A blind trust is a trust in which the fiduciaries, namely the trustees or those who have been given power of attorney, have full discretion over the assets, and the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust and no right to intervene in their handling. Blind trusts are generally used when a settlor (sometimes called a trustor or donor) wishes to keep the beneficiary unaware of the specific assets in the trust, such as to avoid conflict of interest between the beneficiary and the investments. Politicians or others in sensitive positions often place their personal assets (including investment income) into blind trusts, to avoid public scrutiny and accusations of conflicts of interest when they direct government funds to the private sector.

British party funding

In the United Kingdom, while the Labour Party was in opposition in 1992–97, its front bench received funding from blind trusts. One set up to fund its campaign in the 1997 general election received donations from wealthy supporters, some of whose names leaked out, and some of whom received life peerages into the House of Lords after Labour won the election. The Neill Committee's report in 1998 found the use of blind trusts to be "inconsistent with the principles of openness and accountability" and recommended that such trusts be "prohibited as a mechanism for funding political parties, party leaders or their offices, Members of Parliament or parliamentary candidates" This was incorporated into the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 as section 57 "Return of donations where donor unidentifiable".

References

Category:Wills and trusts

{| style="float:right;" |

Name	Mitt Romney
Alt	Portrait of Mitt Romney
Order	70th
Office	Governor of Massachusetts
Term start	January 2, 2003
Term end	January 4, 2007
Lieutenant	Kerry Healey
Predecessor	Jane Swift (acting)
Successor	Deval Patrick
Birth date	March 12, 1947
Birth place	Detroit, Michigan
Birthname	Willard Mitt Romney
Nationality	American
Party	Republican
Residence	Belmont, Massachusetts San Diego, California
Spouse	Ann Romney
Children	Tagg (b. 1970), Matt (b. 1971), Josh (b. 1975), Ben (b. 1978), Craig (b. 1981)
Alma mater	Brigham Young University (B.A.)Harvard Business School (M.B.A.) Harvard Law School (J.D.)
Profession	Businessman, Politician
Religion	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Signature	Mitt Romney Signature.svg

|- | |} Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and Republican Party politician, who served as the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007.

Romney is the son of George W. Romney (the former Governor of Michigan) and Lenore Romney. He was raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and served as a Mormon missionary in France. He attended Stanford University and Brigham Young University as an undergraduate, then earned a joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. He entered the management consulting business which led to a position at Bain & Company, eventually serving as its CEO to lead it out of crisis. He was co-founder and head of Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm, which during his time there became highly profitable and one of the largest such firms in the nation. He ran as the Republican candidate in the 1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts but lost to incumbent Edward M. Kennedy. Romney organized and steered the 2002 Winter Olympics as President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, and helped turn the troubled games into a financial success.

Romney won the election for Governor of Massachusetts in 2002. In his one term, he presided over a series of spending cuts and increases in fees while the state's finances improved. He signed into law the landmark Massachusetts health care reform legislation, which provided near-universal health insurance access via subsidies and state-level mandates. Romney was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2008 United States presidential election, winning several caucuses and primaries but ultimately losing to John McCain. Since then he has published a book, , and also given speeches and raised campaign funds on behalf of fellow Republicans. He is widely seen as a front-runner for the Republican nomination in the 2012 presidential election.

Early life and early education

Romney was born in Detroit, Michigan. He was the youngest child of George W. Romney, a man of humble upbringing who by 1948 had become an automobile executive, and Lenore Romney. followed by Mitt after a gap of six years. Romney was named after hotel magnate J. Willard Marriott, his father's best friend, and the nickname of his father's cousin Milton Romney, who played quarterback for the Chicago Bears from 1925 to 1929. The youngster, who formed a special bond with his father from his first year on, was called "Billy" until he reached kindergarten, when he indicated a preference for "Mitt".

When Mitt was five, the family moved from Detroit to the affluent suburb of Bloomfield Hills. Mitt idolized him, read automotive trade magazines and kept abreast of automotive developments, and aspired to be an executive in the industry himself one day. His father also presided over the Detroit Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to which the family belonged.

in Bloomfield Hills, which Mitt Romney attended for grades 7-12]] Mitt went to public elementary schools, Mitt had a steady set of chores growing up and worked summer jobs, including one as a security guard at a Chrysler plant. Initially a manager for the hockey team and a pep squad member, The two informally agreed to marriage after his senior prom in June 1965, which was shortly followed by his graduation.

Romney attended Stanford University for a year. He became demoralized, and later recalled it as the only time in his life when "most of what I was trying to do was rejected."]] On June 16, 1968, Romney was involved in a serious automobile accident while driving fellow missionaries on dangerous roads in southern France. Trapped between the steering wheel and door, the unconscious and seriously injured Romney had to be pried from the car; a French police officer mistakenly wrote Il est mort in his passport. Romney had suffered broken ribs, a fractured arm, a concussion, and facial injuries, but recovered quickly without needing surgery. He was quite nervous that she had been wooed by others while he was away, and indeed she had dated others, but at their first meeting following his return they reconnected and agreed to get married as soon as possible. The following day the couple flew to Utah for a wedding ceremony at the Salt Lake Temple.

