Haris Alexiou
Haris Alexiou is a Greek singer whose career has spanned over 5 decades. She is one of the most popular singers in Greece. She has worked with important Greek songwriters and composers, has performed at top musical theatres all over the world, and has received several awards. She has recorded over thirty albums and has been featured on albums of other musicians. On 14th March 2010, Alpha TV ranked Alexiou as the first top-certified female artist in Greece in the phonographic era. She is the highest selling Greek female artist and third overall, behind George Dalaras and Yiannis Parios. Eight of her personal albums released between 1977 and 2003 have totaled 11 million sales, the only Greek female artist to do so.
She also has an audience in Turkey and her various songs were sung in Turkish especially "Ola Se Thimizoun" as "Olmasa Mektubun" by Yeni Türkü, Erol Evgin, Müslüm Gürses, Sevda Karababa and Pilli Bebek; Teli Teli Teli as "Telli Telli", Pes Mou Pos Ginetai as "Maskeli Balo" by Yeni Türkü, Athena and Ata Demirer; Mia Pista Apo Fosforo as "Her şeyi yak" by Sezen Aksu and Duman and as "Nefes Almak İstiyorum" by Yonca Evcimik; Krata Gia To Telos as "Sebahat Abla" by Müslüm Gürses; Fevgo as "Durma Yağmur" by Gripin.
She has lived in Athens since 1958, when she and her family moved there from Thebes. Her grandmother's family migrated to Thebes in 1924 from Smyrna. Her name was given to a street in Gaziemir, in İzmir province, Turkey.
Biography
Alexiou has stated that she is of Arvanite origin on her father's side and of Anatolian Greek origin on her mother's side. Haris Alexiou appeared in the Greek music scene in the early 1970s. Her charismatic voice, combined with a unique way of performing and a strong stage presence, very soon led her to the top. She has worked with the most important Greek songwriters, has performed at the greatest musical theatres on all five continents and has received several important awards.She has recorded over thirty albums, has participated in albums of other artists, either renowned or young and promising, being always open to new ways in music.
1970s
The first important step in her career was her participation with George Dalaras in the album Mikra Asia written by Apostolos Kaldaras and Pythagoras in 1972. A historic album, the biggest hit of the '70s and included in "Minos-EMI's 100 Greatest Hits of the Century."In 1973, Alexiou participated in the albums Kalimera ilie by Manos Loïzos and Lefteris Papadopoulos, Byzantinos Esperinos by Apostolos Kaldaras and Lefteris Papadopoulos and Odos Aristotelous by Yannis Spanos and Lefteris Papadopoulos. Meeting Manos Loïzos was the beginning of a lifelong friendship and a prolific collaboration.
In 1975, her first personal album, 12 'Laika' Songs, was released. One of the songs, "Dimitroula", originally sung in the 1930s by Roza Eskenazi, has become an all-time standard. In the same year, she appeared in "boites" in Plaka, pioneering a new way of presenting songs, completely different from the conventional big nightclubs. It was the first year after the fall of the military junta, a time for political songs and the revival of "rebetika" songs, and Alexiou sang traditional songs, ballads, modern songs, folk songs and rebetika.
For many years, she collaborated with George Dalaras, Dimitra Galani, Vasilis Papakonstantinou and Yiannis Parios. Her concerts in stadiums and theatres, with songs written by Manos Loïzos, Lefteris Papadopoulos, Nikolopoulos, Giannis Spanos, Theodorakis, Stavros Kouyioumtzis and others, were extremely successful. Her popularity reached its peak and since then, she has been "Haroula of Greece".
In 1979, the album Ta tragoudia tis Haroulas was released. Manos Loïzos had written the music and the lyrics were written by Manolis Rasoulis and Pythagoras. From this album, "o Fantaros" immediately became a big hit, while "Ola se thymizoun" is considered one of the most beautiful Greek ballads of all time.
1980s
The 1980s started with two enormous hits: "Fevgo" and "Ximeroni". Songs of Yesterday, her album with Dimitra Galani included ballads which fascinated the public. At the same time, she recorded traditional and folk songs, rebetika and laika, and gave concerts both in Greece and abroad.In 1983 she recorded the album Tsilika, a collector's item, with rebetika songs written between 1900 and 1935.
1986 is the year of her first collaboration with composer Thanos Mikroutsikos. The album was I Agapi ine zali, with lyrics by Alkis Alkeos, Nikos Kavvadias, Andreas Mikroutsikos and Babis Tsikliropoulos. The title song became an enormous hit. "Eleni" and "Erotikon", from the same album, were also extremely successful. The same year Haroula conquered the French public, appearing in "Théâtre de la Ville", getting favorable reviews from the French press. After that, she gave concerts in Cyprus, Tunisia, Germany and many towns all over Greece.
