 Anna Vissi ( born
December 20, 1957) is a
Cypriot-Greek singer, famous mainly
in Greece, and her home country
Cyprus, with success in the United
States as well.
Vissi was born in 1957, in the
village of Pyla, in Larnaca, Cyprus.
She has been singing from a very
early age, beginning formal musical
studies at the age of six at a local
conservatory. At the age of twelve
she entered a talent competition and
won first prize. Two years later,
she was the main singer at Y.
Kotsonis opus Ayia Tilliria, which
was also her first TV appearance. In
1973, her family moved to Athens,
Greece where she was able to pursue
her studies at the National
Conservatory. She would eventually
appear with a number of well-known
Greek singers, such as George
Dalaras, Haris Alexiou, and Vasilis
Papakonstantinou, in the famous
nightclubs of Plaka, in Athens.
During this time she also studied
law at the University of Athens. Her
first important collaboration,
alongside Georgios Dalaras, was with
composer Stavros Koujioumtzis who
composed two songs for Vissi, S'
Agapo and Sta Chronia tis Ypomonis.
She also collaborated with many
important Greek composers such as
Mikis Theodorakis (1974/1975),
Georgios Hadjinassios (1974), Doros
Giorgiadis (1974), Nikos Karvelas
(who later became her husband; 1975)
and Mihalis Terzis (1976).
In 1977 she went on tour with
Georgios Dalaras and Haris Alexiou,
giving remarkable concerts with the
most famous at Rainbow, London
(June). In the same year, she won
the prize for best singer and best
song (As Kanoume Apopse mia Arhi) of
the year at the Annual Song Festival
of Thessaloniki (Palais des Sports).
In 1978 she was proposed by ERT
(Greek National Television) to
represent Greece at the 23rd
Eurovision Song Contest. There were
two songs to select from — Poso
S'Agapo and O Kyrios Nobel. Finally,
due to controversies between the
composers of the songs, her
participation was disqualified and
Tania Tsanaklidou went to the
contest.
In April 2000, Anna Vissi performed
at London's Royal Albert Hall, at
the so-called 'millennium show',
singing in front of people from Sony
International, marketing managers
from Europe, and fans from the UK.
Some months later, her first
international single was released
called Everything I Am, containing
the original version and three
remixes of the song (Almighty Mix,
Eiffel 65 RMX, Groove Brothers
Remix), and a song with both Greek
and English lyrics called Moro Mou,
No Tomorrow.
She also filmed her first video clip
of that single, directed by Antti
Jokinen (Solar films, Finland), that
cost 80,000,000 drachmas (310,000
dollars). Apart from the English
single, she also released a new
Greek single called Agapi Ypervoliki,
containing six new songs.
Having sold more than 75,000 copies
in 10 weeks, it became triple
platinum and finally five times
platinum, selling more than 100,000
copies. To promote the single, she
presented a unique show for the
Greek standards at Asteria Club with
husband Nikos Karvelas and the boy
band ONE, with Shaun Fernandez as
the choreographer.
In November 2000 Vissi's new Greek
album was released, entitled Kravgi,
reaching double platinum status in
just a couple of hours, breaking all
the previous records.
In 2001, she released the album X.
In the winter of 2002 she was at
Fever Club in Athens, performing
with Giannis Parios with whom she
had already collaborated in the late
70s. There, she promoted her new
album X with producer George De
Angelis.
Just before 2004, Paraksenes Eikones
was released in December 2003 and
went twice platinum in six months.
To promote the album, she started
appearing at Diogenis Studio in the
winter of 2003, with Konstandinos
Christoforou, Nino and Hi-5.
In May 2004 she went on a small tour
in England and U.S., with Lambis
Livieratos (with whom she
collaborated back in the early 90s),
while in July, her album Paraksenes
Eikones was re-released with a bonus
CD single called The Remixes. On 29
August 2004 she performed at the
closing ceremony of the XXVIII
Olympiad, in Athens.
In July 2005 Anna returned to
Greece and released "Call Me" as a
CD single by Sony BMG, along with a
new English song titled Lie.
`In September 2005, Anna released
a new Greek album titled Nylon.
On April 19, 2006 she released a
single for her Eurovision entry
"Everything".
Following the contest, "Everything"
was released in Finland on May 24,
2006 by Sony BMG Finland.
In the fall of 2006, she embarked on
a Greek mini-tour performing around
Greece in sold-out concerts as well
as Cyprus with Goin' Through.
Since the beginning of 2007, Vissi
has been living in the United
States.
In September 2007, Sony BMG Greece
released a compilation titled The
Essential Anna Vissi. The album
contains 17 track, includes some of
Anna's biggest hits. It also
includes the previously leaked but
unofficially released English song
"Is it Safe?".
In April 2008, Maple Jam Music
released a statement on their
website saying that "Soon, Anna
Vissi's unprecedented talent will
capture the attention of a much
broader audience as she comes to Los
Angeles, California, to record a
brand-new album unlike any before
it. This album, set for a world-wide
release in early 2009, promises to
be her most dynamic yet. This album
brings with it a new sound which
will diffuse among all Anna's loyal
fans and spreading further to new
ones, uniting them across the
globe." |
