Ivi Adamou

Ivi Adamou (Ήβη Αδάμου, ; born 24 November 1993) is a Greek Cypriot singer.

She was born and raised in Agia Napa, Cyprus and currently resides in Alexandroupoli, Greece.

Adamou rose to recognition in Greece and Cyprus following her participation in the second season of the Greek version of The X Factor, where she was under the mentorship of Giorgos Theofanous.

Right after her elimination from the X Factor, Adamou secured a recording contract with Sony Music Greece.

Ivi Adamou was born on 24 November 1993 in Paralimni, Famagusta, to a Greek Cypriot father and a Bulgarian mother.

She is one of the three children of her family; she has two sisters, one older and one younger.

At the age of 9, she got on the stage for first time and participated in a music competition where she competed with the song "Kaka Paidia" by Anna Vissi and managed to win the competition.

Since that competition, she started music theory, vocal lessons, and piano which allowed her to acquire the suitable skills to win prizes in several local song competitions.

At the age of 15 and during her second year at the lyceum, Adamou auditioned for The X Factor and as she managed to make it through the live shows, she had to be travelling from Cyprus to Greece.

Following her participation in the second series of the Greek version of the X Factor she signed a contract with Sony Music Greece and since then she lives in Greece, where she studied at the Panteion University.

Even though she had started a musical career, she decided to study sociology.

Between 2009 and 2010, Adamou took part in the second series of the Greek version of The X Factor, ending in sixth place.

During her time on the show, she listed Beyoncé as her biggest influence, as well as Christina Aguilera and Whitney Houston.

Nearly all the songs she performed during the show were in the English language with only one of them being in the Greek language.

Adamou sang "Just Dance" on the first live show and she received positive reviews by the judges.

In the second and third live show, she sang P!nk's "Just Like A Pill" and Kelly's "Because of You" respectively and she once again received positive reviews with the latter one being honoured as one of the best performances in the show until then.

However, with her performance of "Papa Don't Preach" by Madonna in the fourth live show she received negative reviews, with Nikos Mouratidis stating that the song didn't suit to her voice.

For the next three live shows, she performed "When I Grow Up", "Hurt" and "Halo" and despite her unsuccessful performance in the fourth live show, they were positively reviewed by the judges.

On the eighth live she performed her first Greek song, "Hristougenna" along with "All I Want For Christmas Is You".

On the ninth live show Adamou performed "Celebration", making it the second song of Madonna that she performed.

She also had a duet with her teammate, Nini; the two performed Anna Vissi's "Dodeka".

On the tenth live show she performed "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" and even though she received mostly positive reviews, Mouratidis had negative opinion on the performance just like he did on her previous performance.

On the eleventh live show, she performed another song from the Pussycat Dolls, "Hush Hush".

For first time, Adamou was in bottom two with Hovig but she was saved by the judges.

In the final showdown, she chose to perform "I Have Nothing", the song she sang in the bootcamp.

Her debut extended play Kalokairi Stin Kardia (2010) was released shortly after her contract with Sony.

The same year, she collaborated with the Spiros Lambrou Choir and released the holiday extended play Christougenna Me Tin Ivi Adamou (2010) and was released as Christmas with Ivi Adamou abroad.

Since 2010, Adamou had several nominations in both the MAD Video Music Awards and the Madame Figaro Awards.

She was named the best Cypriot female performer in 2010 and 2012.

Her debut studio album San Ena Oniro (2011) was released in July 2011 and included the hit singles "Krata Ta Matia Sou Klista", "Kano Mia Efhi" and "Voltes St Asteria".

She gained further recognition from her participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, where she represented Cyprus with the song "La La Love".

She was also awarded as the best singer in Cyprus in 2012 which was the first time that the award was given.

Adamou has also participated in several charities such as "Everything I Can", the campaign for the prevention of cervical cancer, and she was also appointed as the Young Ambassador for the rights of the children by the HFC-UNCRC Policy Center.

A new album, Eho Ourano, was scheduled to be released in summer of 2013 but was never released.

Her second studio album Diko Mou will be released on 28 November 2022.

Adamou has also released songs for movies such as Barbie in A Mermaid Tale and Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale.

In 2015, she made her theatrical debut when she starred in the original musical Barbarella: the 80's Musical.

Influenced by Beyoncé, Whitney Houston, Elena Paparizou, Adamou was often described as the "Pop Queen" or the "Teen Idol" in Greece and was since her participation in The X Factor called as the "Next Big Thing".

Her first extended play was certified gold for selling over 60,000 copies in Greece while the second holiday extended play was certified platinum for selling over 15,000 copies in Portugal.

She graduated and received her diploma in 2015.