Katy Garbi

Katerina "Katy" Garbi (Κατερίνα "Καίτη" Γαρμπή, ; born 8 June 1961) is a Greek singer active in Greece and Cyprus, with some popularity in Turkey.

Her career has spanned over 35 years with over 2 million records sold in Greece and abroad.

Garbi's performance placed Greece 9th with 64 points.

Garbi holds the Eurovision record for the individual singer with the longest camera close-up.

During her performance, the camera showed a focused close-up of Garbi, fixed for 43 seconds before cutting to a different angle.

Katy Garbi began her singing career with her younger sister Liana, as the "Garbi Sisters", in the summer of 1977, when she was just 16 years old and Liana just 13.

Due to their age, their father was against their work as singers, but he did not want to stand in the way of the future that he felt their talent offered them.

They are most remembered for the backing vocals they provided at Yannis Floriniotis's performances in the early eighties.

Breaking away from the duo with her sister Liana, Garbi recorded her first solo song "Sain Trope".

Her official debut in discography came in 1987, when she appeared as one of the artists on a new compilation album called Ta Deka Dekaria alongside other new singers including Manto, Polina, Sophia Vossou and Laurentis Mahairitsas.

In addition to "Sain Trope", early contributions also included a duet with Kostas Haritodiplomenos titled "Glyka".

With the success of the first album, the second volume was released in 1989 which featured Garbi in two new songs titled "Ah, Afto Mou Aresei" and "Zo Na S'Agapo".

These early songs grabbed the attention of Greek music executives, and led her to her first record contract with CBS Records Greece, paving the way for her first studio album in 1989.

Two years after her recorded music debut, Garbi released her debut personal album titled Prova (Rehearsal) in 1989.

In 1990 and 1991 she released her second and third studio albums: Gyalia Karfia (Glass and nails) and Entalma Silepseos (Arrest warrant), respectively.

Both albums fared well and allowed her to rise in the ranks of the Greek music scene.

By 1992, Garbi released her fourth album Tou Feggariou Anapnoes (The Breaths of the Moon).

Garbi took on a more pop approach to her music, faring well with audience as she would gain her first certification when the album achieved gold certification by IFPI.

Garbi represented Greece in the annual Eurovision Song Contest in 1993 with the song "Ellada, chora tou fotos", taking ninth place.

In 1993, she accepted the offer to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993 with the song "Ellada, chora tou fotos", where she stirred up controversy in the Greek media due to the slitted blue dress she wore.

Following her highly publicized participation at Eurovision, Garbi's popularity began to climb, releasing albums that reached platinum certification, including gold album Os Ton Paradeiso (Until paradise) and the platinum album Atofio Hrysafi (Pure gold) in 1994.

During that time, Garbi released a duet with her then boyfriend Dionisis Shinas.

Years later he would make a marriage proposal live in front of a national TV audience while promoting the song on Mega Channel's show Bravo hosted by Roula Koromila.

From 1994 to 1997, Garbi won eight Pop Corn Greek Music Awards.

Her 1994, 1996, and 1997 releases were awarded as the best albums in each year at the Pop Corn Greek Music Awards.

Garbi's discography is marked by several multi-platinum releases, including Arhizo Polemo (1996) and Evaisthisies (1997), two of the best-selling albums of the decade.

In 1996, Garbi released Arhizo Polemo (I'm starting a war), which was eventually certified three times platinum.

In 1997, Garbi followed up her success by releasing her eighth studio album titled Evaisthisies (Sensitivities) which also reached 3× platinum status.

The album included a duet with rising singer Antonis Remos on the song "Asimfonia Haraktiron" (Personality Clash).

That same year, Garbi also performed at Radio City Music Hall on 9 May 1997, becoming the first Greek female artist to do so.

For Christmas 1998, Garbi recorded a Christmas album of popular Christmas carols titled Hristougenna Me Tin Katy (Christmas With Katy) all adapted with Greek lyrics by Eleni Giannatsoulia.

The album had been a wish by Garbi for many years.

Hristouyenna Me Tin Katy is a collaboration with well-known Greek children's choir of Spiros Labros, while the internationally known tenor Konstantinos Paliatsaras is also featured on one track.

Since its release in 1998, sales of the album have increased with the coming of each Christmas season.

1999 saw the release of Garbi's platinum album Doro Theou (Gift of God) as a dedication to her newborn baby boy Dimitris.

The title track was written in celebration of Garbi and Shina's one year wedding anniversary.

She later struck her biggest commercial success with To Kati (2000) in terms of unit sales.

Over the years, Garbi has won 11 Pop Corn Music Awards, including three for Album of the Year, and one Arion Music Award.

In fact, although it was popular during the time of its release, it was not until 2002 when it gained its gold certification, four years after its release.

On 14 March 2010, Alpha TV ranked her among the top-certified female artists in Greece's phonographic era (since 1960).