Lisa Andreas (born Lisa Large; 22 December 1987) is an English singer.
She represented
Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004
Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song "Stronger Every Minute" performed by Lisa Andreas. The song was written by Mike Connaris, who had twice written a runner up in Eurovision selection process for the United Kin ...
and came fifth with her performance of "Stronger Every Minute". At the age of 16, Andreas was the youngest singer to take part in the competition that year.
2001–2003
Andreas began performing as a solo artist at the age of 13,
[ and won a competition at the Strand in Gillingham. Singing became more important to her and she went on to perform at various concerts and road-shows, giving her talents to support charities such as Children with ]leukaemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...
. She performed in a concert at the Red Cube in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
to raise funds for the New York disaster fund for the 11 September 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
. Andreas has also performed at Pride concerts including Leicester Pride
Leicester Pride is an annual LGBT pride event in Leicester, England, which started to take place in 2001.
The launch project intended to involve the lesbian and gay community in the production of the Leicester Pride Carnival, to involve the whol ...
, Manchester Europride and, with an audience of more than 25,000, at the Cardiff Mardi Gras. She has also worked with the Kent Police
Kent Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the and approximately 1.8 million inhabitants of Kent, a county in the south east of England.
History
On 14 January 1857, a 222-strong 'Kent County Constabulary' was formed u ...
by performing to her peers at Snap shows in Kentish schools.Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...
in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. Andreas was the youngest artist taking part in the competition, and came fifth with the song " Stronger Every Minute" an emotional power-ballad, a placing that gave Cyprus the right to participate in the finals for the 50th Eurovision Song Contest 2005
The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "Wild Dances" by Ruslana. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...
, without having to take part in the semi-final.
2004–present
In December 2004, Andreas split from her previous management. She is currently writing and co-producing her own songs.
Andreas appeared at the Eurovision night Stockholm Pride
Stockholm Pride (styled as STHLM Pride) is an annual gay pride festival held in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Since the start in 1998, Stockholm Pride has grown. In 2014, some 60,000 participated and 600,000 followed the parade at the streets ...
festival in summer 2004. She danced at Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established t ...
in London in March 2005. On 22 February 2006, she was back in Cyprus, performing in the Cyprus finals of Eurovision 2006 for special celebrations commemorating the 25 years which Cyprus takes part in the Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pri ...
competition.
She participated in the fourth series of British TV's ''The X Factor
''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...
'' where she made it through to the second round.
Personal life
Andreas was born in England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
to a British father and a Greek Cypriot mother but christened in Cyprus. She lived in Nicosia
Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaori ...
for two and a half years as an infant, but returned to the United Kingdom after her grandfather had health problems, spending most of her childhood in Gillingham, Kent
Gillingham ( ) is a large town in the unitary authority area of Medway in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham. It is also the largest town in t ...
.[
She was a pupil at ]Chatham Grammar School for Girls
Chatham Grammar School for Girls ("CGSG") is a girls grammar school with academy status and a mixed sixth form. In September 2017 it became a member school of the University of Kent Academies Trust (UKAT), joined with another secondary school ...
in Kent, which granted her two weeks off school for the song contest.[ On her return she passed all ten of her ]GCSEs
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andreas, Lisa
1987 births
Living people
English people of Greek Cypriot descent
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Cyprus
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2004
21st-century English women singers
21st-century English singers