THE LUXE GRECIAN ISLAND IDYLL
OWNER KOSTAS KALIMERIS was still adding the finishing touches to Black Rock Studios when he welcomed his first guest, blues musician Joe Bonamassa, in 2009. Kalimeris had built the space overlooking the Aegean Sea on the Greek island of Santorini with the hope of putting the country on the map of the international recording industry, but he hadn’t had time to take promotional images for it before a friend recommended Bonamassa — a lover of Greece — to come record.
“They asked me for photos and I said, ‘I have no photos, just drawings like blueprint plans,’ ” says Kalimeris. “So, I sent [the drawings] and they booked a month.” The next year, Bonamassa’s album, Black Rock, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s blues chart.
The whitewashed residential studio, covering more than 72,000 square feet of isolated hilltop, is a particularly idyllic place to record a Billboard chart-topper. In addition to the cutting-edge, open-concept recording space, the three-story residence features a large swimming pool and jacuzzi with a pool bar and barbecue overlooking the sea, and natural light floods its five bedrooms.
Even with stunning photos now available for potential guests to peruse, Kalimeris says the property continues to surprise visitors when they arrive. “It’s the view. It’s 360 degrees.
We’re surrounded by ocean,” he says. In just over a decade, the studio on the tourist-heavy island has welcomed artists such as Justin Bieber, Rita Wilson, Skrillex, OneRepublic,
Björk and Michael Sembello, who sang the 1983 Flashdance hit “Maniac.”
But establishing an island off the coast of Greece as a recording destination took strategy. Plenty of studios have high-end equipment; Kalimeris understood standing out was about location, location, location. After Bonamassa christened Black Rock, Kalimeris started hosting songwriting camps to drum up attention and create buzz, welcoming as many as 35 people for up to four days who then spread the word to other artists.
Santorini’s attractions include an active volcano, vast vineyards and archaeological sites, so artists can easily turn recording sessions into vacations, too. “Sometimes artists don’t have time for family vacations, so they combine both,” says Kalimeris. “Björk came for her birthday a few years ago in November. It was her birthday present to come work in the studio.”
While attracting artists was once a hurdle, getting them to return has never been an issue. Following his 2009 session, Bonamassa left a note stating, “It has been the best session I have ever done in my life,” and returned to record his next album. Clients have continued to leave handwritten notes of appreciation: OneRepublic recorded “Counting Stars,” the band’s highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, at Black Rock, and wrote, “By far the best studio experience of our lives... We are counting down the days until one or all of us return.” Sembello’s contribution to the wall of notes was even more ecstatic: “If heaven has a recording studio, I hope it will be like Black Rock.”