Eleftheria Eleftheriou

Eleftheria Eleftheriou (2012)

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Singles

Aphrodisiac   DE 77 06/08/2012 (1 week)   AT 56 06/08/2012 (1 week)

Eleftheria Eleftheriou ( Greek Ελευθερία Ελευθερίου , born May 12, 1989 in Paralimni ), also known under the stage name Elle , is a Greek Cypriot singer. She represented Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 (ESC) in Baku .

biography

Training and participation in "X Factor"

Eleftheria Eleftheriou was born in Cyprus and grew up in Frenaros , Famagusta . Even as a child she was enthusiastic about music and danced in front of an audience. In elementary school, a teacher discovered her talent, after which she received lessons in piano , music theory and harmony . Eleftheriou began taking singing lessons at the age of 15. Just one year later she was a soloist in the orchestra of the RIK , the Cyprus public broadcaster. In 2006 Eleftheriou took part in the Cypriot preliminary round of the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens with the English-language ballad Play That Melody To Me . When Annette Artani ( Why Angels Cry ) won, she finished seventh in the final.

After finishing school, Eleftheriou studied music and performance at the University of Surrey in England . When she returned to Cyprus, she tried unsuccessfully to establish herself as a solo singer, appeared in the vaudeville theater and, at the age of 18, played a season in Nicosia in the musical Ρεντ ("Red"). Eleftheriou became known to a broad Greek and Cypriot television audience in 2009/10 through her participation in the second season of the casting show The X Factor on the television channel ANT1 (branch of the British format of the same name ), after she had already participated in the auditions of the first season a year earlier. Eleftheriou was represented in the “Girls (16–24 years)” category, which was supervised by Giorgos Theofanous , together with Ivi Adamou , among others . She interpreted songs by Eleftheria Arvanitaki ( Den Milo Gia Mia Nihta Ego ), Eleonora Zouganeli ( Kopse Kai Mirase Sta Dio ), Alkistis Protopsalti ( Kathe Fora Pou Me Kitazeis ) and Elpida ( Stin Diskotek ), but dropped out on the fifth show with Alicia Keys ' No one surprising. The X Factor presenter and popular singer Sakis Rouvas then took them on and invited Eleftheriou to perform with him at live concerts. In the same year she started working with the famous Greek singer Nikos Vertis , whom she also accompanied on tours through Europe and Australia.

First publications and victory in the Greek ESC preliminary decision

In 2010 Eleftheriou was signed by Sony Music Greece and recorded their first single Tables Are Turning in English and Greek ( Kentro Tou Kosmou ). With the English version of the song she had originally planned to take part in the Greek preliminary round for the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo . Tables Are Turning , however, had already been published on the Internet before the official presentation, whereupon Eleftheriou was disqualified. In 2010 the Greek-language single Otan Hamilonoume To Fos followed , in 2011 the song Never under the stage name "Elle" with the DJ duo Housetwins .

In autumn 2011 Eleftheriou moved from Sony Music to Universal Music Greece . In 2012 she took part in the Greek preliminary round of the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku ( Ellinikos Telikos 2012 ) with the English-language pop song Aphrodisiac, written by Dimitri Stassos , Mikaela Stenström and Dajana Lööf . Together with Stenström, Stassos composed two songs for the Swedish singer and ESC participant Eric Saade and was jointly responsible for the Spanish ESC contribution La noche es para mí ( 2009 ).

Due to the financial crisis , the Greek state broadcaster ERT reduced the preliminary decision to a minimum of costs and asked various Greek music labels to record, produce and advertise the songs of the candidates themselves, as well as pay for travel and accommodation in Azerbaijan. Only Universal Music Greece agreed to co-finance the preliminary round with ERT. In the preliminary decision held on March 12, 2012 in an Athens shopping center, Eleftheriou prevailed against three other candidates, with the victory being decided in equal parts by a televoting and a jury evaluation. She represented Greece at the 57th Eurovision Song Contest on May 22, 2012 in Baku in the first semifinals, which earned her qualification for the final four days later. Eleftheriou performed with two dancers each, while Victoria Chalkiti supported her vocals in the backing vocal . She took part in the ESC as a background singer in 1993, 1994 and 2008 for Greece and 2005 for Belarus. As with the Greek contribution in 2011, Constantinos Rigos is responsible for the choreography.

Discography

Singles

• 2010: Kentro Tou Kosmou ( Greek Κέντρο του κόσμου / Tables Are Turning )
• 2010: Otan Hamilonoume To Fos ( Greek Όταν χαμηλώνουμε το φως )
• 2011: Never (as "Housetwins feat. Elle")
• 2012: Aphrodisiac
• 2012: Hearts Collide

Music videos

• 2010: Kentro Tou Kosmou Greek Κέντρο του κόσμου
• 2012: Aphrodisiac

swell

1. ↑ Charts DE Charts AT
2. ↑ Ελευθερία Ελευθερίου: Ένα αστέρι από το Φρέναρος ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at famagusta-news.com, December 13, 2011 (accessed April 24, 2012).  
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Interview at musiccorner.gr, May 10, 2011 (Greek; accessed April 24, 2012).
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Biography ( Memento of the original from January 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from Universal Music Greece (Greek; accessed April 24, 2012).  
5. ↑ biography at eurovision.tv (English; accessed April 24, 2012).
6. ↑ Biography at eurovision.de (accessed on April 24, 2012).
7. ↑ Hondal, Victor: Greece: ERT and Universal Music to share Eurovision costs at esctoday.com, January 30, 2012 (accessed April 24, 2012).
8. ^ Roxburgh, Gordon: Eleftheria Eleftheriou to represent Greece at eurovision.tv, March 12, 2012 (accessed April 24, 2012).
9. ↑ Terzopoulos, Vasilis: Greece: Eleftheria's team on stage at esctoday.com, April 21, 2012 (accessed April 25, 2012).
10. ↑ Terzopoulos, Vasilis: Greece: Eleftheria Eleftheriou speaks to esctoday at esctoday.com, April 8, 2012 (accessed April 25, 2012).

Web links

• Biography at eurovision.de
• Profile at eurovision.tv (English)
• Video interview at esctoday.com, April 24, 2012 (English)
• Eleftheria Eleftheriou in the Internet Movie Database (English)