NOTES ON PEOPLE (08/06/00)

NOTES ON PEOPLE

Songwriter finds success in Nashville

by Peter Bandera

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The road for many songwriters inevitably leads to Nashville - "Music City, U.S.A." And such is the story for Andy Bohatiuk, a songwriter now living there.

On May 1, 1998, Mr. Bohatiuk loaded a U-Haul truck with his car in tow and drove 800 miles from Delaware to find his future in the songwriting capital of the world. Within nine months he had his first song recorded by a major artist on a major record label. The song: "You Wanna What?" The artist: Alecia Elliott. The record company: MCA Nashville.

Mr. Bohatiuk co-wrote "You Wanna What?" with Ms. Elliott and Bill Terry, a songwriter from Mississippi. It appears on Ms. Elliott's debut CD "I'm Diggin It," which was released in January and has charted in the top 20 on the Billboard Country Album Charts.

The good news is that MCA Records has chosen the song to be the second single from the CD. The video debuted last month on CMT (Country Music Television) and on GAC (Great American Country). It was released to country radio stations across the United States on May 1.

Ms. Elliott recently performed "You Wanna What?" on the "Donny & Marie" show and on a TNN (The Nashville Network) special called "Class of 2000." The song has also been chosen to appear in the pilot episode of a new NBC television show built around Ms. Elliott called "Alecia and the Belmont Girls."

Ms. Elliott is 17 years old and had been praised by People magazine as "...the best teen country singer." USA Today has written: "Of all the teenage singers Nashville has signed in the past several years, Ms. Elliott might be the best pure talent." She has already appeared on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno and as herself on the TV Show "Malibu, Calif."

Mr. Bohatiuk has his own publishing company called Andy Bo Music and owns the publishing rights to "You Wanna What?" In a city where 50,000 new songs are written every year, it's a true testament to faith, talent and perseverance to have a song recorded in Nashville and then be picked as a single.

Readers can log onto CMT's website at www.country.com, and scroll to CMT to search the playlist and find out exactly when the video will play. The same can be done for GAC at www.countrystars.com.

The future looks bright for this songwriter who is proving that the American dream is still alive and well.

Mr. Bohatiuk is a member of Ukrainian National Association Branch 39.

College names professor laureate

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - At the 152nd commencement of Muhlenberg College in May, President Arthur Taylor announced the selection of Dr. Albert Kipa, Saeger Professor of Comparative Literature and head of the department of languages, literatures and cultures, as the college's first professor laureate.

Muhlenberg College's board of trustees authorized the title last year, specifying that it be awarded to a professor at Muhlenberg College "for exceptional service, scholarship and teaching once every five years."

The recipient of the distinction must have proven himself or herself to be an outstanding teacher and scholar who has made significant contributions to the college's visibility through his or her work and who is recognized as an expert in his or her field by those outside the Muhlenberg College community.

Dr. Kipa was born in Kyiv, but grew up in New York City. He earned degrees from the City College of the City University of New York and the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught at both institutions, as well as at the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg in Breisgau, and the Ukrainian Free University in Munich, Germany.

He specializes in Germano-Slavic literary and cultural relations, is the author or editor of books and articles in his specialty, and has lectured at national and international conferences, as well as colleges and universities in the United States and abroad.

He is a vice-president of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U.S.A. and a fellow of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine. He also has been the recipient of Fulbright, NEH and IREX grants, as well as Goethe Institute, Lindback and Pennsylvania Department of Education awards.

Dr. Kipa joined the Muhlenberg College faculty as an instructor in 1966, was promoted to professor in 1979, and became department head in 1989. He is a member of Ukrainian National Association Branch 450.

Notes on people is a feature geared toward reporting on the achievements of members of the Ukrainian National Association. All submissions should be concise due to space limitations and must include the person's UNA branch number. Items will be published as soon as possible after their receipt, when space permits.

| Home Page |