Curriculum vitae

The daughter of Wiktoria and Ludwik Szamot [ 1 ] . As a seven-year-old, she learned to play the violin . She took a job as a typist at the Ossolineum in Wrocław . She dreamed of becoming a journalist.

She made her debut as a singer in the mid-1950s in the journalists’ cabaret Kaczka . She studied in 1955–1956 at the Irena Byrska and Tadeusz Byrski Theatre School in Kielce , then performed at the Łódź Region Theatre and the Travelling Theatre in Lublin (1956–1958), sang with the traditional jazz band 7 Czarcich Łap (1st place at a music competition in Lublin) [ 2 ] , and collaborated with the Kraków club Pod Jaszczurami and the Kundel cabaret . During this period, she also recorded the title song for the film “Ostrożnie Yeti”, directed by Andrzej Czekalski (1960), which was broadcast at the end of the film [ 3 ] .

She adopted the pseudonym Joanna Rawik after reading Arc de Triomphe by Erich Maria Remarque .

She gained considerable popularity in the late 1960s, singing in a low, distinctive voice. She collaborated with numerous bands (including the vocal-instrumental group Dzikusy ), gave concerts in Poland and abroad (including Czechoslovakia , Finland , France , Hungary , Yugoslavia, Australia, and the USA ), and recorded albums, radio broadcasts, and television programs. She appeared on the radio program “Podwieczorek przy mikrofonie ” (Afternoon Tea at the Microphone ) and in the films and television series “Strachy” ( Strangers) and “Żelazna obroża” (Iron Collar ). She participated in the Soviet Song Festival in Zielona Góra [ 4 ] and the Soldier’s Song Festival in Kołobrzeg . In 1966 and 1967, she represented Poland at the International Song Festival in Sopot with the songs “Nie chodzi tym ulicą” (Don’t Walk Down This Street) and ” Po co nam to było” (What Did We Need? ). In 1969, she performed there out of competition with the song ” Romanticism .” In 1966 she performed with other Polish performers at the Paris Olympia in the program of the Grand Music-hall de Varsovie.

Since the early 1970s, she has been collaborating with Polish Radio on a regular basis, hosting programmes such as “Joanna Rawik invites you to the WTM palace”, “Surround the drama of your life with a crowd” and “In search of a major key” [ 5 ] .

She was a lecturer in the history of French song at the Paweł Włodkowic Higher School in Płock .

In the early 1990s, she was a member of the editorial staff of the monthly ” Twój Styl “. Then, from 1994 to 2008, she was on the editorial staff of the monthly ” Today “, headed by Mieczysław F. Rakowski . At the same time, from the early 2000s, she was a regular columnist for “Aneks”, a supplement to the daily ” Trybuna ” [ 6 ] .

Since 2020, she has been hosting her own program, Art Is Magic, on Mondays [ 7 ] on Radio Wnet [ 8 ] . In 2023, she started hosting her own program, Piaf, czyli wróbel , devoted to French songs, which was broadcast every Sunday on the First Program of Polish Radio [ 9 ] [ 10 ] .

Private life

Joanna’s mother, Wiktoria née Duda, was Romanian . Joanna Rawik spent her childhood in Romania, in Hermannstadt . She had an older sister, Ludmiła [ 1 ] . She came to Poland in 1947. Until the age of thirteen, she did not know Polish, although she already spoke Romanian, German, and French.

Joanna Rawik’s first husband was actor Stanisław Gronkowski , and her second was Marek Petrusewicz , the first Polish world record holder in swimming. She was in a relationship with actor Ignacy Gogolewski .

She lived in Warsaw’s Mokotów district .

She died on August 15, 2026 [ 11 ] .