, Lviv, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Odesa, Luhansk and Chernivtsi. The film debuted on Inter TV channel on April 5, 2013.

Her contribution to Ukrainian music is recognized with a yearly music festival. Parks and streets were also named for her in Kyiv, Vinnytsia Oblast and Lviv, Ukraine. In September 2022 a street that was named after Soviet child actress Gulya Korolyova in Dnipro was renamed to honor Cisyk. On 20 May 2024 the Poltava city council renamed a street in its city in honour of her.

Recordings

Solo albums

  • Kvitka, Songs of Ukraine 1980
  • Kvitka, Two Colors 1989
  • Single: Off To War: Kvitka Cisyk 2022

Credits/participations

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

!Artist

!Song/Album/Film Title

!Year

!Credit/Participation

|-

| Michel Camilo || Forbidden Fuit || 1994 || Vocals (Background)

|-

| Flying Monkey Orchestra || Back in the Pool || 1993 || Vocals, Choir, Chorus

|-

| Sadao Watanabe || Earth Step || 1994 || Vocals (Background)

|-

| Sesame Street || Sesame Road || 1993 || Vocals, Voices

|-

| Bonkers || Bonkers Theme, Let's Go Bonkers || 1993 || Vocals, (Background)

|-

| Darkwing Duck || Darkwing Duck Theme, || 1991 || Vocals, (Background)

|-

| Carole King || City Streets || 1989 || Vocals (Background)

|-

| Various Artists || Working Girl || 1988 || Vocals (Background)

|-

| Michael Franks || The Camera Never Lies || 1987 || Vocals (Background)

|-

| Neal Fox || A Painting || 1977 || Vocals (Background)

|-

| Michael Franks || Skin Dive || 1985 || Vocals (Background)

|-

| Michael Franks || Passionfruit || 1983 || Vocals (Background)

|-

| Marvin Stamm || Stammpede || 1983 || Vocals

|-

| Roberta Flack || I'm the One || 1982 || Vocals, Vocals (Background)

|-

| Michael Franks || Objects of Desire || 1982 || Vocals (Background)

|-

| David Sanborn || Voyeur || 1982 || Vocals, Vocals (Background)

|-

| Joseph Brooks || You Light Up My Life || 1977 || Vocals, Vocals (Background)

|-

| Alan and Marilyn Bergman || The One and Only || 1978 || Vocals

|-

| Michael Franks || Indispensable || 1988 ||

|-

| Michael Johnson || Lifetime Guarantee || 1984 || Solo, Background vocals

|-

| Spyro Gyra || Freetime || 1981 || Backing vocals

|-

| Small Voices Calling || Sounds of a Better World || 2000 || Vocals

|}

Notes

References

  • New York Times obituary
  • [ Allmusic.com discography]
  • Review of first album, with music clips from selected songs
  • Los Angeles Times obituary
  • Obituary for Kvitka Cisyk
  • J. Walter Thompson demo for Ford, featuring Casey Cisyk
  • The song "Я піду в далекі гори" performed by Kvitka Cisyk is used in the video from Dora, near Yaremche. English translation of lyrics is made by Kateryna Pylypchuk.