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BIOGRAPHY

Elena Paparizou
	BIOGRAPHY | GALLERY | GOSSIP | BLOG

Elena Paparizou, born January 31, 1982, is a Greek singer, born and raised in Sweden.

Paparizou is best known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 for Greece with the song My Number One. Her 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.

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 BMG (Greece) and, in December 2003, released her first solo single, Anapantites Klisis (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.

Her success brought her to the Fever nightclub for the winter season 2004-2005 alongside Sakis Rouvas. Because of her popularity in Greece, where Paparizou ended up spending more and more time, she 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 also released in Scandinavia, Switzerland, Poland, Russia 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, Paparizou 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 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.

Starting in early 2007, Paparizou singed a contract to be the new face of Nokia Greece for 2007.

On January 21, 2007 Paparizou was awarded a European Border Breaker Award in Cannes, France. She was one of the ten new artists who received the Award. These awards have been created by European Union four years ago and they are given every year to ten artists who managed to make success with their first album abroad. Elena wins this award for the success of her first solo album Proteriotita: Euro-Edition.The awards took place in Cannes on 21st January 2007 during the Midem Festival and was televised by MTV Europe.

Paparizou recorded three tracks for the soundtrack CD to the Greek television series Mazi Sou, including the theme tune to the series. A video has been made for the track Mazi Sou which has fared well in Greece, and the track has spent several weeks atop the Greek radio airplay chart.