Anna Vissi

Name	Anna Vissi Άννα Βίσση
Background	solo_singer
Alias	Anna Vishy
Born	December 20, 1957 Pyla, 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