Sir Ivan: From Bank Board to Top 10 Billboard to Bullying Foe

Banker–turned–singer, reality TV celebrity and social activist Ivan Wilzig has led a life that Hollywood movies are made of. After twenty years of working in his family’s multi-billion dollar commercial banking business and serving on the bank’s Board of Directors, Ivan left the banking world, reinvented himself as recording artist Sir Ivan, and against all odds became a Billboard Magazine Top Ten Recording Artist and philanthropic “superhero” of the LGBT community. His aim is to use his music and influence to demonstrate the importance of acceptance and understanding, especially of those who have been persecuted or who are different.

His Music Career

Since childhood, Ivan had dreams of becoming a pop star. Once his family sold the bank, he couldn’t wait to pursue his love of music. Sir Ivan chose as his first single the iconic John Lennon song “Imagine,” as the lyrics and message closely mirrored his own beliefs of creating a world without violence and hatred, where everyone is welcome and accepted for who they are. The reason these lyrics resonated so strongly with Ivan is because his father was an Auschwitz concentration camp survivor and 59 Jewish family members had been murdered during the Holocaust. The single was signed by Tommy Boy Records, released on September 4, 2001, exactly one week before the horrendous September 11th tragedy, and broke the Top 40 on the Billboard Club Play Chart.
It was the first time a recording artist had converted the slow rock ballad “Imagine” (or any Beatles or John Lennon ballads) into a high energy dance record. In combining techno tracks with hippy lyrics, Sir Ivan had developed a new style he called “Technippy.” Amazingly, thirty years after Lennon’s original release, Sir Ivan had made the song popular again for a new generation.
Inspired by the success of “Imagine”, he decided that all his music would be about universal love, human rights and peace. The 60’s were both the most evolutionary and revolutionary period in history – when civil rights, women’s rights and gay rights were bravely fought for. The fight for these rights is still being waged today and Sir Ivan is leading the battle through his music and his non-profit organization, The Peaceman Foundation, which he created in 2005. Sir Ivan is known as “Peaceman” because he looks like a superhero when performing in a cape with an ornate peace sign centered on the back. He has been spreading his message of positivity, acceptance and goodwill around the world for over fifteen years.
After various degrees of success on the Billboard Charts, Sir Ivan made the Billboard Top Ten Dance Club Songs Chart for the first time with his hit single “Hare Krishna” in 2011, sharing the Top Ten chart with superstar performers Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Jennifer Lopez and Rihanna. Sir Ivan’s dream of becoming a pop star had become a reality. Then, with his hit single “Live For Today,” Sir Ivan made two different Top Ten Music Week Magazine Charts in the UK in 2011 and 2012 along with fellow artists Scissor Sisters, Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Ed Sheeran, Tiesto, and Florence + the Machine. His first original song that he co-wrote the lyrics to, “La La Land,” also made the Top Ten in UK’s Music Week Chart in 2012, joining such artists as David Guetta, Elton John, and Kylie Minogue. In 2015, he launched a new anti-bullying anthem “Kiss All The Bullies Goodbye”, created specifically to address the nation’s teen bullying epidemic and the high suicide rate occurring within the LGBT teenage community, because the LGBT community, like other groups who have been persecuted for being different, were of special interest to him. Featuring Taylor Dayne and produced by Paul Oakenfold, the song, for which Sir Ivan co-wrote the lyrics, landed in the Top Ten in UK’s Music Week Chart in 2015, alongside Rita Ora and Chris Brown. The music video for “Kiss All the Bullies Goodbye” directed by BET/MTV award-winning director Erik White, made a strong impact on the LGBT community.
In 2016, 15 years after Sir Ivan’s original 2001 release of “Imagine,” he remade the song yet again, because the planet has still not learned to live in peace. In light of the recent terrorist attacks in France, Turkey and Belgium, and because of continued violence against LGBT people, Sir Ivan felt it was an appropriate time for yet another generation to listen to Lennon’s optimistic lyrics, which offer hope to all people on the planet and a formula for world peace. This release also honors and pays tribute to the iconic John Lennon, who passed away 35 years ago, on December 8th, 1980.
“Imagine” is the first single off Sir Ivan’s just released full-length EDM (electronic dance music) album called “Peaceman Shines”, which has already been receiving great reviews on the radio and in the clubs. Each of the 10 songs, created by 10 of the world’s best record producers, are all well-known anti-war and peace songs from the 60s and early 70s, except for two original songs, co-written by Sir Ivan, that share the same theme.

