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| Elena Paparizouwon Eurovision in 2005 |
Today, The Grandma has been talking with The Watsons about Elena Paparizou, the Greek-Swedish singer who won the Eurovision Song Contest singing My Number One representing Greece in 2005. It was the first time that Greece won the Contest and thanks to this Elena Paparizou became a popular singer in Europe, especially in Greece and Cyprus.
Elena Paparizou, in Greek Έλενα Παπαρίζου (born 31 January 1982), sometimes spelt Helena Paparizou, is a Greek-Swedish singer, songwriter and television personality.
Born and raised in Sweden to Greek parents, she enrolled in various arts schools before launching a career in Sweden in 1999 as a member of the laïko, a Greek folk music, and Eurodance duo Antique, who participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 and afterwards became popular.
Antique disbanded in 2003, and Paparizou signed a solo recording contract with Sony Music, releasing the chart-topping debut single Anapandites Kliseis and album Protereotita (2004), with emphasis on laïko, pop, and dance sounds, but at first had modest sales.
In 2005, she represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song My Number One, which she won.
It was the first Greek win in the contest's history and transformed her career. Her album was subsequently certified double platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry of Greece.
More information: Eurovision World
Paparizou attempted a career beyond Greece with English-language material, charting in a few countries abroad.
Her three subsequent albums Iparhi Logos (2006), The Game of Love (2006) and Vrisko To Logo Na Zo (2008) all peaked at number one in Greece and reached platinum sales.
Her fifth studio album Giro Apo T' Oneiro (2010) was also certified platinum. Paparizou's final release before she left Sony Music, Greatest Hits & More, was released in 2011 and included Baby It's Over, her biggest hit until 2016. Paparizou's biggest hit to date is An Me Dis Na Kleo feat Anastasios Rammos.
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| Elena Paparizou won Eurovision in 2005 |
Paparizou established
herself as a teen idol, particularly among young girls. She has endorsed
the brands Nokia and Ivi. For the period 2013-2015, she advertised hair
colour products for Koleston company in Greece.
In the 2010s she tried to move into television as a judge on Dancing on Ice (2011) and as a contestant on Let's Dance (2012).
Since 2016, Paparizou has been a judge at The Voice of Greece.
Paparizou has been awarded three Arion Music Awards, a European Border Breakers Award, 28 MAD Video Music Awards -more than any other artist- and an MTV Europe Music Award.
On 14 March 2010, Alpha TV ranked her as the 14th top-certified domestic female artist since 1960, having won seven platinum and four gold records.
Paparizou was the most successful debuting female artist of the 2000s and established herself as one of the top acts of the latter half of the decade.
As of 2010, she has been certified for the sales of 300,000 albums, 47,500 singles, and 30,000 digital downloads by IFPI Greece, in addition to 100,000 total record sales in Greece as part of Antique, 24,000 certified albums in Cyprus, and 80,000 singles in Sweden during her solo career.
In 2010, Forbes listed Paparizou as the 21st most powerful and influential celebrity in Greece. She has more than 150 million views on YouTube -more than any other artist in the Greek music industry. She is the first female artist to reach 600,000 likes on Facebook in Greece.
More information: Wiwi Bloggs
Paparizou was born on 31 January 1982 in Borås, Västergötland, Sweden; she was the youngest child of Greek parents Georgios Paparizos (1948-2008) and Efrosynë Froso Paparizou. Paparizou's parents were from the Karditsa region in western Thessaly ; she has a sister Aretë, known as Rita, and a brother Konstantinos, known as Dinos. Paparizou's parents met and married in her mother's hometown and moved to Borås in 1970.
In 1985, the family moved back to Greece to live in Volos with relatives because Paparizou had contracted asthma and her lungs could not cope with the cold Scandinavian climate. After two years, she was well enough for the family to return to live in Gothenburg, Sweden.
As a result of the trip to Greece, Paparizou spoke Greek as a first language and did not make friends with many Swedish children, because she attended a Greek-language school. Paparizou continues to suffer from breathing problems and often carries an inhaler on-stage.
Paparizou became
interested in the arts at a young age, attending singing, dancing and
acting classes alongside her academic studies. She began lessons in
piano, ballet and Greek dance at seven years of age, and performed for
the first time in front of a Greek audience when she was eleven, singing
Christos Dantis' Moro Mou.
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| Elena Paparizou won Eurovision in 2005 |
Two years later, Paparizou had decided she wanted to be a singer and began to study Greek music. By the age of fourteen, Paparizou had formed her first group, Soul Funkomatic with three Hispanic teenagers. They played hip hop music while saving money to record songs; they disbanded two years later.
On 29 October 1998, thirteen of Paparizou's close friends died in the Gothenburg nightclub fire during a hip hop party, when sixty-three people died and more than two hundred were injured. She had begged her mother to let her go to the party, but was not allowed to attend. After losing her friends, Paparizou decided to abandon singing. She started classes at the Art Performing School where she studied theater, acting, television and directing.
In late 2003, Paparizou signed a solo recording contract with Sony Music and released her debut single Anapandites Kliseis, as a double A-side with Treli Kardia. The release reached number one on the Greek Top 50 Singles Chart and was certified Gold by IFPI Greece.
Paparizou moved permanently to Greece in 2004, and after a long selection process led by national broadcaster Hellenic Radio and Television (ERT), she was selected to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 held in Kiev, Ukraine.
ERT originally considered Paparizou as a possible back-up singer for a high-profile artist, but those deals fell through. She said at the time that no-one had wanted her to participate in Eurovision. The song My Number One, composed by Dantis with lyrics by him and Natalia Germanou, was chosen by the jury vote and telephone vote in the Greek national final.
Although her first name is Elena, Paparizou promoted herself as Helena in the lead up to her Eurovision appearance to distinguish herself from popular names in other countries.
On 21 May 2005, Paparizou won the Eurovision Song Contest; the first Greek win in its history. Her performance scored 230 points and the maximum 12 points from ten nations. Her performance was also responsible for the highest viewing ratings in Greek television history.
After Paparizou's Eurovision win and several reissues, the album certified double Platinum by IFPI Greece. To capitalise on this success, it was reissued as Protereotita: Euro Edition in single and double disc format, and released as a compilation in some European countries as My Number One.
More information: Esc Today
I am a fan of the contest.
And the Eurovision chapter is never going to close for me…
Elena Paparizou
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