Yanni (born Yiannis Hrysomallis, on November 14, 1954 in Kalamata, Greece) is a self-taught pianist, keyboardist, and composer. Yanni left his homeland at the age of 18 to attend the University of Minnesota. After receiving a B.A. in psychology, he would instead seek a life in music though he had no formal training and could not read a note. After playing keyboards in local rock bands such as Chameleon, he moved to California in pursuit of movie soundtrack work. In 1987, he put together a small band which included long-time bandmate Charlie Adams, and John Tesh, and began touring to promote his earliest instrumental albums, Keys to Imagination, Out of Silence, and Chameleon Days. He later earned Grammy nominations for his 1992 album, Dare to Dream, and the 1993 follow-up, In My Time. His breakthrough success came with the release of Yanni Live at the Acropolis, a concert conducted by Iranian composer Shahrdad Rohani, filmed on September 25, 1993 at the Herod Atticus Theater in Athens, Greece, deemed to be the second best-selling music video of all time. A composition from this release, "Acroyali/Standing in Motion" has been found to have the "Mozart Effect".