At the culturally conservative Brigham Young, Romney continued to be sheltered from much of the upheaval of the era, and did not join in the few protests against the war or against the LDS Church's policy against giving full membership to blacks.

The Romneys' first son, Tagg, was born in 1970 while both were undergraduates at Brigham Young, living in a $75-a-month basement apartment. They subsequently had Matt (born 1971), Josh (born 1975), Ben (born 1978) and Craig (born 1981).

Romney still wanted to pursue a business career, but his father, who by now was serving in President Richard Nixon's cabinet as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, recommended that a law degree would be valuable. Thus Romney became one of only 15 students to enroll at the recently-created joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration four-year program coordinated between Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. Fellow students noted Romney's strong work ethic and buttoned-down appearance;

Business career

Romney was heavily recruited and, after graduation, chose to remain in Massachusetts and go to work for Boston Consulting Group, thinking that working as a management consultant to a variety of companies would prepare him for a future job as a chief executive. With Bain & Company, Romney proved adept at learning the "Bain way", which consisted of immersing itself in each client's business, Bain and Romney spent a year raising the $37 million in investment money needed to start the new operation. Romney's cautious instincts were still in force at times; he wanted to drop a Bain Capital hedge fund that initially lost money, but other partners prevailed and it eventually gained billions. Of these, Romney later said, "Sometimes the medicine is a little bitter but it is necessary to save the life of the patient. My job was to try and make the enterprise successful, and in my view the best security a family can have is that the business they work for is strong." He turned Bain & Company over to new leadership and returned to Bain Capital in December 1992.

During his years in business, Romney tithed constantly, giving millions of dollars to the LDS Church. From 1986 to 1994 he presided over the Boston Stake, which included more than a dozen congregations in eastern Massachusetts.

Romney left Bain Capital in February 1999 to serve as the President and CEO of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee. Although gone, Romney received a passive profit share as a retired partner in some Bain Capital entities.

1994 U.S. senatorial campaign

Romney had been thinking about entering politics for a while. Romney changed his affiliation from Independent to Republican in October 1993 and formally announced his candidacy in February 1994. In the general election, Kennedy faced the first serious re-election challenger of his career in the young, telegenic, and very well-funded Romney. Romney ran as a fresh face, as a successful entrepreneur who stated he had created ten thousand jobs, and as a Washington outsider with a strong family image and moderate stands on social issues. Romney stated: "Ultimately, this is a campaign about change." After two decades out of public view, his father George re-emerged during the campaign as well.

Romney's campaign was effective in portraying Kennedy as soft on crime, but had trouble establishing its own positions in a consistent manner. By mid-September 1994, polls showed the race to be approximately even. Kennedy responded with a series of attack ads, which focused both on Romney's seemingly shifting political views on issues such as abortion and on the treatment of workers at a paper products plant owned by Romney's Bain Capital. Kennedy and Romney held a widely watched late October debate without a clear winner, but by then Kennedy had pulled ahead in polls and stayed ahead afterward. Romney spent over $7 million of his own money, with Kennedy spending more than $10 million from his campaign fund, mostly in the last weeks of the campaign (this was the second-most expensive race of the 1994 election cycle, after the Dianne Feinstein–Michael Huffington Senate race in California).

In the November general election, despite a disastrous showing for Democrats overall, Kennedy won the election with 58 percent of the vote to Romney's 41 percent, He had stepped down as Boston Stake president in order to run for the Senate, and while still teaching Sunday School, was largely uninvolved in the long and somewhat controversial construction of a Mormon temple in Belmont.

Before Romney came on, the event was running $379 million short of its revenue benchmarks. The Games had also been damaged by allegations of bribery involving top officials, including prior Salt Lake Olympic Committee president and CEO Frank Joklik. Joklik and committee vice president Dave Johnson were forced to resign. Romney's appointment faced some initial criticism from non-Mormons, and fears from Mormons, that it represented cronyism or gave the games too Mormon an image. He became the public face of the Olympic effort, appearing in countless photographs and news stories and even on Olympics souvenir pins. not counting the $224.5 million in security costs contributed by outside sources. Romney broke the record for most private money raised by any individual for an Olympics games, summer or winter.

Romney and his wife contributed $1 million to the Olympics, and he donated to charity the $1.4 million in salary and severance payments he received for his three years as president and CEO. He wrote a book about his experience titled . Romney was widely praised for his successful efforts with the 2002 Winter Olympics including by President George W. Bush, The role gave him experience in dealing with federal, state, and local entities, a public persona he had previously lacked, and the chance to re-launch his political aspirations. Prominent GOP activists campaigned to persuade Romney to run for governor. One poll taken at that time showed Republicans favoring Romney over Swift by more than 50 percentage points. In March 2002, Swift decided not to seek her party's nomination, and so Romney was unopposed in the Republican party primary.

Romney ran as a political outsider again. The campaign was the first to use microtargeting techniques, in which fine-grained groups of voters were reached with narrowly tailored messaging. Romney contributed over $6 million to his own campaign during the election, a state record at the time.

Tenure, 2003–2007

portrait of Governor Mitt Romney, by artist Richard Whitney]] Romney was sworn in as the 70th governor of Massachusetts on January 2, 2003. Both houses of the Massachusetts state legislature held large Democratic majorities. He picked his cabinet and advisors more on managerial abilities than partisan affiliation. Through a combination of spending cuts, increased fees, and removal of corporate tax loopholes, by 2006 the state had a $600–700 million surplus.

