Anna Vissi (, , ; born 20 December 1957) is a Greek-Cypriot singer. She studied music at conservatories and performed locally before moving to the professional scene in Athens, in 1973, where she signed with Minos and simultaneously collaborated with other musical artists and released promotional singles of her own while studying at the University of Athens. She has represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980 and 2006, and Cyprus in 1982.
Vissi established herself in the recording industry by winning the Thessaloniki Song Festival in 1977 with the song "As Kanoume Apopse Mian Arhi" and releasing the eponymous debut album. Since the 1980s, Vissi began a nearly exclusive collaboration with songwriter Nikos Karvelas, to whom she was married from 1983 to 1992 and had one child with, resulting in one of the most successful music partnerships in the nation's history. Together they created the label CarVi, which resulted in legal issues with EMI Greece, and they then moved to CBS Records Greece, which later became Sony Music Greece.
Over the course of her career she has released over two dozen albums, most of which have been certified at least gold in the two countries and has also starred in three theatrical productions and briefly ventured into television and radio. Vissi experimented with different styles of music; after becoming one of the first Greek artists to introduce Western pop and dance elements into Greek laïko and entehno, she became one of the most prominent portrayers of the laïko-pop hybrid genre and culture that was thriving from the mid-1990s into the mid-2000s. She landed her biggest commercial success with Fotia (1989), followed by the double Kravgi (2000), which became the eighth best-selling album of all time in terms of units, while five others – Kitrino Galazio (1979), I Epomeni Kinisi (1985), Klima Tropiko (1996), Travma (1997), and Antidoto (1998) – have also achieved six figure sales.
She has a large number of successful singles most of which have become classics, including "Inai Kati Stigmes", "Tha Borousa", "Dodeka", "Methismeni Politia", "Oso Exo Foni", "Pragmata", "Agapi Ipervoliki", "Psihedelia", "Ta Mathitika Hronia", "Treno", "Stin Pira", "Atmosfaira Ilektrismeni", "Gkazi" and many many more. Through the years she kept a strong fan base, sold-out tours and shows (as was her latest shows in Rex in winter 2011–12 and Hotel Ermou 2015–2016 which was the most successful of the year).
Since the late 1990s, Vissi has also made attempts at establishing a career abroad, most of which fell through and have had some negative repercussions on her career in Cyprus and Greece. However, she struck some success with her 2005 single "Call Me", which made her the first Greek or Cypriot artist to top the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart.
Vissi has won six Arion Music Awards, 15 Pop Corn Music Awards, and nine MAD Video Music Awards. Vissi has received 37 Platinum and 16 Gold certifications from IFPI Greece and has become the country's best-selling artists of all time, having sold over 30 million records worldwide and is one of the country's top earning artists. Alpha TV ranked Vissi as the second top-certified female artist in Greece in the phonographic era (since 1960), behind Haris Alexiou,Chart Show: Your Countdown. Alpha TV. Airdate: 22 March 2010. while Forbes listed her as the 15th most powerful and influential celebrity in Greece and fourth highest ranked singer.
Biography Early life Anna Vissi was born on 20 December 1957 in Larnaca. She began singing from a very early age, starting her 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, 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. Her first important collaboration, alongside George Dalaras, was with composer Stavros Koujioumtzis. Koujioumtzis composed two songs for Vissi, "S' Agapo" ("I Love You") and "Sta Hronia tis Ipomonis" ("In The Years of Patience"). 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).
Career beginnings In 1977, she went on tour with George Dalaras and Haris Alexiou, giving concerts with the most notable at the Rainbow, London (June). In the same year, she released her first studio album named As Kanoume Apopse Mian Arhi and won the prize for best singer and best song ("As Kanoume Apopse Mian 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 candidate songs: "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. Her second album Kitrino Galazio was released in 1979 and produced the hit "Aftos Pou Perimeno" ("The one I'm waiting for"). The album reached platinum status and became the best-selling record of the year in Greece.
