Maria Teresa Peszek is a Polish singer, songwriter and actor. She embarked on a professional acting career in the early 1990s and went on to appear in over 40 stage plays, as well as a number of feature films and television series. In 2005, Peszek released her debut album, the commercially successful and critically acclaimed Miasto mania, followed by Maria Awaria and Jezus Maria Peszek which both topped the Polish albums chart and received favourable reviews. Peszek is noted for controversial lyrics and subjects of her work.
Biography
Peszek was born in Wrocław, Poland into a family of actors. Having appeared as a child in several theatre and TV productions in the 1980s, she officially debuted in a theatrical adaptation of Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass in 1995 at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków, where she graduated from an acting school the following year. Her debut album, Miasto mania, was released in October 2005 by Kayax, an independent label co-founded by Polish singer Kayah. The material on the album drew inspiration from Poland's capital, Warsaw, and served as a musical background to a multi-media theatre play of the same title which premiered simultaneously. It spawned the popular lead single "Moje miasto" and was a critical and commercial success, eventually reaching platinum certification for selling in over 30,000 copies. In 2006, Peszek won the Fryderyk award for "best new act" and released an extended playMania siku which consisted of live recordings and new songs. September 2008 saw the release of her next album, entitled Maria Awaria. The album explicitly dealt with the concept of human sexuality and caused many controversies, especially in the conservative right wing media. Nonetheless, it gathered numerous flattering reviews and became her first number 1 album. It was certified platinum in less than a month and won the Paszport Polityki award in 2009. Peszek contributed the theme song to a controversial Polish film Z miłości in 2011, before releasing her third studio album, Jezus Maria Peszek, in October 2012. Prior to recording the album, Peszek had suffered from nervous breakdown which was widely discussed across Polish media and reflected in the album's lyrics. The album was a criticism towards organized religion, patriotism and social norms which caused further controversies. It was another major success, gathering highly flattering reviews, debuting atop Polish albums chart and eventually receiving platinum certification. Peszek embarked on a long tour to promote the album which resulted in the live release JEZUS is aLIVE. Her fourth album, Karabin, was released in February 2016 and explored such topics as freedom, hatred and individualism. Although it did not match the critical success of its predecessors, it went gold in Poland in just over a month. To promote the album, Peszek performed concerts in Poland, Ireland, England and Czech Republic. In October 2017, Peszek released the single "Ophelia" recorded for her brother's stage adaptation of Hamlet.