Romney supported raising various fees by more than $300 million, including those for driver's licenses, marriage licenses, and gun licenses. The cuts also included a $140 million reduction in state funding for higher education, which led state-run colleges and universities to increase tuition by 63 percent over four years.

The combined state and local fee burden in Massachusetts increased during Romney's governorship but still was below the national average. According to the Tax Foundation, that per capita burden was 9.8 percent in 2002 (below the national average of 10.3 percent), and 10.5 percent in 2006 (below the national average of 10.8 percent).

Romney was at the forefront of a movement to bring near-universal health insurance coverage to the state, after a business executive told him at the start of his term that doing so would be the best way he could help people. After positing that any measure adopted not raise taxes and not resemble the previous decade's failed "Hillarycare" proposal, Romney formed a team of the state's top experts that beginning in late 1994 came up with a set of proposals more innovative and ambitious than incremental ones from the Democratic legislature. gave Romney's plan a positive reception, which encouraged Democratic legislators to work with it. The bill also establishes means-tested state subsidies for people who do not have adequate employer insurance and who make below an income threshold, by using funds previously designated to compensate for the health costs of the uninsured. He vetoed eight sections of the health care legislation, including a controversial $295-per-employee assessment on businesses that do not offer health insurance and provisions guaranteeing dental benefits to Medicaid recipients. Romney said of the measure overall, "There really wasn't Republican or Democrat in this. People ask me if this is conservative or liberal, and my answer is yes. It's liberal in the sense that we're getting our citizens health insurance. It's conservative in that we're not getting a government takeover."

At the beginning of his governorship, Romney opposed same-sex marriage and civil unions, but advocated tolerance and supported some domestic partnership benefits. In May 2004 Romney instructed town clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but citing a 1913 law that barred out-of-state residents from getting married in Massachusetts if their union would be illegal in their home state, no marriage licenses were to be issued to out-of-state same-sex couples not planning to move to Massachusetts. Romney's position on some other social issues, such as abortion rights, abstinence-only sex education, and therapeutic cloning, also evolved into a more conservative stance during his time as governor. Given a prime-time appearance at the 2004 Republican National Convention, Romney was already being discussed as a potential 2008 presidential candidate. Midway through his term, Romney decided that he wanted to stage a full-time run for president, and on December 14, 2005, Romney announced that he would not seek re-election for a second term as governor. As chair of the Republican Governors Association, Romney traveled around the country, meeting prominent Republicans and building a national political network; Romney's frequent out-of-state travel contributed towards declining his approval rating declining in public polls towards the end of his term. The weak condition of the Republican state party was one of several factors that led to Democrat Deval Patrick's lopsided win over Republican Kerry Healey in the 2006 Massachusetts gubernatorial election. Romney's term ended January 4, 2007.

2008 presidential campaign

, Iowa, in May 2007]] Romney formally announced his candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination for president on February 13, 2007, at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. In his speech, Romney frequently invoked his father and his own family and stressed experiences in the private, public, and voluntary sectors that had brought him to this point. He said, "Throughout my life, I have pursued innovation and transformation,"

The assets that Romney's campaign began with included his résumé of success in the business world and his rescuing of the Salt Lake Olympics, Romney also had solid political experience as governor together with a political pedigree courtesy of his father, a strong work ethic and energy level, and a large, wholesome-looking family that seemed so perfect as to be off-putting to some voters. was in remission and would be an active participant in his campaign, helping to soften his image. Romney's liabilities included having run for senator and served as governor in one of the nation's most liberal states, having taken some positions there that were opposed by the party's conservative base, and subsequently shifting those positions. polls indicated that about a quarter of Republican voters, and a quarter of voters overall, said they were less likely to vote for a candidate who was a Mormon. He proved the most effective fundraiser of any of the Republican candidates, with his Olympics ties helping him with fundraising from Utah residents and from sponsors and trustees of the games. Romney's staff suffered from internal strife and the candidate himself was indecisive at times, constantly asking for more data before making a decision. Persistent questions about the role of religion in Romney's life, as well as Southern Baptist minister and former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee's rise in the polls based upon an explicitly Christian-themed campaign, led to the December 6, 2007, "Faith in America" speech. and echoed Senator's John F. Kennedy's famous speech during his 1960 presidential campaign in saying "I will put no doctrine of any church above the plain duties of the office and the sovereign authority of the law." Romney largely avoided discussing the specific tenets of his faith, instead stressing that he would be informed by it and that, "Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone." Of the 60 percent of caucus-goers who were evangelical Christians, Huckabee was supported by about half of them while Romney by only a fifth. A couple of days later, Romney won the lightly-contested Wyoming Republican caucuses. At a Saint Anselm College debate, Huckabee and McCain pounded away at Romney's image as a flip flopper. (Romney's staff would conclude that competing as a candidate of social conservatism and ideological purity rather than of pragmatic competence had been a mistake. On January 19, Romney won the lightly-contested Nevada caucuses, but placed fourth in the intense South Carolina primary, where he had effectively ceded the contest to his rivals. McCain gained further momentum with his win in South Carolina, leading to a showdown between him and Romney in the Florida primary.

