Anna Jantar


Anna Jantar-Kukulska was a Polish singer and the mother of singer Natalia Kukulska.

Early and personal life

Jantar was born in Poznań on 10 June 1950, one of two children born to Józef Szmeterling and Halina, née Surmacewicz. She attended Adam Mickiewicz High School in Poznań, from 1965 to 1969 and Secondary Music School in Poznań. In 1969, she passed the exam at the State Theater School in Warsaw, but was not accepted due to lack of seats.
Jantar married Polish composer Jarosław Kukulski on 11th April 1971; the couple had one child, a daughter, singer Natalia Kukulska. A widower after Jantar's 1980 death, he remarried after her death to singer Monika Borys, by whom he had a second child, Piotr.

Career

Jantar began her artistic career in 1968 as Anna Szmeterling. She collaborated with the band Polne Kwiaty and recorded the song "Po ten serce Czerwony" on the Poznań radio.
She began her career in 1968 with the song Po ten kwiat czerwony. A year later she became the lead vocalist of the band Waganci. Her best-known song from this period is Co ja w tobie widziałam. Jarosław Kukulski, whom she married on 11 April 1971, was also a member of the group and composed many of her hit songs. In 1972, Jantar began her solo career. In 1973, she took part in the National Festival of Polish Song in Opole with the song Najtrudniejszy pierwszy krok. Later, she launched many other hits, which made her one of the most popular and famous Polish singers of the 1970s.
She collaborated with many Polish artists, including with Stanisław Sojka, Bogusław Mec, Zbigniew Hołdys and Andrzej Tenard. She also recorded songs with Budka Suflera and the band Perfect.
On 27 December 1979, she flew to the United States. In January and February 1980, she played concerts at the Polish American community clubs in Chicago and New Jersey. On 12 March, she performed her last concert at the Zodiac club in New Jersey.

Death

Jantar died in the crash of LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 from JFK International Airport on 14 March 1980, near Okęcie Airport in Warsaw.

Awards

Singles