Marina Satti
Marina Satti is a Greek singer, composer, music producer, and actress. Her music fuses traditional Greek and Balkan sounds with modern pop, hip-hop, and electronic production. She released her first single, "Koupes", in 2016; and her first album, YENNA, in 2022. Satti represented Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with her song "Zari", finishing in 11th place.
Early life and studies
Satti was born in Athens and lived there until the age of 6. She was then raised on the island of Crete. Her father, Ali Osman Satti, was an Sudanese Arab anesthesiologist and former professor of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her mother, Chariclia Filoxenidi, is a chemical engineer from Heraklion, Crete, with Anatolian Greek ancestry. Her parents met at the Faculty of Medicine while studying at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Satti spent all of her childhood in Heraklion, visiting Sudan during the summers. She graduated from school as a top student. She has a brother who lives in England and a half-sister from her father's later marriage to another woman. He had returned to Sudan and later moved to Egypt.Satti began piano lessons when she was 5 years old at the Apollo Conservatory in Crete. She also sang in several choirs. In 2008, after studying with the baritone Panos Dimas, Satti earned a first degree in lyrical monody with honors and a first prize. One year later, she earned degrees in advanced classical music studies, opera and piano, while also studying jazz at the Nakas Conservatory in Athens. She studied architecture for three years at the National Technical University of Athens. Satti also studied at the Veaki Drama School for one year and the Kentriki Skini Drama School in Athens for one more year on a scholarship. In 2012, she completed a 3-year degree in jazz composition, contemporary writing and production at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, United States, on a scholarship. Among her teachers at Berklee were Jamey Haddad and Danilo Pérez.
In 2024, she started postgraduate studies in the field of cultural management at the Hellenic Open University.
Career
2006–2016: Career beginnings
Satti formed part of the European Broadcasting Union's European Jazz Orchestra. She also performed as a singer of the World Jazz Nonet at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In 2011 she performed along with Bobby McFerrin and the a cappella vocal group Singing Tribe at the Berklee Performance Center. From 2006 to 2024 she acted, sang and wrote music for theatre in 16 plays in Greece. She sings in ten languages.In 2016, Satti founded Fonés, a female a cappella group performing traditional polyphonic songs. Furthermore, she writes music for short films and advertisements. Satti has given her singing voice to 24 cartoons and was the voice of Moana in Moana and Moana 2, and Ariel in The Little Mermaid for Greece. She is also invited to teach music and singing at various schools and universities in Greece.
2016–2022: Singles and ''YENNA''
In 2016, Satti released her single "Koupes", which reached more than 28 million views on YouTube, and was included in Ravin and Bob Sinclar's Buddha Bar 20 Years Anniversary album. In 2017, her next single, "Mantissa", charted in the European Union's Official Top 100 and Bulgaria's Top 40. Global Citizen named it "song of the summer." Joanna Kakissis, an Athens-based correspondent for NPR, described it as "the summer hit that fills a generation with hope". Ιt reached more than 58 million views on YouTube.Satti appeared at Google's Europe On Stage, at the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, as one of the 10 most interesting YouTube acts of 2017. In 2017, Satti curated a series of cultural events that led to the formation of the choir Chóres, consisting of 200 women aged 13–63. In 2020, Chóres presented traditional songs at archeological locations.
In June 2018, Satti and Fonés presented Yalla!, a repertoire of world music and pop compositions, as well as renditions of Eastern Mediterranean traditional music, which was first performed at the Melina Mercouri Theatre and then toured abroad to France, England, Switzerland, as well as to Tampere, Finland, for the 2019 World Music Expo. From 2017 to 2023 Satti toured Europe, the US and Australia, performing at important festivals and programmes, such as the American show KEXP.
In May 2022, she released her debut album YENNA. It became very successful in Greece and was well received abroad. The song "Yiati Pouli’ M" was nominated for Best Alternative Video – Newcomer at the 2022 UK Music Video Awards. Satti was invited by the music platforms COLORS and NOWNESS to perform the songs "Ponos Krifos" and "Yiati Pouli’M". The release of the album was followed by a European tour that lasted over four months.