For ten days, Romney campaigned intensively on economic issues and the burgeoning subprime mortgage crisis, while McCain repeatedly and inaccurately asserted that Romney favored a premature withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. McCain won key last-minute endorsements from Florida Senator Mel Martinez and Governor Charlie Crist, which helped push him to a five percentage point victory on January 29. Trailing McCain in delegates by a more than two-to-one margin, Romney announced the end of his campaign on February 7 during a speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. received about 4.7 million total votes, and garnered about 280 delegates.

Romney endorsed McCain for president a week later. He soon founded the Free and Strong America PAC, a political action committee whose stated mission was to raise money for other Republican candidates and to promote Republican policies. His efforts earned McCain's respect and the two developed a warmer relationship; he was on the nominee's short list for the vice presidential running mate slot, where his experience in matters economic would have balanced one of McCain's weaknesses. McCain, behind in the polls, opted instead for a high-risk, high-reward "game changer" and selected Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin. Romney continued to work for McCain's eventually unsuccessful general election campaign.

Activities after 2008

Following the election, Romney paved the way for a possible 2012 presidential campaign by keeping much of his PAC's money to pay for salaries and consulting fees for his existing political staff and to build up a political infrastructure for what might become a $1 billion campaign three years hence. He continued to give speeches and raise campaign funds on behalf of fellow Republicans, but turned down many potential media appearances so as not to become overexposed. Both locations were near some of the Romneys' grandchildren, The San Diego location was also ideal for Ann Romney's multiple sclerosis therapies and for recovering from her late 2008 diagnosis and lumpectomy for mammary ductal carcinoma in situ. Romney maintained his voting registration in Massachusetts, however, and bought a smaller condominium in Belmont during 2010. Following the August 2009 death of his past rival and sometime ally Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Romney declared that he had no interest in running in the special January 2010 election to replace him. Romney was an early supporter of Scott Brown, the successful Republican candidate in that race. Some of Romney's former aides were used by Brown's campaign and Romney raised funds for Brown. In February 2010, Romney had a minor altercation with LMFAO musical group member Skyler Gordy, known as Sky Blu, on an airplane flight.

Romney's book, , was released on March 2, 2010; an 18-state promotional book tour was undertaken. The book, which debuted atop the New York Times Best Seller list, avoided anecdotes about Romney's personal or political life and focused much of its attention on a substantive presentation of his views on economic and geopolitical matters. Immediately following the passage the same month of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Romney attacked the landmark legislation as "an unconscionable abuse of power" and said the act should be repealed. The hostile attention it held among Republicans created a potential problem for the former governor, since the new federal law was in many ways similar to the Massachusetts health care reform passed during Romney's term; as one Associated Press article stated, "Obamacare ... looks a lot like Romneycare."

Polls of various kinds showed Romney remaining in the forefront of possible 2012 presidential contenders. In nationwide opinion polling for the 2012 Republican Presidential primaries, he has often led polls or been in the top three along with Palin and Huckabee. He finished first in the CPAC straw poll in 2009 and second in 2010, and won the Southern Republican Leadership Conference straw poll in 2010. A January 2010 National Journal poll of political insiders found that a majority of Republican insiders, and a plurality of Democratic insiders, predicted Romney would become the party's 2012 nominee. Pew Research Center and Gallup Poll results showed that during 2009 and 2010, more in the general public were viewing him favorably (36 to 40 percent) than unfavorably (28 to 29 percent); this was a marked improvement from the days of his 2008 presidential campaign, when the reverse had been true. Romney also stood to possibly gain from the Republican electorate's tendency to nominate candidates who had previously run for president and were "next in line" to be chosen.

Romney campaigned heavily for Republican candidates around the nation in the 2010 midterm elections, and raised the most funds of any of the prospective 2012 Republican presidential candidates.

Public image

Mitt Romney is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, colloquially known as the Mormon church. Romney has avoided speaking publicly about specific church doctrines, and pointed out that the U.S. Constitution prohibits religious tests for public office.

Political positions

For much of his business career, Romney had no tangible record of political positions taken. Until his 1994 U.S. Senate campaign, he was registered as an Independent.

As a candidate for, and then as, Governor of Massachusetts, Romney at first again generally operated in the mold established by Weld and followed by Weld's two other Republican successors, Paul Cellucci and Swift: restrain spending and taxing, be tolerant on social issues, protect the environment, be tough on crime, try to appear post-partisan. one particular difference is that while George was willing to defy political trends, Mitt has been much more willing to adapt to them. Journalist and author Daniel Gross sees Romney as approaching politics in the same terms as a business competing in markets, in that successful executives do not hold firm to public stances over long periods of time, but rather constantly devise new strategies and plans to deal with new geographical regions and ever-changing market conditions.

Indeed, throughout his business, Olympics, and political career, Romney's instinct has been to apply the "Bain way" towards problems. Romney's technocratic instincts have thus always been with him; in his public appearances during the 2002 gubernatorial campaign he sometimes gave PowerPoint presentations rather than conventional speeches. Upon taking office he became, in the words of The Boston Globe, "the state's first self-styled CEO governor."

