By Alejandra Vernon

Vitas has been my miracle. A lover of Russian culture, I typed "Russian music" into youtube 6 months ago. I saw this FACE and a red scarf. The rest is history. 13 CDs and hundreds of videos later, I am a new person.

Diagnosed with advanced cancer, I had been doing my best with diet and a good attitude, but Vitas was the key to my transformation. I also started yoga around the same time as I found Vitas, which has been very beneficial, but he is my impetus to keep going to class, to keep holding a difficult pose, to try a little harder. He is my inspiration for so much of my day that he has become an intrinsic part of me, a part of my very life force. I have also bought some new clothes, new eyeglasses, and started wearing a little make-up (yes this cost some money, but the money has come to cover these costs in the most surprising ways). I feel better, I look better, I AM better, to myself and to others.

Vitas says on his website to "receive the sea of positive emotions and joy" with his music, and this is what has happened to me. I am a ripple in his sea of love, a ripple that goes on to create other ripples. A chain reaction of love. Thank you Vitas for your incredible beauty of sound and presence, your great love. You are my bodhisattva.

Greatest Discovery

In 2008, I discovered Vitas while doing an international theme at the Day Care Center where I worked. There was a half Japanese/Russian kid there so I was searching for either a Japanese or Russian singer online. I went into Youtube and came across a live Opera 2 performance. My Co-Workers and I couldn't believe the high pitch that was coming from this man! At first I thought it was a sound effect of some sorts since I never heard anyone make a sound like before. It took me a second viewing to realize that sound WAS actually coming from him! I was in shock but fascinated at the same time, everyone at my job must have watched the video like 10x's in a row! Each time I watched Vitas' performance I felt this feeling inside that something about this man was special and unique. I never seen such a bright smile, an engaging confidence and command of the stage. I couldn't wait to get home and watch more Vitas.
After scouring Youtube for a few more Vitas videos I could find, I became somewhat of a fan and liked only a few songs. I thought he was strange for my usual taste in music artists but something about him had me hooked. I even thought he might be an alien, he had an otherworldly quality to him that no one else I knew had.
In 2010, I was explaining to a friend about this Russian Artist who dresses up in strange costumes and sings in the most unique pitches. I showed them some Youtube videos and we had a laugh for a bit and when my friend left I ran across some of his most recent performances with hair on his head and I thought he looked really handsome and I liked him even more! =) I then proceeded to find everything I could on Vitas on the internet and I finally began to understand him and his music, I felt it within this time, it was a entirely different feeling than before. I connected with him and his music and it had a positive effect on my very being. This is when I became a real Vitas fan...a V-fan for life.

Many thanks to Phil for starting this off with his story about how Vitas touched his life.  This collection of our stories is his idea. We invite everyone to share their stories here.   You can comment under this entry anonymously if you like, or if you want to author your own article, send your gmail to vitaslovers@gmail.com and we will send you an invitation to author a post here.    

Perception

Discovering Vitas.
I discovered Vitas around November of 2006, by a lovely chance. I've always been a Music Lover, of all kinds. We were looking on YouTube for unique singers,Opera type singers, or anything that caught our eye. I had given up looking around and was researching other things. Luckily and amazingly, my friend, who was on the other computer, stayed on the task of finding some new cool music. I heard that specific start of Opera #2, and I thought, "oh, that's neat..." But I didn’t really even turn to hear it. I was going to listen to it from where I was at. My friend was telling me, "Hey! Come check this out it looks cool." It was a live version of Vitas. "Yeah, it sounds pretty cool," I said. I was really busy with something else.

BOOM: In my head, the sound of Vitas voice. A wave of difference had overcome me. I had felt things I haven't felt since I was younger, which for me connects me to my past. Memories, lost thoughts, and dreams were springs of water, popping out of nowhere. Goals can be met, some already have. Realization. "WHAT IS THAT?" I said turning around. I dropped everything, just forgetting what was going. I went straight for his computer, which was luckily a few feet behind. "What is that??" I caught the screen just as He finished he first chorus. WOW, "play it again, play it again!" We played it, and played trying to understand, what it was. Wow, He is so cool. His voice is so unique and freeing, so uplifting. Mystical. Never have, and never since heard anything like His voice, or has made such an impact on my perspective.


How Vitas Helped
On October 7th of 2007, my Dad passed away. None of us knew what to do. The foundation of our home, so loved and now so missed. I didn't know what to do. He held our family together.
We stopped doing everything, everything halted. We didn't listen to any music. Three days after he passed, I was in the car, and Vitas's music came on. I still had the CD in there. I turned it off. Of course I was thinking about My Dad. I didn't want to feel uplifted or happy. Just sadness and depression because I was so hurt. I thought for a minute about the time that went by since I had found Vitas, my Dad was still living. I played Vitas music for him sometimes and he always heard it in our car. My Dad was "old-school," so to speak, so when he heard Vitas, he was like "I don't understand him, but yeah that is neatttt." We would come home in the afternoons or the weekends to visit Mom and Him, and we would always pull in the yard, singing, screaming! He made a comment to Mom one day, concerning my crazy screaming and the music of Vitas. He said, laughing and with a proud look in his eye, "What type of son have I raised?" It was of happier times. Something funny we shared. He and Mom laughed and laughed at the thought of is trying to sing like him. Mom has always adored Vitas. Remembering things and driving around in silence, I decided to play Vitas music. Vitas's long emotional notes in Mama, made me weep. God, How I Love You made me cry, and I was sad. I skipped the songs that reminded me of happiness. I wanted to mourn. I played an uplifting song, the first I had ever heard, Opera #2. When he hit the highest notes, all I could is cry and think. In the chorus, I heard Vitas was singing, "Why?!" Like why did this happen to Us, to Dad? As Vitas screamed and wailed, I cried. The song, "Calisst Osenniy," was the release. For the whole night, I drove around just to cry and listen to him and reflect on what was actually happening in my life. The Dedication song captivated my senses. Crane's Crying made me miss the past even more. If only I could change the time back? With every note of Vitas's sentiment, it was if he was singing my pain too. I still was skipping the happier songs. But in these I understood the power of his voice. I could not have ever changed what happened. The most painful part may be that we can't change what will come, no matter how much we want too. We must then try to live on, even with the weight of what happens. I remembered my Dad, and I felt better knowing that together, we had shared something that neither of us had ever thought we would experience together like Vitas's form of Music.

A New Look on Life
Vitas inspires me. From then on, Vitas was my voice that I never knew I had. Every song expressed what I felt. Without Vitas, I don't know if would have ever, "gotten better" about my Dad. Someone's Melancholy is Crying: That song Vitas must have made just for painful moments. I listen to Vitas everyday now. He helped us get through this tough time of our lives. He inspires creativity in me. He encouraged my happiness. Even though, I just wish that time would let us wait before marching on, and just give us another minute, or at least a slow good bye. I realized that times does try to heal the pain. And Vitas voice introduced a new world of expression and perspective. Vitas inspires that, although life is tragic sometimes, brighter days will come. Happiness is crucial, and Love is important in all it's ways. Vitas songs taught me that reflection and memories are necessary, and in the end, that's all we have sometimes. No matter if something seems too far away, is not too far enough to dream of. And some dreams do come true. Vitas voice is a realization of a dream. Vitas's beauty is inspirational and His uniqueness is a cure. A refreshment of life, like the cool wind on a hot day. There is no other equal.