Helena Paparizou is a Greek singer, songwriter and television personality. Born and raised in Sweden to Greek parents, she enrolled in various arts schools before launching a career in Sweden in 1999 as a member of the laïko and Eurodance duo Antique, who participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 and afterwards became popular.
Christos Dantis, is a Greek multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, lyricist, and record producer best known for his hits such as "To Palio Mou Palto" and "Ena Tragoudi Akoma" and later for co-writing the song "My Number One" for Elena Paparizou, winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 for Greece.
Sarbel-Michael Maronitis known professionally as Sarbel, is a British-Cypriot pop singer. His singles include "Se Pira Sovara" [ Greek: 'I've just taken you seriously'], and albums Parakseno sinesthima ['Strange feeling'], Sahara and Kati san esena ['Something reminiscent of you']. Ηe represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with "Yassou Maria".
The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the 2005 contest with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), the contest was held at the Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall, and consisted of a semi-final on 18 May, and a final on 20 May 2006. The two live shows were presented by American television personality Maria Menounos and Greek former contestant Sakis Rouvas.
Greece has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 43 times since its debut in 1974, missing six contests in that time. Greece's first win came in 2005 with "My Number One", sung by Helena Paparizou. The Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), broadcasts the event each year and organises the process for the selection of the Greek entry. Greece has never finished last in the contest.
Greece won the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, its first Eurovision Song Contest victory. Greek national broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) internally selected Helena Paparizou who sang "My Number One" in Kyiv, winning the competition with 230 points. The song is written by Manos Psaltakis, Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou. "My Number One" was selected through a national final on 2 March 2005, where the public and a professional jury chose it over three other candidate songs.
Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Yassou Maria", written by Alex Papaconstantinou, Marcus Englöf and Markus Sepehrmanesh. The song was performed by Sarbel. To select their entry for the 2007 contest, which took place in Helsinki, Finland, Greek national television broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) organised the national final Eurovision 2007 which took place on 28 February 2007. The event saw three acts—Sarbel, Tamta and Christos Dantis—compete to be the Greek representative.
"Yassou Maria" is a song recorded by Greek-British singer Sarbel, written by Alex Papakonstantinou, Marcus Englöf and Markus "Mack" Sepehrmanesh. It is best known as the Greek entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, held in Helsinki.
Greece entered the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Secret Combination", written by Konstantinos Pantzis with lyrics by Poseidonas Giannopoulos. The song was performed by Kalomira, an American singer of Greek descent who had previously won a Greek talent show. In February 2008, as part of Ellinikós Telikós 2008, the selection process organized by the Greek national broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), three competing artists—Chrispa, Kostas Martakis, and Kalomira—performed their prospective entries live during a televised broadcast watched by nearly two million viewers. "Secret Combination" was selected to represent Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest by a combination of a public televote and panel of judges.
"No Madonna" is a song by Greek singer Christos Dantis. The song was Dantis's entry in a three way race to be Greece's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. He battled both Tamta and Sarbel for the spot, and on February 28, 2007, Greece chose Sarbel's "Yassou Maria". The song came in second place.
Natalia Germanou is a Greek songwriter, television hostess, radio producer and journalist.
Greece competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001, held on 12 May 2001 at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Greek broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) organised a public selection process entitled Ellinikós Telikós 2001 to determine its entry for the contest. Held on 6 March 2001 in Athens, the event saw nine songs compete to be the Greek entry; the results were determined by a combination of jury and televoting. The song "Die for You", written by Nikos Terzis and Antonis Pappas, and performed by Antique received the most votes and was selected to represent the nation. Greece performed 22nd out of the 23 countries competing in the contest and placed third with 147 points, marking their highest placement in the annual event to this point.
Number One is the first DVD video release by Greek singer Helena Paparizou. It is a collection of all her music videos from the beginning of her solo career along with some extra videos. It was released one month before the final of Eurovision Song Contest 2005 where Paparizou won first place.
Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "This Is Our Night" written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, Craig Porteils and Cameron Giles-Webb and performed by Sakis Rouvas. To select their entry for the 2009 contest, which was held in Moscow, Russia, the Greek national broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) internally selected Rouvas, while his song was chosen through the televised national final Ellinikós Telikós 2009, which consisted of three candidate songs voted upon by the public and a jury.
Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "Watch My Dance", written by Giannis Christodoulopoulos and Eleana Vrahali. The song was performed by Loukas Yorkas featuring Stereo Mike. To select their entry for the 2011 contest, which took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, Greek national television broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) organised the national final Ellinikós Telikós 2011 which took place in March 2011. Six competing acts—Antigoni Psihrami, Kokkina Halia, Yorkas, Nikki Ponte, Trimitonio, and Valando Tryfonos—performed their prospective entries live during the televised event, with the winner selected by a combination of a public televote and a panel of judges.
Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Their selected song "Aphrodisiac" was written by Dimitri Stassos, Mikaela Stenström and Dajana Lööf, and was performed by Eleftheria Eleftheriou, who had previously attempted to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. The entry was selected through the televised national final Ellinikós Telikós, organised by the country's public broadcasting service Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) and held on 12 March 2012 at the River West shopping mall in Athens. Due to the debt crisis facing Greece at the time, the record label of the entry was expected to take on the costs of recording and producing the candidate songs. Universal Music Greece was the only label to accept these terms and put forth four competing acts for consideration. The winning act was selected using a combination of jury and televoting. Following the national final, Eleftheriou embarked on a promotional campaign visiting Turkey and the Netherlands.
"Stin Kardia Mou Mono Thlipsi" is a song recorded by Greek-Swedish recording artist Helena Paparizou and written and produced by Grigoris Petrakos. It was released as the fifth and final single from the original edition of her debut album, Protereotita (2004). The song is a downtempo laïko ballad which lyrically speaks of sadness after a break-up and wishing the person to return. It was released in early 2005 shortly after the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation's (ERT) announcement of Paparizou as Greece's entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. The song was not heavily promoted and a proper video was not filmed; rather the video was made at the set of a television interview special she had done in Stockholm. It failed to impact the charts and stands as one of her least successful singles in Greece and Cyprus. She has performed it in a few of her concerts and residency shows. The video was also included on her first video album, Number One (2005).
Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with the song "Alcohol Is Free", written by Elias Kozas and Stathis Pahidis. The song was performed by the band Koza Mostra featuring Agathonas Iakovidis. The entry for the 2013 contest, which took place in Malmö, Sweden, was selected through a four-participant national final entitled Eurosong 2013 – a MAD show. Due to budget cuts facing the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) at the time, the selection process was a organised by a private music channel, MAD TV.
Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "This Is Love" written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, Romy Papadea and John Ballard. The song was performed by Demy, who was internally selected by the Greek broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) to represent Greece at the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. Demy was announced at the Greek representative on 13 January 2017, while a national final was held in order to select the song she would perform. Three songs competed in the national final on 6 March 2017 and a combination of international jury voting and public voting selected "This Is Love" as the winning song.
Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Greek-Dutch singer Stefania was internally selected by the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) to represent the nation with the song "Last Dance", written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, Arcade, and Sharon Vaughn. Stefania was due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Supergirl" before that event's eventual cancellation.
