Peggy Zina

Panagiota-Calliope Chrysicopoulou (Παναγιώτα-Καλλιόπη Χρυσικοπούλου; born 8 March 1975), known professionally as Peggy Zina (Πέγκυ Ζήνα), is a Greek singer.

Peggy Zina was born in Athens on March 8, 1975.

She began piano lessons at the age of five and studied dancing, particularly the jazz genre.

During her teens, Peggy Zina participated in many artistic school activities, including theater and choir.

She graduated from the Jeanne D'Arc Academy of Athens.

Her father, Giorgos Zinas, died when she was 14 years old at the age of 56.

Her mother, Stella Chrysikopoulou, remarried Nikos Tsiftelis, who Zina has credited with raising and supporting her as if he were "her real father."

She made her recording debut in 1995 with her self-titled album.

She has since released twelve studio albums and is a high-profile artist in the Greek music industry.

Peggy Zina's self-titled debut album was released in 1995 by BMG Greece.

The album includes her first hit with the controversial title and lead lyric "An Pas Me Alli Tha Sou Spaso to Kefali" (If you go with another woman I will break your head).

She began working with Lefteris Pantazis at the Neraida Club in 1995 and then with Notis Sfakianakis at Gazi club in 1996.

She released her second album in 1998 with the title Anevaines (You rose), and recorded a duet with Stelios Rokkos on his single "Eisai O Ilios Mou" ("You Are My Sun). She then worked with Sakis Rouvas at the Vios Vios Club in 1999.

In 2000, Peggy Zina changed recording companies and signed with Nitro Music and drastically altered her look.

On July 4, 2000 she released a four-track CD single titled "Ti Th' Akouso Akoma" (What else will I hear) with the title track being the first single from her third album Ena Hadi (A caress) which was released in 2001.

Later that same year she worked with Christos Dantis and Notis Sfakianakis at the Cosmos Club.

On 30 January 2002, she was recommended by Thanos Kalliris to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest.

She accepted his proposal to sing a song written by him.

On 26 February 2002, she participated in the Greek National Final with the song "Love Is a Wonderful Thing".

She took the second place to Michalis Rakintzis with his song "S.A.G.A.P.O." ("I Love You") who went on to finish at a disappointing seventeenth place.

The single gained a gold certification in just a few weeks.

Zina released her fourth album Vres Enan Tropo (Find a Way) in 2002.

For this album, she cooperated with many famous singers, like Giannis Parios who gave her four modern laïka songs and acknowledged Zina as an important singer of the "laïko" genre.

She continued to perform at "Maskes" in Thessaloniki for the third consecutive year and due to its success she repeated the same music program in Athens.

After four years with Nitro Music and due to the company's closure, Peggy Zina signed with Minos EMI, to what had been described as a lucrative record deal.

She released her fifth album, Mazi Sou (With You) in 2003 which became platinum in just a few weeks, selling over 40,000 copies.

The album included two massive hits: "Eimai Kala" ("I'm Fine") and "Dystihos" ("Unfortunately").

Zina broke the record for the most performances at Apollon club by surpassing 100 performances.

In the winter of the same year Zina worked alongside Nikos Vertis, Thanos Petrelis, Kostas Karafotis and Apostolia Zoi at Pili Aksiou.

Her popular performances helped raise the album Mazi Sou to platinum in January 2004.

After finishing her performances in Athens, Peggy Zina went to Thessaloniki and worked with the band Fili Gia Panta and many new singers.

Working continuously for a year and a half, Peggy Zina released her new album Matono (I'm bleeding) in 2004.

Upon return to Athens, she started performing at Apollon for a fourth year, this time alongside Kostas Karafotis and Nino.

Peggy Zina received her second platinum certification for Matono and she also won her first Arion Award for the Best Folk (Laiko) Singer of the Year.

In Spring 2005, she and Nino performed abroad in Australia and United Kingdom, while in United States and Canada she toured with rising singers Giorgos Lianos and Maro Litra.

In September 2005, Peggy Zina released her seventh album with the title Noima (Meaning) on which she cooperated for the first time with renowned composer Giorgos Theofanous.

The album was released with four different covers designed by Konstantinos Rigos.

The album became gold from the first day of its release and after a few months it gained platinum certification.

Once again she won the Arion Award for Best Folk (Laiko) Singer of the Year.

On 15 March 2010, Alpha TV ranked Zina the 24th top-certified female artist in the nation's phonographic era (since 1960), totalling nine (at the time) platinum and two gold records.