Bogdana Chivas

Bulgarian born Bogdana, was forced to flee the hardships of the Eastern Bloc with her parents when she was still a young child, as they searched for a better life for their young daughter. Settling in Paris, the family were automatically thrown into poverty as they began to set-up their new life totally from scratch – no family or friends to support them and no money to give them a kick-start. For young Bogdana, seeing her parents struggle and having to deal with the stress of being a foreign child in a new land was an immense trauma in her life.



The disturbance had such a huge impact on Bogdana, she turned her focus towards her true passion – music. She wanted to become a singer and was already writing a lot of her own songs at the age of 8 – until she picked up her guitar a few years later.



"My revelation was a performance by Paul Gilbert a very talented guitarist. I had a guitar lying around in my room since my dad had given me one a few years earlier. I started playing 10 hours a day – phobic about it, but put to good use this time. I wanted to have control over that instrument, it distracted me from my depressive state. I lived like a hermit for a couple of years, entirely cut off from the world. It was very hard in the beginning, but I'd set myself a challenge and my brain switched onto that and I was swallowed up by the hours of work."



The guitar was to be her savior. Focusing on her ultimate passion and channeling all her determination into conquering the instrument not only produced an outstanding musical talent, but it also helped her to overcome her disease. "It helped me battle anorexia because I found myself escaping into something I knew would take me somewhere. I didn't know what that place might be or when I was going to get there, I just figured it would take me somewhere out of my nightmare."
After several years Bogdana began composing music with the guitar and looking for her sound and penning her own original lyrics on a 4-track recorder. Every feeling and emotion that she'd ever had began spilling out into riveting pieces of music. As she grew she began her search for musicians who could help her bring her music to life a little more. Playing lead guitar and cranking up her Marshall in search of her style and sound, she left for London where she collaborated with Grammy Award winning producer, Simon Gogerly.



The Chivas sound is an eclectic melting-pot of the great rock n roll talents thrown together then resurrected in a fresh new sound that's purely unique to Bogdana and is currently picking up praise from BBC Radio Liverpool, BBC 3 Counties, Q Radio, Music Week, Record Collector and Female First . Her inspirations span the full rock spectrum from Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Van Halen, right through to Chrissie Hynde, Patti Smith and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers .



The collaborative result is a powerful, modern and contemporary rock sound with trenchant lyrics inspired by Bogdana's world. Audiences will be exported through the horrors of the Eastern Front in WWII, to the drama of modern day prostitution; then quickly whipped away on a journey that tells of lovers and cheaters, only to find themselves stolen-away to exotic and mysterious places in Eastern Europe, which are Bogdana's origins.



The musical talent and lyrical intensity of Bogdana Chivas is rapidly snowballing critical acclaim across the UK. With a string of live dates set across the country, ever increasing radio air-play and multiple live performances for BBC live sessions, Bogdana Chivas is on a collision course for explosive success.