Electoral history

Awards and honors

Romney received an honorary degree from the University of Utah in 1999, an honorary doctor of law degree from Bentley College in 2002, an honorary doctor of public administration degree from Suffolk University Law School in 2004, and an honorary degree from Hillsdale College in 2007.

People magazine included Romney in its 50 Most Beautiful People list for 2002. In 2004, Romney received the inaugural Truce Ideal Award for his role in the 2002 Winter Olympics. In 2008, he shared with his wife Ann the Canterbury Medal from The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, for "refus[ing] to compromise their principles and faith" during the presidential campaign.

See also

Presidents and Prophets: the Story of America’s Presidents and the LDS Church

List of JD/MBAs

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

;Official

Mitt Romney's Free And Strong America PAC

;Databases

NewsMeat - Campaign Contributions Made by Mitt Romney

OpenSecrets.org - Mitt Romney campaign contributions

;Biographical

Press releases as Governor of Massachusetts 2003–2007

Boston Globe special series on Romney

Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century Mormon missionaries Category:American chief executives Category:American Latter Day Saints Category:American Mormon missionaries Category:American people of Canadian descent Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:American political writers Category:Bain Capital Category:Bishops of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Category:Boston Consulting Group people Category:Businesspeople from Massachusetts Category:Brigham Young University alumni Category:Cranbrook alumni Category:Governors of Massachusetts Category:Harvard Business School alumni Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Management consultants Category:Massachusetts Republicans Category:Michigan Republicans Category:Mormon missionaries in France Category:People from Belmont, Massachusetts Category:People from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Category:People from Detroit, Michigan Category:Pratt–Romney family Category:Private equity and venture capital investors Category:Stake presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Category:Stanford University alumni Category:United States presidential candidates, 2008 Category:Writers from Massachusetts

Name	Anna VissiΆννα Βίσση
Background	solo_singer
Alias	Anna Vishy
Born	December 20, 1957Pyla, Larnaca, Cyprus
Origin	Athens, Greece
Instrument	Vocals
Genre	Contemporary laika, laika, folk, pop, dance
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, composer, actress
Voice type	Mezzo-soprano
Years active	1973–present
Label	Minos (1970-1978),Columbia Graphophone Company (1978-1984), CarVi (1982), Sony Music Entertainment Greece (1984-present),Vanilla/Moda (2005)
Associated acts	Epikouri, Nikos Karvelas
Url	www.annavissi.net www.annavissilive.com

Anna Vissi (; born December 20, 1957), known as Anna Vishy in Cypriot Greek, is a Cypriot–Greek singer, songwriter and actress, known mainly in Greece and her native country of Cyprus, with some international success within Europe, the United States and elsewhere. In the 1980s, Vissi began an exclusive collaboration with Nikos Karvelas, resulting in one of the most successful music partnerships in the nation's history.

From 1995 to 2009, Vissi received 30 Platinum certifications in Greece and has become one of the country's best-selling female artists, having sold over 9.5 million records worldwide. Her album Kravgi still remains one of the best-selling albums of the 2000s, and one of the best-selling albums of all time, while two others —Travma and Antidoto— are also among the best-selling. She also had some success in the United States, reaching number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart with "Call Me". In 2010, Alpha TV ranked Vissi as the second top-certified female artist in Greece in the phonographic era (since 1960). Forbes listed Vissi as the 15th most powerful and influential celebrity in Greece and third highest ranked singer.

Biography

Childhood and origins

Anna Vissi was born on December 20, 1957, 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 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.

1980–1982: Eurovision Song Contest, third and forth album

In 1980, Vissi participated in the 25th Eurovision Song Contest representing Greece with the song Autostop ("Hitch-Hike"), finishing 13th with 30 points. The juridicial conflict between Vissi and the production company appeared to come to an end when the Court of Appeal of Athens led to the final compromise of the two sides to the sum of 400.000 Euros. A sum that the singer would supposed to pay in the company against the initial sum of 2,3 millions of Euros. Ultimately Vissi was vendicated and the decision of Supreme Court ruled that 400.000 Euros was a lot more from the amount that Vissi should actually pay and decided to give the half amount of money. One year later she did a concert in Cyprus, supporting the defenses of the island.

1996–1998: Klima Tropiko, Travma, and Antidoto

In February 1996, Vissi released the triple-platinum album Klima Tropiko. The album featured a new sound for Anna Vissi. It has sold 105 thousand copies as of 2009. After giving more than 40 concerts all over Greece, she started winter appearances at club "Chaos". In February 1997, Vissi won three Greek Music Awards: Best Female Singer, Best Interpretation, and Biggest Airplay Song.

For the winter of 1997-1998, Vissi made appearances at club Gazi. On New Year's Eve, by invitation of the Mayor of Athens, she performed in the Parliament Square in front of more than 20,000 people, an event which was broadcast on TV all over Greece and Cyprus. In March 1998, Vissi broke a record, winning seven Greek Music Awards for her album Travma.

A couple of months later, a new CD single was released with the songs "Crush", "Mavra Gyalia" and "Eleni", as well as a re-release of her multi-platinum album Travma, with a bonus CD containing songs from previous albums, only in Australia.

performing at Asteria in 1998.]] In April 1998, Vissi released her album titled Antidoto, which sold more than 80,000 copies in just a week, breaking all previous records to that point.