In 1987, world-famous Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis invited her to appear in his club "Sirius" with the "Unpredictable Songs". He directed her and later he went to the recording studio with her. In the summer of this year, she sang in Hadjidakis's concerts in many Greek towns.
In 1988, she worked with "Fatme", a group of young and talented artists. She also worked with Paolo Conte, a well-known Italian singer and songwriter. They appeared together at the Palace Theatre of Athens. She recorded two of his songs with Greek lyrics by Lina Nikolakopoulou.
In 1989, "The Show Begins". It is the musical show which she presented for two years, together with Dimitra Galani and Yiannis Parios, in Athens and Thessaloniki. An album with the same title resulted from this work.
1990s
1990 began with her second collaboration with Thanos Mikroutsikos. The album was entitled This Cologne Lingers on for Years, with lyrics by Lina Nikolakopoulou. In October of the same year, she participated in the most important concert of the decade in Peace and Friendship Stadium of Athens. In this festive concert, called "Our Own Night", all the big names of Greek show business were present: Yiannis Parios, Thanos Mikroutsikos, Dimitra Galani, Chris Nikolopoulos, Alkistis Protopsalti, George Sarris, George Zambetas, Lakis Lazopoulos and the legendary Melina Mercouri.In 1991, she appeared in the Attikon Theatre of Athens with a special show called "In Three Acts". In the first act, she sang songs by Hadjidakis, Loizos, Mikroutsikos and Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. In the second act, she hosted certain groups of modern Greek music and presented songs written by herself. The third act was a medley with her hits, old and new. She then presented this show in the State Theatre of Northern Greece, which for the first time accepted a Greek singer on its stage.
With her concerts, sets new standards for musical shows, using state-of-the-art sound and light equipment and impressive decors.
In autumn 1991, together with Costas Hadjis, she presented a show directed by Mauro Bolognini at the Rex Theatre in Athens and Radio City in Thessaloniki. Alexiou Sings Hadjis is the album that followed.
In 1992, she started her cooperation with PolyGram, successfully introducing a new style in her songs. The album Di' efchon, with music by Nikos Antypas and lyrics by Lina Nikolakopoulou, came as something quite fresh in Greek discography, imparting a new impetus to Haroula's already long career. In 1993, the album was released in Japan, Belgium, France and Israel by PolyGram International. The French TV channel "MCM International" filmed and showed her concert at Lycabetus Theatre. The same year she traveled around the world with concerts in Cyprus, the US, Canada, Israel, several European countries, finishing in Paris at the Mogador Theatre.
In 1994, her album Hey! was released, with music by Nikos Antypas and lyrics by Lefteris Papadopoulos and Aris Davarakis. The summer of the same year, she appeared in the Odeon of Herodes Atticus with a show directed by Mauro Bolognini. In October, she had her first and extremely successful appearance in Japan.
In 1995, the album 88 Nefelis Street was released; she wrote all the songs. For this album, in April 1995 at the Palais des congrès in Paris, she received the Prix Adami, an award given every year by the Académie Charles Cros to distinguished artists. The same year, she opened Studio Nefeli, where she presented her new songs, creating a new "Cafe Theatre" atmosphere. Dimitris Papaioannou was the director of the show.
In 1996, she wrote the lyric for "Nefeli's Tango" on Loreena McKennitt's music. This song, along with other live recordings from her concerts around the world, was included in the album Around the World '92-'96. "Nefeli's Tango" was one of the ten top songs of World Music in Europe for several months.
In summer 1997, at the invitation of Olympic Games Committee "Athens 2004", she gave a concert at Pnyka Hill, very close to the Acropolis. Such was the success of this concert, she had to repeat it twice at the same location.
1998 was the year of The Game of Love, her second album with songs written solely by herself. The recording took place at the Studio Guillaume Tell in Paris with Greek and foreign musicians. The same year, she toured North and South America with Nikos Papazoglou. In December she appeared in Athens at the Diogenis Studio, which was reconstructed in order to meet the demands of the show she presented with Chris Nikolopoulos. The show was directed by Dimitris Papaioannou again.
In October 1999, she sang along with Turkish famous female singer Sezen Aksu, both in Athens and Istanbul, for the victims of the earthquakes which struck the two countries that year, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture. This cooperation was repeated in summer 2000 in Istanbul and İzmir.