Anna Vissi (Greek: Άννα Βίσση, pronounced [ˈana ˈvisi], locally [ˈanːa ˈviʃːi]; 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, while Forbes listed her as the 15th most powerful and influential celebrity in Greece and fourth highest ranked singer.
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).
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.