On May 13, 2000, she performed as a special guest star in her native Cyprus, at the 49th annual Miss Universe Pageant which took place at the Eleftheria Stadium in Nicosia. She sang for the very first time her song "On a Night Like This", It became triple platinum and finally settled at four-times platinum. It contained twelve songs by Russ Ballard, Mark Taylor, Graham Stack, Steve Torch, Paul Stanley, Tina Shafer, Julian Harris, Danielle Gerber and Nikos Karvelas. Producers of the album were Brian Rawling, Ric Wake and Peter Asher. with little success.

In November 2000, Kravgi was released. It was a double album with 24 new songs and included a duet with Katy Garbi. It reached 3× platinum status in one month, setting a record, and eventually went 7× platinum and having sold 175 thousand copies (350 thousand units) as of 2009, It is the top-certified album of the 2000s and stands as either the best selling or second best selling album of the decade, due to there being no public consensus between 170–200 thousand copies (340–400 thousand units) of Despina Vandi's Gia. while she accepted the invitation of the Mayor of Athens to perform in the Parliament Square, at the celebrations of the 2001 New Year's Eve.

Just before Easter, a second single off her international album was released. It was called "Still in Love with You" and contained remixes (Radio Edit, Soda Club Radio Mix, Soda Club Mix, Soda Club TV Track), with production by Brian Rawling.

On June 6, 2001, she was the main singer in a production in Bucharest (Unirii square, nearby river Dambovitei) along with the No Smoking band and the cinema director and producer Emir Kusturica. The concert (2001, Peace Odyssey) included a multimedia show, opening with a water screen. More than 150,000 people were present. Kusturica along with producer and director Angelos Hadjiandreou undertook the artistic direction of the event, marrying music with the most modern expression of art.

Three months later, on September 5, 2001, she gave a concert in Cyprus (GSP Stadium), singing in front of more than 18,000 viewers, for more than three hours where she was awarded for the seven-times platinum Kravgi.

2002–2004: Mala, X, and Paraksenes Eikones

.]] In early 2002, Vissi starred in the musical Mala - I Mousiki Tou Anemou, based on a true love story that took place during World War II in Auschwitz, between Mala Zimetbaum and Edward Galiñski., reaching gold status in Greece and platinum in Cyprus Shortly after, the album was featured on CNN's Music Room, where they talked about how the album reached number one in Greece. The album quickly reached number one on the IFPI charts, and was certified 2x platinum. In the winter of 2002-2003, she was working at "Fever" club in Athens, performing with Yiannis Parios.

In May 2003, Vissi performed with Nikos Karvelas and Irini Merkouri at "Boom" in Thessaloniki, Greece. On July 15, 2003, Vissi gave a concert at "A Plaz Voulas/Apollonies Aktes", with special guest star Nikos Karvelas.

In September 2003, Vissi gave another concert in Cyprus, at the Tzirion Stadium in Limassol, to celebrate her 30-year old career. At the same year, she was awarded with a prize for her whole contribution from the Cyprus Paralympic Organization, while a square in Larnaca was named after her. She also met and talked with the president of the Republic of Cyprus, in the Presidential Palace, in Nicosia.

Just before 2004, on December 5, 2003, Vissi released the double album Paraksenes Eikones which went 2x platinum in six months. This was Vissi's first album since 1981's Anna Vissi that included songs written by other composers besides Nikos Karvelas. The album produced many hits. To promote the album, she started appearing at "Diogenis Studio" for the winter season 2003-2004, with Konstantinos Christoforou, Nino and girl band Hi-5. with Labis Livieratos (with whom she collaborated in the early '90s), while in July, her album Paraksenes Eikones was re-released with a bonus CD single called Remixes 2004, which went gold.

On August 29, 2004, Vissi performed at the closing ceremony of the XXVIII Olympiad, in Athens. She then gave a concert in Cyprus on September 3, at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia, where she sang for the first time her new English song called "Call Me". , part of her promotional tour for "Call Me".]]

On December 20, 2004, Vissi released a live album and DVD, It sold 40 thousand copies. Vissi then performed at the legendary Copacabana in New York for the KTU PartyGras. During the winter and through to the summer of 2005, she went around to clubs as part of her Mini-U.S.A. Tour to promote "Call Me". Some of the clubs included "Central", "Mirage", "DNA", "The Sound Garden" and "Studio 9".

In July 2005, Vissi returned to Greece and released "Call Me" as a CD single by Sony BMG, along with a new English-language song titled "Lie". The single reached number one on the IFPI singles charts and achieved gold certification. In that same month, Vissi started recording her new Greek album. In August 2005, Anna took to the stage of the "Coca-Cola Sound-Wave", which was held in Mykonos. There she sang her new English song Lie and surprised fans and media by appearing on stage with half her head shaved. The album went platinum within 24 hours of its release and peaked at number one on the IFPI Greek Top 50 albums chart, selling 40 thousand copies. The dual disc version featured special footage from her and Nikos Karvelas in the studio. In the album, there is a song featuring the lead singer of the Greek hip-hop band Goin' Through called Erota I Polemo ("Love or War"). On November 24, 2005, Vissi started performances at "Votanikos" club in Athens, Greece with Goin' Through, Dimitris Korgialas and Despina Olympiou, which lasted until March 2006.

