Helena Paparizou

Today I'm going to writte about one of the best singers in Greece (but she is from sweeden). She's Helena Paparizou!!!

She's my favourite singer (with Laura Pausini) and she's on her best moments, because she's nominated in 5 cathegories on MAD VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS!!! Congratulations Helena!!!

Now all her life here:

Biography

1999-2003
Elena Paparizou with Nikos Panagiotidis as Antique.

Paparizou, determined to succeed and fulfill her dreams of being an entertainer, joined childhood friend and fellow Greek-Swede Nikos Panagiotidis, at the age of 17, to form Antique.[4] The duo quickly signed their first record deal, with new-found Swedish record label Bonnier. Their debut single, a cover of Notis Sfakianakis's "Opa Opa" entered the top ten across Scandinavia and Antique became the first act to enter into the Swedish top five with a song sung in Greek.[4] The song achieved gold certification following its August 1999 Swedish release. The following single "Dinata Dinata" also charted, along with both "Follow Me" and "Moro Mou".[4]

By 2001, the duo had made a name for itself which led to them being selected as Greece's representatives for the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 in Copenhagen. The duo reached third place with the song, "(I Would) Die for You" and although equaled by Sakis Rouvas's entry "Shake It" in 2004, it was Greece's highest place in the contest until Elena won the contest as a solo artist in 2005.

Antique's success in the Eurovision Song Contest led to them recording four studio albums, playing a small European tour, and collaborating with many other artists, such as Katy Garbi and Slavi Trifonov. Paparizou has admitted that Greek music had been something of an acquired taste for her, saying that the name 'Antique' was probably a reflection of her childhood impression of it being something rather distant and old-fashioned; something that she only really associated with her summer holidays in Greece.[1] Following her success with Antique, Elena decided to pursue a solo career.

2003-2004: Protereotita

Despite the group's success, Antique broke up in 2003 on good terms as the band had run its natural course, and Paparizou set about going solo. She signed a solo recording contract with Sony Music Greece and released her first solo single "Anapandites Kliseis", a song written especially for her by singer/songwriter Christos Dantis.[5] The three song CD single also featured "Brosta Ston Kathrefti" and "Treli Kardia. Sales were strong and it received gold certification in Greece. It was later re-recorded in English as "I Don't Want You Here Anymore".

2005: Eurovision
Ruslana and Elena Paparizou

Paparizou ended up spending more and more time in Greece, and after a long selection process of the Greek National Broadcaster ERT, she was approached to represent the country for a second time in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. She performed My Number One, Let's Get Wild, and OK on the Greek national final, with My Number One winning the televote. There was also a song called The Light in Our Soul, but it was later disqualified due to it being released prior to the contest, thus breaking the rules. The song went onto win the final contest (with backing vocals provided by Cypriot former Eurovision-participant Alex Panayi), and brought the contest to Greece for 2006 for the first time in the contest's history. Paparizou stated that should she ever consider doing anything Eurovision orientated again it would have to be for her birth country of Sweden,[7] since she already had her turn with Greece.

Paparizou re-released her first album Protereotita in Greece, with a second CD containing her Eurovision entrants, and English versions to previous songs, such as I Don't Want You Here Anymore, Antithesis, OK, and If You Believe Me as well as a ballad version of (Ehis Kero na Mou Feris) Louloudia. The 10 track CD was also available separately for those who already owned her debut album. A 16-track compilation of the Eurovision entrants and songs from her debut album was released in many parts of Europe such as Scandinavia, Switzerland, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Turkey under the title, My Number One.

In the summer and fall of 2005, Paparizou toured in Australia and North America with Greek artist Nikos Kourkoulis, selling out many venues. She was also named the official ambassador of the Greek Ministry of Tourism, and My Number One was used as backing music to their international television advert.

In the fall of 2005, Paparizou went to studios and recorded a new CD single called Mambo!. The single included Mambo as a Greek and English version, Panta Se Perimena, and Asteria. The CD single stayed on the Greek charts at number 1 for 10 weeks, including Christmas week, and reached platinum status. The track was also released in Sweden in April 2006 and became gold selling more than 25,000 copies, following a succession of hit singles there taken from the album, My Number One. Paparizou's debut album was re-issued for a third time in Greece to contain a third CD (in addition to the actual album and the Eurovision disc), containing both English and Greek versions of "Mambo!" and three other new Greek songs.

