Well, I'm confident that a singer so famous in the 1980s and early 1990s like Alexia, should be remembered by most of you. Today, I found and downloaded some albums of hers, her first self titled one "Alexia" (released in 1987), her sophomore one "Ena, Duo, Tria" (1989) and a greatest hits compilation covering the 1987-1995 period.
Below there's a brief bio from her english fansite http://www.alexiagr.tk/ :
" Alexia was born in Ammochostos (Famagusta), Cyprus, on the 5th February.
She was in High school when she represended her country in Eurovision Song Contest in 1981 with a group called "Island".
Alexia took her Bachelor's degree in Performance from Berklee College of Music (Boston) in 1985.
During her studies she selected from CBS in 1984 to sing in the album "I am siam" the theme song. This song was for 6 months in radio airplay in N.Y. and Boston and it reached Billboard's Top-100! She is the first ever Cypriot artist that have achieved that! The album was produced by David Sonenberg (former Manager and Producer of Meatloaf).
In 1985 Alexia was chosen as the only vocalist from the college to take part in Chick Corea's concerts at the Berklee Perfomance Center.
1985-1987: She lived in New York City where she was teaching music. Also she took part as main singer in groups of jazz and pop/rock. She co-operated with famous artist like Fredy Jackson and Roberta Flack.
In 1987 Alexia is competing for the second time in the Eurovision Song Contest , as solo artist this time. Song’s title is “Aspro Mavro” (Please me lover - the English title) and scored the 7th position. The song became a hit in Cyprus and Greece and also in Scandinavia's countries, where more than 250.000 copies have sold!
After her succees she decided to move to Greece and released her first Greekphone album which called “Alexia”. Her first album became double platinum in Greece and Cyprus. She brought the revolution in the Greek music industry because it was the first clear pop album ever in Greece and Cyprus. Many artists in the future have followed her style of music.
In 1989 she releases second solo album “Ena Dio Tria”(One two three) with fresh pure European music and also many songs became hits and went gold.
In 1990 a new album in co-operation with Kostas Charitodiplomenos released. The album called “Ela mia nikta”( Come for a night) and immediately the songs became huge hits.
In 1991 she is representing Cyprus in Eurosong Contest held in Corfu and managed to get the first prize. Song' s title is 'Ela na dis' (Come to see).
So until 1991 Alexia is one of the top singers in Greece and Cyprus. She is an idol and also managed to achieve so many important things…
In September 1992 Alexia releases fourth solo album entitled "Nerompogies"(Watercolors. The album consists the song'I diki mou I Patrida'(My homeland) and is dedicated to Cyprus. She is the first ever artist that she sings a song for her island.
1993... New album released, called “Alexia performs the Classics”. It’s an album with unbelievable versions of all time classic songs in Greece from 30-70 decades. The album had huge success and is a “legend” in the Greek music-history! "The Classics" was recorded with the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra and includes a duet with one of Greece's film icons, Rena Vlachopoulou.
In 1994 Alexia performed in the musical 'Frank and Steine' in Cyprus whose soundtrack became Alexia’s seventh album, "Keklismenon ton thiron" (Behind Closed Doors). One of the most famous composers in Greece, George Hadjinassios wrote the music.
In 1995 Alexia participated in the concert of Mikis Theodorakis (one of the most famous Greek composers ever) for his 70th birthday in the Panathenaic Stadium. She opens the concert with the theme song from the awarded film "Phaedra," directed by Jules Dassin.
In 1996 she released the album: "Alexia In a Jazz Mood". It makes history as it sells more copies than any other jazz album in Greece. In this album, she worked with Chick Corea, John Patitucci, Gary Novak, Gayle Moran, and Bulgarian pianist, composer and arranger, Antoni Donchev. The album was recorded in Los Angeles (Chick Corea’s Mad Hatter Studio), Bulgaria and Athens.
In 1997 Alexia presented her album "Famagusta" in the ancient Greek theatre of Herodus Atticus. "Famagusta" is an ode to the Cypriot town which is under Turkish Occupation since 1974. (Poetry by Claire Angelides and music by Cypriot composer Marios Meletiou).
In 1998 she came back with the album "Alexia - Mikis Theodorakis", a double CD
with 26 compositions by Mikis Theodorakis. It features Mikis Theodorakis in 2 songs (one is a duet with Alexia, live recording in studio), Swiss harpist Andreas Vollenweider and Italian singer Milva.
1999: Alexia sang on the CD of the dance theatre performance of "La dame aux camelias" by Alexander Dumas. The music was composed by Aristides Mytaras. Also, she sang "Put the Blame on Mame" on the soundtrack of the Greek box office hit "Safe Sex", written and directed by Michael Reppas and Thanassis Papathanassiou.
2000: Alexia featured on the soundtrack of the film "The Road to Ithaca", directed by Costas Demetriou. She performs "The Road to Ithaca" and "Never Never Land" (music by Costas Cacoyannis,
and the lyrics by Linda Bourbon and Zenonas Zendiles.
2001-2005: She has been working on her new album "Re-be", where Alexia walks down new paths towards directions set out by her previous projects. Rhythmics with a post jazz sensation, a genuine experimental mood rendered with wisdom and experience, collaborations with contemporary and precisionist musicians. It will be released by track7 very soon.
2007: Alexia writes the lyrics and sings all the songs in Peter Massink’s new release, "Birds Have to Fly". "
Now it's time to show you some You Tube links with some videos. The first one which I present you is the video for "Aspro Mauro", a song which represent Cyprus in Eurovision 1987. This is my favorite Alexia song too:
The next one is an emotional ballad from her debut album. It's "Stalia Stalia", it was a standard blues in the late 80s:
"Kalimera" was featured in the still running morning show of Ant1 show "Proinos Kafes" which in the early 90s was presented by Roula Koromila. It's taken from the album "Ela Mia Nyxta" (1990):
"Orkisou" was releashed in 1990 as a maxi single, not featured in any of her albums. Here is the first video for the song:
One of the most bubblepop sounding songs of hers was "Ena, Dyo, Tria" from her 1989 homonymous album. Check out the hilarious video for the song with the travestite actor:
And a last one. "Ksipnaei o allos mou eautos" from her 1992 album "Nerompogies".
I hope I took you back several years and remember your youth. If you wanna see more videos of Alexia check the YouTube user http://youtube.com/profile?user=AlexiaFanClub. There you can find all Alexia's videos available in You Tube.
Oh God, I missed 80s, even the greek ones!
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