2006–2007: Eurovision Song Contest and World Tour

Greek national broadcaster ERT chose Vissi to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. There were four candidate songs, which she sang during a song selection show on March 14, 2006 at "Votanikos" club. The Greek viewers used televote and SMS messages along with a panel of judges to choose the song Vissi would sing in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. Two of the competing songs, were composed by Nikos Karvelas, namely "Everything" and "Who Cares about Love", with Vissi herself penning the lyrics to "Everything". The third song, "A Beautiful Night", was written by composing group Pigassos, while the last song, "Welcome to the Party", was written by Greek composer Dimitris Kontopoulos. "Everything" was selected as the entry song of Greece, winning 47,79% of the votes. The day after the final, Vissi filmed the song's music video. Her previous record label, Minos EMI, released a CD single of her two prior Eurovision entries "Autostop" and "Mono I Agapi", shortly after.

After the filming of the song's music video was completed, Vissi embarked on a promotional tour across Europe starting on April 12, 2006 with Russia. Euro Edition also contains the three other Greek Eurovision Preselection songs: "Beautiful Night", "Who Cares About Love" and "Welcome to the Party", which has entered the playlist of American satellite radio station "Sirius Beat".

During the contest, Vissi performed in the 16th spot of the night and appeared alone on stage, wearing a Jean-Paul Gaultier outfit. Although she had been one of the favorites during the pre-contest period, she only managed to get 9th place with 128 points (hers was one of the two pre-qualified entries to finish in the top 10, the other being Romania). The other eight songs were all qualified from the semi-final. Finland won the contest with the rock band Lordi and their song Hard Rock Hallelujah. In interviews prior to the contest, she had stated that if there was anyone she would like to lose to, it would be the Finnish entry. Lordi had also expressed their liking of the Greek song in interviews, too.

Following the contest, "Everything" was released in Finland on May 24, 2006, by Sony BMG Finland. It had already been released in Sweden and it peaked at 24. It featured a different cover, than the original single. The dual disc version of Nylon was also re-released with the Eurovision single. Vissi gave a concert at London's Royal Albert Hall on May 27, 2006. The tour was called The Best of Anna Vissi 2006 and was covered by Alpha TV.

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.

In the beginning of 2007, Vissi moved to Los Angeles, United States to start work on an English album. In February 2007, she accompanied longtime friend Patricia Field to the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, California, United States.

in 2007.]]

Vissi also embarked on a world tour in January 2007. She traveled to Australia with Konstantinos Christoforou and had three concerts in Melbourne and Sydney, and from April 10, 2007 through May 1, 2007, she toured North America. Along with Takis Zacharatos, she performed in Chicago, New York City, Atlantic City, Connecticut (Foxwoods), Los Angeles, Montreal, and Toronto. Vissi continued her tour in October 2007 with a European mini-tour. The concerts included Amsterdam and Brussels with her concert in Paris being cancelled without an explanation. During the tour, she stated that she was only half way through her world tour.

In September 2007, Sony BMG released a compilation titled The Essential Anna Vissi in select markets. The album contains seventeen tracks, including some of Vissi's biggest hits. It also includes the previously leaked, but unofficially released English song Is it Safe?.

In November 2007, she held a special charity concert in London for the "Oinoussian Benevolent Fund". It was held at the "Royal Opera House" in Covent Garden with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and she raised £250,000, excluding the entrance tickets costing £200.

2008–2009: Apagorevmeno, re-release and The Fabulous Show

On New Year's Day, Vissi kicked off the new year by holding a big concert in Larnaca, Cyprus. Vissi spent a large portion of 2007 and 2008 recording her new English album. In an interview with fans, Vissi talked about the album, describing it as “a rock album with unbelievably nice songs, that some of the biggest people in the U.S.A. music industry worked on. It is an album that could only be made in the U.S.A., that represents who I am, and I believe that this album will be a big plus in my career so far.” It was revealed that the album will be released in the first half of 2009. In April 2008, MAD TV hosted a competition for its "Greek Week" in which visitors to their website were able to vote for their ten favorite Greek music videos, with the winners being showcased in a special "Greek Top 30 Countdown" on April 20. Vissi was the most nominated artist with thirteen music videos, and managed to secure the number one position with Treno, while Agapi Ipervoliki came in at number four when the top 30 were announced.

On June 28, 2008, Vissi posted the song "Diri Dakta", that had been recorded previously, on her official MySpace profile for her fans; the song did not appear on her new album. Later in the year, on October 4, 2008, Vissi held a charity gala at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

A bonus track from the Greek album was released on October 29, 2008, along with its music video. The song, titled To Parelthon Mou ("My Past"), is the title track to the Greek film Bank Bang, released in December 2008. The music video for the song was filmed on October 22, 2008, at The Mall Athens. It was the first album since 1983 not to include any songs and, generally, any input by Nikos Karvelas. The reason she gave for this in an interview with "Down Town" magazine was that the two had got tired of each other, but clarified that this did not rule out a collaboration in the future. The album was certified gold in the first week of release, and reached number one on its second week on the charts before settling at 2x platinum status. As of April 2009, the album has sold 27 thousand copies. Although this was partially due to hardships faced by the Greek music industry including piracy, the financial crisis, and changing musical tastes, leading to a general decline of the laiko-pop scene and image-based singers.