2023–present: Eurovision Song Contest 2024, ''P.O.P.'' and ''POP TOO''
On 24 October 2023, she was announced as the at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. She was internally selected by the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation and her entry, titled "Zari ", was released on 7 March 2024. She finished in 11th place in the grand final with a total of 126 points. The performance was awarded the "Best Onstage Ensemble 2024 Award" by the Eurovision audience."Zari" reached the top 50 on YouTube global trends. It also reached number 18 on Spotify's Global Top 50, becoming the first song in Greek to do so. Additionally, it achieved number one on Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube trends in Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It also reached charts in 29 countries, including Japan. It received the diamond certification in Greece.
Following her Eurovision participation, Satti released an extended play titled P.O.P. containing seven songs, including "Zari". The EP features "Tucutum", "Stin Iyia Mas", "Lalalala", "Eimai Kala", a ten-minute track called "Mixtape" with guest appearances by Lefteris Pantazis,, Efi Thodi, Vlospa, Oge and Nick Kodonas and "Ah Thalassa". It became a huge success in Greece and was certified 2× platinum. Satti followed this with a six-month tour in Greece and abroad. P.O.P. reached number eight on the top 10 albums globally on Spotify. It also entered the top ten on the UK Spotify chart. The proceeds from the video clip of the song "Ah Thalassa" were donated to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to support child refugees. Τhe song "Ah Thalassa" was awarded the “Cultural Impact Award” from the “Berlin Commercial Awards”.
On 18 November 2024, she teased her next single, "Anatoli", on TikTok. It was released on 6 December and was certified double platinum. On 24 January 2025, she released her next single, "Epano sto trapezi". On 24 March 2025, she released her new song "Ela Ela".
On 25 April 2025, she released her second studio album POP TOO, which is the sequel to P.O.P. Ιt contains 10 songs: "Anatoli", "Lola", "Epano Sto Trapezi", "Ela Ela" with Saske, "Autokinhto", "Blouzaki", "Kavourakia" with Locomondo, "Bye Bye" with Negros Tou Moria, "I Gaga!" and "POP" with Tso. The songs "Lola" and "Epano Sto Trapezi" became number one, making Satti the only Greek female artist to have two number one hits, on YouTube for 2025. "Lola" reached number 55 on the YouTube World Charts and was nominated for the Best Cinematography in a Video – Newcomer Award at the 2025 UK Music Video Awards. POP TOO was the bestselling album by a female Greek artist for 2025 and reached charts in more than 50 countries. Satti followed this with a three-month European tour.
In early May 2025, coinciding with that year's edition of Eurovision, Satti recorded a Greek version of "Saudade, saudade", which represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy. Satti's version was titled "Fovame", and was released on 5 May as part of Spotify Singles. It was featured on curated lists on Spotify and reached playlists in India.
On 13 May 2025, Satti performed in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel, Switzerland, together with three contestants from the previous year of the contest: Jerry Heil of, Iolanda of and Silvester Belt of. They performed Celine Dion's "Ne partez pas sans moi", which won Eurovision Song Contest 1988 for.
Satti covered the June 2025 edition of Vogue Greece. She collaborated on the song "Cosmos" in Oge's album Status 2, which was released on 11 April 2025. Satti, was featured in the song, “De Fovame” in the album Fthina Tricks 3 by Bloody Hawk, which was released on 30 May 2025. On 29 June, she released three new versions of the song "Fashion Killah" with Tso as singles. Satti collaborated with G-KAL and ERMIS on the song "Τo Dilino" for Greek singer Anastasia's album San Oniro. On 3 October, together with Lex and Dof Twogee, she was featured in the song "Paidia tou Feggariou" on the same-titled album by VLOSPA. In November, she collaborated with Bloody Hawk on the song "Vimata". On 28 November, with Tso, she released the single "Ipnos".