Giorgos Alkaios

Giorgos Alkaios (Greek: Γιώργος Αλκαίος; born 24 December 1971) is a Greek recording artist.

His career began in 1989 after appearing on a Greek reality show.

Following a brief period of stage acting, Alkaios dedicated himself to music.

His first single, "Ti Ti", made him popular in Greece.

His distinctive musical style fuses Greek and Oriental elements with modern pop music.

To date he has been certified with 5 platinum and 9 gold albums.

Alkaios first television appearance came in September 1989 at the age of seventeen on one of the first reality shows in Greece, "Ela Sto Fos" (Come to the light), on ET 2.

The show featured 1,500 new actors, singers, and dancers, which were later narrowed down to twenty, with Alkaios being one of them.

While on the show, he studied dance with Daniel Lomel, acting with Niki Triantafilidou, and music with Giorgos Hatzinasios, among others.

During the summer of that same year, he auditioned for and won a part in Minoa Vouonaki's play "Sofoklis 'Antigone'", which starred legendary Aliki Vougiouklaki and with music by Mikis Theodorakis.

Rehearsals lasted over two months and the show premiered at the ancient theater Epidavros.

At the time, Alkaios became the youngest actor to be cast in a historic play and also perform in a historical theater.

During the same summer, Alkaios decided to change his focus from theatre to music.

He was then introduced by fellow singer Christos Dantis to BMG A&R Director Vangelis Yannopoulos, while recording his debut album for BMG, "Aman".

Vangelis Yannopoulos auditioned Alkaios (who, at that moment still bore his name, Vassileiou) and decided to sign him with the record company.

Together, they found Alkaios' future "sound" and "style".

In the summer of 1991 Alkaios went on tour all over Greece along with his fellow Christos Dantis.

In September of that same year, Alkaios participated in the Thessaloniki Song Contest with the song "Den Me Theleis Tolmiro", where he officially started to go by the name "Giorgos Alkaios" as opposed to his birth name which he had used up until that point.

Alkaios beat out then newcomer Sakis Rouvas, and won the award for "Best Vocals" by one point.

Before the release of his debut album, Alkaios also began writing music for other singers including Alexia (for the album "Matia mou", BMG, also a Vangelis Yannopoulos' production) and Notis Sfakianakis.

One of the songs he wrote during that time was "Opa Opa" for Sfakianakis' album of the same name.

This was Sfakianakis' first release with Minos EMI after his departure from Sony Music Entertainment Greece.

The song was also covered by Helena Paparizou's band Antique) and Despina Vandi.

In 1992, Alkaios released his debut album titled Me Ligo...Trak.

Music on the album was written by Alkaios, while lyrics were exclusively written by Evi Droutsa who finished the record production that Vangelis Yannopoulos had initiated.

The single "Ti Ti" (a cover of Khaled's Arabic smash hit "Didi"), and which mean "What ? What ?"

became a massive hit in Greece, and was one of the first Greek songs to mix oriental sounds with Western pop, following thus the paths that Christos Dantis' "Aman" had traced before, thus confirming Greek new music standards at the time.

During the next nine years, Alkaios collaborated with Gavrilis Pantzis, new BMG A&R Director after the departure of Vangelis Yannopoulos to Minos Emi, leading to many gold and platinum albums.

For the next five years, he wore a black scarf on his right hand that became his trademark, while he also became one of the first few Greek male artist that openly embraced fashion.

Alkaios represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "OPA", and placed 8th in the Final.

Giorgos Alkaios was born in Athens to Greek and Portuguese parents.

He is the son of Giannis Vassiliou, a successful Greek elafro-laiko singer.

His mother, Maria (Rodrigues) Griggs – Author of "Mama Sou: Metamorphosis of a Mother" and accomplished IT Programmer Analyst – recently returned to Boston, MA after 8 years living in Pembroke, Maine where she focussed on writing her memoir of the abduction of her son by his father.

Immediately after his birth, Alkaios moved to Boston, where he lived for three years.

Shortly after his parents divorced, he moved back to Greece with his father at age three.

Raised primarily by his grandmother Anna, he lived in Halandri and spent his summers in Salamina with friends and relatives during his childhood.

He got his first job at the age of twelve.

From a young age Alkaios showed his love for music and sports.

His first experience with music and theatre came at a summer camp in Varimpompi, where he was also a camp counsellor for four years.

At the age of sixteen Alkaios dropped out of high school to become an electrician by attending Delta school where he obtained a degree.