Vissi had originally planned to start appearances at "Athinon Arena" in February 2009, as part of her comeback and for promotion of the new album, however, she decided to hold a big concert in Athens during the summer, instead, while she did not rule out a summer tour around Greece. The tour began in July 2009 and all appearances were sold-out throughout Greece. The tour ended with a concert at GSP Stadium in Nicosia, Cyprus, on September 25, 2009; overall, the tour was a success for Vissi, who had not performed for the Greek audience in four years.

On November 16, 2009, Apagorevmeno was re-released as Apagorevmeno+ with 3 new songs and two remixes in special ecological packaging. Vissi started appearances at "Athinon Arena" on November 6, 2009 with Greek band Ble, Yiorgos Sambanis, Mario, Vera Boufi, Elissavet Spanou, Michalis Zeis and DJ Dim Trik. The show was named "The Fabulous Show", after her then-latest single, Fabulous, which was included in Apagorevmeno+. The show marked the big comeback of Anna Vissi in the nightlife of Athens after four years of absence and received great reviews. Vissi was on stage for almost 4 hours every Friday and Sunday until closing night on March 20, 2010 in a fully crowded Athinon Arena. After the successful run in Athens the show moved to Thessaloniki on April 3, 2010 with spectacular attendance.

2010–present: English album, Project: Anna Vissi, Agapi Einai Esi and Face2Face Show

Vissi has recorded a new English-language album in Los Angeles, California with a tentative 2010 release date. Some of the songwriters include Dave Stewart, Glen Ballard, Patrick Leonard and Brian Howes. It was scheduled to be released in the second half of 2009., The documentary will air on Alpha TV in Spring 2011 under the title Project: Anna Vissi. But in a turn of events the album finally was entirely composed by Nikos Karvelas. The first single of the upcoming album, titled Agapi Einai Esi was released on October 9, 2010. The music and lyrics are by Nikos Karvelas, the song being their first collaboration in four years. On October 24, 2010, Vissi released a three-track CD single titled Agapi Einai Esi packaged with newspaper "Real News" nationwide. On December 8, Vissi announced during an interview in Love Radio Athens, that her new album will be titled Agapi Einai Esi. The album was released on December 19 with Real News newspaper featuring the three songs from Agapi Einai Esi maxi-single, plus 7 more songs all written by Nikos Karvelas.

Currently, Vissi is appearing with Sakis Rouvas in a concert series at "Athinon Arena" in a show titled "Face2Face" for the winter season 2010-2011. This will be their first appearance and collaboration together since they both appeared together at club "Chaos" in 1996.

Discography

Studio albums

As Kanoume Apopse Mian Arhi (1977)

Kitrino Galazio (1979)

Nai (1980)

Anna Vissi (1981)

Eimai To Simera Kai Eisai To Hthes (1982)

Na 'Hes Kardia (1984)

Kati Simveni (1985)

I Epomeni Kinisi (1986)

Tora (1987)

Empnefsi! (1988)

Fotia (1989)

Eimai (1990)

Emeis (1992)

Lambo (1992)

Re! (1994)

O! Kypros (1995)

Klima Tropiko (1996)

Travma (1998)

Antidoto (1998)

Everything I Am (2000)

Kravgi (2000)

X (2002)

Paraksenes Eikones (2003)

Nylon (2005)

Apagorevmeno (2008)

Agapi Einai Esi (2010)

Live albums

Live! (1993)

Live (2004)

Filmography

{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 90%;" ! colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | Television |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes and Awards |- | 1994 | Me Agapi, Anna (With Love, Anna)
| Herself/Host | Variety show |- ! colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | Theater |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes and Awards |- | 1991 | Daimones(Demons)
| Queen/Rozanne | First Greek Rock Opera |- | 1993 | Ode To The Gods | Aphrodite | One Act Opera |- | 2002 | Mala - I Mousiki Tou Anemou(Mala - The Music Of The Wind)
| Mala Zimetbaum | |}

Tours

20 Years Live Tour (1993)

Klima Tropiko Tour (1996)

Travma World Tour (1997)

World Tour (1998–1999)

Kravgi Australian Tour (2002)

2004 World Tour (2004)

Best Of Anna Vissi Tour (2006)

2007 World Tour (2007)

Apagorevmeno Summer Tour (2009)

Awards

See also

List of Greeks

List of Cypriots

List of number-one dance hits (United States)

List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References

External links

Official Website

Official Website run by Anna Vissi

Sony Music artist profile

Category:1957 births Category:Anna Vissi Category:Arion Music Awards winners Category:Cypriot actors Category:Cypriot composers Category:Cypriot Eurovision Song Contest entrants Category:Cypriot female singers Category:Cypriot pop singers Category:Cypriot songwriters Category:English-language singers Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1980 Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1982 Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2006 Category:Greek Cypriot people Category:Greek dance musicians Category:Greek Eurovision Song Contest entrants Category:Greek Pop Corn Music Awards winners Category:People from Larnaca Category:Living people Category:MAD Video Music Awards winners Category:Modern Greek-language singers Category:Sony Music Greece artists Category:Thessaloniki Song Festival winners