1980–1982: Eurovision Song Contest and album releases
In 1980, Vissi participated in the 25th Eurovision Song Contest representing Greece with the song "Autostop" ("Hitch-Hike"), finishing 13th with 30 points. In the same year she released her third album Nai ("Yes") reaching gold status with 50,000 units sold. The album produced the hits "Oso Eho Foni" ("As long as I have my voice") and "Methysmeni Politeia" ("Drunken state"). One year later her fourth, self-titled album Anna Vissi was released, reaching gold status. In 1982, she represented her native Cyprus at the 27th Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Mono i agapi" ("Only love"), which ended fifth with 85 points scoring Cyprus its second highest position to date. The English version of "Mono i agapi", released as a 7-inch single in 1982, titled "Love Is A Lonely Weekend" and its B-side "I'm Gonna Be A Fool for You" remain unreleased on CD. The same year in December she released her limited run fifth studio album Eimai To Simera Kai Eisai To Chthes by the short-lived record label Vissi and Nikos Karvelas formed for the release known as CarVi, whose name was a combination of their last names.
1983–1989: Collaboration with Nikos Karvelas In May 1983, she married Nikos Karvelas, a composer and law graduate, with whom she collaborated in 1975and in November she gave birth to her daughter Sofia. After their marriage, she started a close collaboration with Karvelas. Since 1975, all her releases have become gold or platinum and have included songs by Karvelas. In 1986, she participated at the Cypriot National Final for Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Thelo Na Gino Star" ("I Want To Be A Star"), taking second place.
In 1984, Vissi left EMI Greece and signed with CBS Records Greece, which later became Sony Music Greece, a collaboration that lasted until 2013. In March 1984, she released Na 'Hes Kardia (If You Had a Heart). The album was certified gold. The following year her seventh album Kati Simveni ("Something Is Happening") was released which included one of her most famous songs, titled "Dodeka" ("Twelve (O'Clock)") and reached gold status selling 80.000 units. In 1986 I Epomeni Kinisi (The Next Move) was released. The album included the hit "Pragmata" ("Things") and went platinum, becoming the best selling record of the year. In February 1988, she released her ninth album Tora (Now) and in December the album Empnefsi! (Inspiration!) which went gold.
In 1988, she made her debut as a radio producer on ANT1 Radio. Her radio program was titled after one of her songs "Ta Koritsia Einai Atakta" ("Girls Are Naughty") and was aired every weekend. In the same year, she participated with the song "Klaio" ("I'm Crying") at the Greek National Final for Eurovision Song Contest, finishing third. In 1989, she released the successful studio album Fotia (Fire), being one of the first albums to feature western sounds. The lead single "Pseftika" ("Fake") became a hit and the album reached platinum status, selling 180.000 copies and becoming the second best selling record of 1990. She performed at Diogenis Palace in that same year, Athens's biggest nightclub/music hall at the time.
1990–1995: Theatrical work and television
In the early 1990s, she continued performing around Greece with Nikos Karvelas, with appearances at "Diogenis Palace" and then at "Rex". In November 1991, Vissi and Karvelas starred in the first Greek rock opera, Daimones ("Demons"). Vissi described it as an "artistic achievement" in her career; however, the play received mostly negative reviews from professional critics and contributed to the relatively unsuccessful period Vissi faced in the early 1990s. A year later, in October 1993, Vissi landed the leading role of Aphrodite, in the one-act opera Ode to the Gods by Stavros Sideras. It was held only once in Limassol, Cyprus, during the celebrations for the Commonwealth Day. Over the following years, Karvelas and Vissi released the albums Lambo (1992), Emeis (1992), Live! (1993), Re! (1994), and O! Kypros (1995), an album with traditional Cypriot songs.
In 1994, she was the hostess on the ANT1 weekly TV show Me Agapi, Anna. The show was cancelled and in 2008 the production company filed a lawsuit against Vissi claiming "unprofessional behavior of the singer" because the agreement was for 40 episodes and Vissi dropped out after 10 episodes. The legal 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. A sum that the singer would supposed to pay in the company against the initial sum of 2.3 million Euros. Vissi was vindicated by the decision of Supreme Court that halved the €400,000 that Vissi was ultimately required to pay.
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.
In April 1997, Vissi released Travma which went gold in twelve days and triple platinum in six months, eventually selling 170 thousand copies.
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.
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. The album eventually achieved triple platinum status, having sold 130 thousand copies as of 2009. During the summer of 1998, Vissi presented a show at club "Asteria".