Peaceman’s LGBT Support

As mentioned above, Sir Ivan (and his Peaceman Foundation) has been a staunch advocate and ally of the LGBT community for many years, because he supports those who have been persecuted for being different.

Over the last few years, he has given more than a quarter of a million dollars to many LGBT and anti-bullying organizations, including:

⦁ The Trevor Project
⦁ Campus Pride
⦁ GLSEN
⦁ PFLAG
⦁ Born This Way Foundation
⦁ It Gets Better Project
⦁ Love is Louder
⦁ Pacer
⦁ Anti-Defamation League
⦁ Stomp Out Bullying
⦁ Hetrick-Martin Institute
⦁ NYC Anti-Violence Project
⦁ LIGALY
⦁ Safe Schools
Sir Ivan’s single, “Kiss All the Bullies Goodbye”, an anti-bullying anthem, released in 2015, underscores his commitment to support LGBT youth in any way he can, since bullying is far more prevalent among LGBT youth. As part of his desire to help LGBT youth, Sir Ivan also donated $100,000 to 10 anti-bullying organizations in 2015 to support the cause. 100% of the net proceeds from sales of “Kiss All the Bullies Goodbye” were also pledged to organizations that run anti-bullying education and awareness programs.

In addition, in late 2015, Sir Ivan kicked off a transgender awareness campaign, to support transgender people in need. This campaign started with a large donation to the Trevor Project, and continues with a portion of the net proceeds from his 2016 re-release of “Imagine” pledged to the Anti-Violence Project, because transgender women are disproportionately affected by violence. Later in 2016, Sir Ivan and his family, who run the World Erotic Art Museum in Miami Beach, which was started by his mother, the late Naomi Wilzig, will launch the world’s largest virtual transgender visual arts show.

Sir Ivan’s Quirky Fame

Because of his music success, charitable work and fabulous medieval-style Castle in the Hamptons, he has been featured on TV shows all over the world, and is very popular in France and Germany. Stan Lee, the most famous superhero creator of all time, personally selected Sir Ivan to star as a finalist on the NBC Sci Fi Channel hit series called Who Wants to be a Superhero. Sir Ivan has also made featured appearances on VH1’s The Fabulous Life of the Hamptons, Discovery Channel’s Epic Castles and Bravo’s Chef Roble & Co. His movie experience consists of a major part in a full length documentary, King of the Hamptons, and, a minor role in an independent SAG film, called The Gold and the Beautiful.
Sir Ivan is featured in a one-hour documentary film about his life, titled SIR IVAN: “I Am Peaceman”, which is available on Amazon, Google Play and Vimeo. The film is directed by four-time Emmy® award-winning director Jim Brown, who has also done documentaries on Billy Joel, Pete Seeger, and Peter, Paul and Mary.
Currently, Sir Ivan is making his entry into the Hollywood movie business as one of the Executive Producers of Freak Show. Freak Show is an adaptation of James St. James’ bestseller of the same name, with cast members Alex Lawther, Bette Midler, Laverne Cox, Abigail Breslin and more, and is directed by Trudie Styler. Sir Ivan believes that this film, about a brutally beaten high school student who dresses flamboyantly, will significantly and positively change the way straight teenagers view and treat their LGBT counterparts.
Sir Ivan is currently in talks with several major production companies discussing the potential for a reality TV show based on his eccentric lifestyle and passionate quest to change the world.

Visit  Sir Ivan website – www.sirivan.com