Marinella

Details

Category: Music

Published on Tuesday, 23 October 2018 16:43

Marinella (Μαρινέλλα) whose career has spanned several decades is one of the most popular singers in Greece. She was born on the 20^th of May 1938 in Thessaloniki, Northern Greece. Her parents were Greek refugees from Constantinople and she is the fourth child of a large family.

Since the start of her career in 1957 Marinella released 66 solo albums and was featured by other artists. At the age of four she was already singing on the radio broadcast in "Pediki Ora (Children's Hour)" and also participated in many children’s theatre performances.

At the age of fifteen she gave up her promising career in order to finish school, but two years later at seventeen, her passion for art outweighed her resolution to graduate and she joined an artistic group. It was when the lead singer of the group fell sick and Marinella stepped in as replacement that the Greek music world found one of its best representatives.

Her first song “Nitsa, Elenitsa (Little Helen)” was released in 1957. The collaboration with singer Stelios Kazantzidis, with whom she became the greatest duet of Greece, marked her early career. The duet enjoyed great success at the night club “Luxembourg” in Thessaloniki and later moved on to Athens where they became widely known.

In October 1970 she participated in the V Festival Internacional da Cançao Popular – Parte Internacion (FIC) in Rio de Janeiro, where she represented Greece with the song “Kyra Giorgena (Wife of George) and managed to finish 4^th among 38 participating countries.

Marinella was also the first Greek singer to participate in the International MIDEM Festival of 1973. Furthermore she represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with the song “Krasi, Thalassa Kai T’ Agori Mou (Wine, sea and my boyfriend)”, with which she managed to land eleventh place.

She not only performed as a singer but also as an actress in several Greek musicals. Her popularity rose in the late 1960s, 70s and 80s, with a string of successful albums and live shows. It was her that developed a new standard for live show in Greek night clubs, introducing costumes, dancing and special light effects to the shows.

In November of 2002, Marinella collaborated with George Dalaras, with whom she not only gave concerts in Athens and Thessaloniki but also performed their shows abroad. The duet’s tour name was “Mazi (Together)” and the released live album reached platinum status in 2003.

In March 2004 she released her new album with the title “Ammos Itane (It was sand)”. On the 19^th of August of the same year she performed the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics along with Dimitra Galani, Haris Alexiou, Yiannis Parios and George Dalaras.

The album with the title “Tipota Den Ginete (Nothing is random)”, which was released in December 2005 reached gold status and includes duets with famous Greek singers.

Marinella might be often considered as someone who sings folk songs, but her musical style varies from traditional, laika, pop, blues to jazz. In Greece she is called “The Great Lady of Song” and is regarded with great respect. However she rarely makes public appearances and only gives very few concerts.