Anna Vissi is Greece's #1 female artist, winning many awards and selling multi-platinum albums. She is also the most successful singer in Cyprus, while she is really famous in Turkey. Anna Vissi is a charismatic woman, and that translates into her music, where her hypnotic and powerful voice make her an instant stand-out on radio stations (told you she has "siren" genes in her).
“Being raised in Cyprus, I listened to a lot of rock music from England,” she recalls of growing up on an island split between independent and Turkish rule, but with a major English influence, citing the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Queen and the Doors as primary inspirations.
Classically trained on piano and ballet at the national conservatory of Cyprus from the age of six, she turned to her first love, singing, earning first prize in a contest for best voice at 12.
“I remember learning Beethoven’s ‘Fleur de Lys’ and thinking that’s all I need to know on piano,” she laughs.
After moving to Greece with her family, she won prizes for singing and songwriting in several music festivals, including the prestigious Eurovision contest, where she took fifth place with one of her own compositions, representing her native Cyprus.
“Call Me” is Vissi’s first true foray into the U.S. music market, though she previously recorded an English album, Everything I Am, in 2000, produced by Brian Rawlings (Cher’s “Believe,” Enrique Iglesias), Ric Wake (Celine Dion) and Peter Asher (Linda Ronstadt) for Sony Music, her longtime label in Greece.
“It feels natural,” she says about singing in English, a language she first learned as a girl in Cyprus (along with Greek, Italian and some French). “It rings bells from my early years, when I always sang in English along to my records. I used to sing ‘Love Story’ for my grandfather, who played along on violin, and he’d tip me. It was his favorite song.”
Vissi’s status as a Greek music superstar goes back to her musical collaboration with her then-husband, native producer/songwriter Nilos Karvelas, with whom she shares a daughter and a still-vital working partnership.
Breaking from Greek tradition, Vissi and Karvelas began to incorporate western influences in their pop-rock, with electric guitars and saxophones replacing the traditional bouzoukis, updating the Greek blues known as Rembetika, first played by transplanted natives forced to leave Asia Minor by the Turks in the ’20s.
“We couldn’t help but be influenced by the pop music we heard from the west,” explains Anna. “We started mixing those elements in with the Rembetika, and that’s what made up distinctive. We were doing something no one else was.”
The move launched the Athens pop-rock scene of the ‘80s and ‘90s, which included international superstar Vangelis, who played his own brand of Rebetika with Aphrodite’s Child.
“I feel proud being Greek. I feel both the stigma and the influences that developed the character I am now,” she says of her adopted homeland.
Vissi and Karvelas continued to push the Greek music envelope with their rock operas, Daemons, in 1991 and Mala, based on a true story of romance in World War II. Vissi starred in both, showing her multiple talents as a theatrical performer and dancer as well as a vocalist.
“I’d like to think we gave other Greek artists the courage and inspiration to create a revolution in our music scene,” she says proudly of her role in encouraging that unfettered artistic expression, which is sometimes a problem in the repressive country.
Anna Vissi brought cultural democracy to a country that first founded the concept, made clear by Greece’s successful hosting of the 2004 Summer Olympics. Vissi not only ran the Olympic torch, but was included in the Opening Ceremony (She commented: “Greeks are often accused of not making it. But I think, at the last minute, Greeks can make miracles”) and performed at the Closing Ceremony.
“It was a great experience for me and everybody in Greece, a peak for my country,” she enthuses. “We were expected not to be ready. We are accused, and it’s not a lie, of not being able to organize things well, that we’re last-minute people. And it can be true, but the Olympics was a good example of what we can do when we work together as a team. Greece is a great country with a great history. If we explore our Greek identity in art and music, we have things to deliver to the rest of the world.”
Anna Vissi is now out to prove she can do the same as a pop music performer. After moving to London in 2000, her English-language bow, Everything I Am, was accompanied by a gala show at Royal Albert Hall. Her first mini-tour of the U.S. followed, with shows in Los Angeles, Atlantic City, Chicago, Boston and New York, where she performed at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden.
The L.A. Times raved that Vissi was “charismatic, magnetic… expect big things from this potential new international star.” The N.Y. Times was no less enthusiastic, dubbing Vissi “no unapproachable, packaged pop diva, but an irrepressible entertainer.”
The positive response encouraged Vissi to make another move, this time to New York City, where she bought a house and prepared to record the album that would introduce her to stateside audiences.
“This is a time in my life when I need a change, personally and artistically,” she explains. “I’ve reached the limits of what I can do in my country. I have all these people believing in me, supporting me and expecting me every year to give them something new, different, more, bigger and better. I’m not escaping from that, but I’m taking a break. I’m a bit confused, but I like this confusion. It’s a shock in my life I needed.”
With a history of reinventing herself stylistically and musically, Vissi has drawn comparisons to another chameleon performer, Madonna. “My Greek fans make comparisons because I’m constantly changing, creating new characters,” she says. “That title is flattering, but I don’t want people to think I need Madonna to introduce myself.”
Right now, Vissi is focusing on her new musical direction, and gathering names of producers with whom she wants to work. “It’s something that worries and excites me at the same time. It’s nice to discover new people to work with. I’ve become used to a certain way of recording that I’m a little bored with. I want to collaborate with a hip-hop producer, to be able to mix our music and influences. I want to find the right producer who believes in what I am and explore with me new horizons.”
She is excited about the cultural freedom the U.S. offers, but remains firm about not giving in to commercial expectations. “When I start recording, I promise myself to do exactly what I love to do and am able to do. I don’t want to base my decisions on what will work on radio or in the marketplace. I feel very strongly about that.”
The New York Urban station WKTU began playing the Greek version of Vissi’s “Call Me,” which inspired her to enter the studio and cut the song in English, with seven separate dance remixes. It led to an invitation by her good friend, stylist Patricia Field, to perform a short set during her 20th annual White Party AIDS fundraiser at the Vizcaya Museum & Gardens in Miami. It was a chance for Vissi to connect with her many gay fans, although the four-song set was a far cry from her traditional three-hour shows, which make her more “Bruce Springsteen than Madonna.”
Vissi already feels part of a bigger universe after her move to New York City. “You have to live somewhere to be able to understand people and appreciate the culture,” she says. “I feel part of this world now. Being born in Cyprus is great, but you can live anywhere you like. Our country is the world. I meet people from everywhere here. Black, white, yellow, red…”
Her fellow Greeks e-mail their encouragement. “They want me to succeed, and that motivates me, pushes me,” says Vissi. “They appreciate that I risked my career many, many times doing things that could have gone wrong. Rock music is not native to Greece. We have to mix things to sound original and genuine.”
Managed by Jerry Blair (the ex-Sony exec who managed Mariah Carey), with a big supporter in Tommy Mottola (who encouraged her to do an English language album when he was at Sony), Vissi is ready to conquer America. Her album is being overseen by 20-year music veteran Nicky Kalliongis, currently an A&R exec for Universal Records, who has his own Moda Records imprint and has worked with legendary record man Clive Davis.
“At the end of the day, the best combination is to have talent, but dare to do something different,” says Vissi.
This native of Cyprus, who has achieved fame and fortune in Greece, has both in abundance. Now it’s America’s turn to discover Anna Vissi.
http://www.promotion-lift.com/article.php?id=240
Tin xanavala kai edw giati prin berdeytika kai to egraya sta ''teleutaia nea''
