Elena Paparizou (Greek: Έλενα Παπαρίζου; born January 31, 1982) is a Greek singer, born and raised in Sweden. She is best known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 for Greece with the song My Number One.
| Elena Paparizou | |
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Elena Paparizou in Montréal 2005 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Elena Paparizou |
| Also known as | Helena Paparizou |
| Born | January 31, 1982 Borås, Västergötland, Sweden |
| Origin | Greece |
| Genre(s) | Modern laika, pop, dance |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Label(s) | Sony BMG, Bonnier, Moda |
| Associated acts | Antique |
| Website | helenapaparizou.com |
Biography
[edit] Early life
Elena Paparizou was born on January 31, 1982 in Borås, Västergötland, Sweden, to Greek immigrant parents Georgios and Efrosini Paparizou and was raised in Örgryte, Gothenburg. Her father is from Volos and mother is from Karditsa. She has a sister Rita and brother Dinos. As a child, she did not hang out with many Swedish kids.[1] As a kid, she also reportorially had a breathing problem which she still suffers from today.[1] Paparizou told Greek magazine NITRO, that she remember being rushed to the hospital and felt like she had ‘left her body’ at least 2 times when she was younger.[1] Still today, she says she sometimes loses her breath while on stage and carries an inhaler.[1]
Paparizou’s artistic talents and eagerness to excel became apparent very early, and she was soon involved in singing, dancing and acting-training in combination with her academic studies at school. At age 7, she started learning Piano, ballet, and traditional dances. By age 13, Elena realized she wanted to be a singer, and decided to prepare for it.[1] Her first experiences were with Greek music at her Greek School. At the age of 14, Elena started her first band called “Soul Funkomatic” along with 3 Latin American kids.[1] The group only played hip-hop music, and saved up money to record songs. Two years later by age 16, the band broke up and Elena was offered various proposals, but her mother said she was too young to leave home. In 1998, 13 of her close friends died in a fire at a hip-hop party at a nightclub in Gothenburg that she had begged her mother to go to but was denied.[2] After losing her friends, Paparizou decided to abandon singing, and she started classes at the Art Performing School where she studied theater, acting, television, and directing. In 1999, some DJ friends of her brother asked her to make a demo of “Opa Opa“.[2] Elena told them that the lyrics are for a man, so she asked to sing it with childhood friend Nikos Panagiotidis.[2][3]
[edit] Antique
[edit] 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 seventeen, to form Antique. The duo quickly signed their first record deal, with Swedish record label Bonnier. Their debut single, “Opa Opa“, became a huge hit, reaching number one on the single charts and achieving gold status following its release in August 1999. The band’s subsequent fame and success, strongly associated with the international promotion of Greek culture, led to them being selected as Greece’s representatives for the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 in Copenhagen. The band reached third place with the song, “(I Would) Die for You“. Although equalled by Sakis Rouvas’ 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 several multi-platinum albums, playing a 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. Following her success with Antique, Elena decided to pursue a solo career.
[edit] Solo career
[edit] 2003-2004: Protereotita
Elena Paparizou on the cover of her first album 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 Anapantites Klisis in December 2003 (which was later re-recorded in English as I Don’t Want You Here Anymore), a song written especially for her by singer/songwriter Christos Dantis. The single sales were strong, and it received gold certification in Greece.
During the winter of 2003-2004, Paparizou appeared alongside one of Greece’s biggest male singers, Antonis Remos, at the Studio Pireos nightclub. In spring 2004, she released her first solo record, Protereotita from which Antithesis, Anamnisis, Katse Kala, and Stin Kardia Mou Mono Thlipsi became hit singles. The album achieved double platinum in Greece after the huge success in Eurovision Song Contest.
Her success brought her to the Fever nightclub for the winter season 2004-2005 alongside Sakis Rouvas.
[edit] 2005: Eurovision
Ruslana and Elena Paparizou
Because of her popularity in Greece, where she ended up spending more and more time, Paparizou 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 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, Elena 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.
[edit] 2006: Iparhi Logos & The Game of Love
Elena Paparizou’s Greek album Iparhi Logos
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 and Turkey.
Paparizou’s second album in Greek, Iparhi Logos, was released in Greece on April 12, 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 faired well on Greek radios. The album Iparhi Logos went to #1 and reached double platinum status in Greece.
On May 20, 2006, Elena graced the stage of Eurovision once more, to open the contest with My Number One as the opening act. She later sang Mambo!, and then presented the award to the winners Lordi. During a press interview there, she said that people should expect to hear a lot of Mambo! and Gigolo in English over the summer, as she tries to pursue her international career. Paparizou has already released Mambo! in Sweden on a two track CD single peaking at number 5 on the charts. Sweden is the first of many countries in which Paparizou will be releasing Mambo!. The other countries in which Elena Paparizou plans to release Mambo! are: Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Turkey, and Spain. Other records companies in France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, China, United States, Canada, South Africa, and Australia will also promote the song. The Scandinavian promotion of the song will be from Bonnier Music. To gear up for the worldwide release of Mambo!, Elena has filmed a new video targeted for a more international audience.[4]
[edit] Greek-language studio albums
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[edit] English-language studio albums
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