2006: Iparhi Logos & The Game of Love

At the end of 2005, Paparizou went back to studio to work on her second Greek language album and her first official English language album. The album has been released in Greece, Cyprus, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, Sweden and Turkey.

Paparizou's second album in Greek, Iparhi Logos, was released in Greece on 12 April 2006. Prior to the release, Paparizou sang the title track at the Arion Music Awards. The album consists of two discs, the first featuring 12 brand new tracks, including Mambo! and Panta Se Perimena and the second featuring four new tracks, nine live tracks from her Mad Secret Concert, and a remix of the title track. The video for that single, Iparhi Logos, aired on the day the album was released. Gigolo was later released as the third single from the album, and fared well on Greek radios. The album Iparhi Logos went to #1 and reached platinum status in Greece after three months.

On 20 May 2006, Paparizou returned to the stage of Eurovision once more, to open the contest with My Number One as the secondary opening act. She later sang Mambo!, and then presented the award to the winners Lordi.

2007: Iparhi Logos: Platinum Edition

On 21 January 2007, Paparizou was awarded with a "European Border Breaker Award" at the MIDEM Festival in Cannes, France. She was one of the ten new artists who received the awards which were created by the European Union in 2003 and are given every year to ten artists who manage to have success with their first album abroad. Paparizou won the award for her success with her first solo album Proteraiotita: Euro-Edition.[12]

In spring 2007, Paparizou recorded three tracks for the soundtrack to the Greek television series Mazi Sou, including the theme song to the series.[11] A video was made for the track "Mazi Sou" which became a hit in Greece, with the track has spent several weeks atop the Greek radio airplay chart. Another radio single, "Min Fevgeis", was released to radios on 23 April.

In May 2007, Paparizou re-released her album Iparhi Logos as Iparhi Logos: Platinum Edition with the seven track CD Single "Fos" including the hit "Mazi Sou". Paparizou released "Fos" as a separate CD Single four days before the re-packaging.[13] "Fos", went straight to number one in Greece following its release, making it Paparizou's fourth number one hit there.[14]. The CD Single was certified gold in its 12th week charting at number 2.

On 19 June 2007, Paparizou attended the Cyprus Music Awards where she was nominated for two awards: "Best Female Singer", and "Album of the Year" with Iparhi Logos, though she did not win either.[15] A few days later, Paparizou attended the 2007 Mad Video Music Awards held on 25 June 2007 where she was nominated for five awards.[16] They included "Best Pop Video" ("Gigolo"), "Best Female Video" ("Gigolo"), "Video of the Year" ("Gigolo"), "Artist of the Year", and "Best outfit in a Video" ("An Eihes Erthi Pio Noris". She won the two awards for the "Best Female Video" and the one for the "Best outfit in a Video".[17] Paparizou participated in the show singing the song "Let the Sunshine In" and later sung her song "Min Fevgeis".

2008–present: Vrisko To Logo Na Zo & New English album
Elena Paparizou receiving the gold certification for Vrisko To Logo Na Zo.

In early 2008, Elena Paparizou started work on her Greek album Vrisko To Logo Na Zo, which was released on June 12, 2008.[20][21] The first single off of the album, "Porta Gia Ton Ourano", was released on April 8, 2008, while the second single, "I Kardia Sou Petra", was released on June 2, 2008 to radio stations all over the Greece.[22][23] The album received gold certification only one week after its release and Paparizou was awarded the gold disc on June 25, 2008.[24] On July 7, 2008 the album reached number one on the Greek Albums Chart where it remained for 11 weeks.[25]

At the 2008 Mad Video Music Awards held at the end of June, Paparizou was nominated for six awards. The song "To Fili Tis Zois" was nominated in four categories: "Best Pop Video", "Most Played Artist", "Artist of the Year", and "Best Video by a Female Artist". The song "Mazi sou" and the song "Zilia Monaksia" featuring Nikos Aliagas were nominated in the categories "Most Played Artist" and "Best Duet", respectively.[26] Finally she picked up two awards for "Best Pop Video" and "Artist of the Year".[27]


[all information of wikipedia]

Kisses