Apostolia Zoi (, ) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

singer who was born in

Elassona Elassona (; Katharevousa: ) is a town and a municipality in the Larissa regional unit in Greece. During antiquity Elassona was called Oloosson (Ὀλοοσσών) and was a town of the Perrhaebi tribe. It is situated at the foot of Mount Olympus ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, and she grew up in

Volos Volos (; ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the capital of the Magnesia (regional unit), Magnesia regional unit of the Thessaly Region. Volos ...

. She has released four studio albums.

Biography

Early life

At the age of 14, Apostolia moved to

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

to pursue her interest in diving and swimming where she graduating from the Gymnastics Academy. One night, while out on the town with friends, a singer at a popular club gave her the microphone and Zoi started to sing. The owner of the club saw her talent, and hired her to sing at his club. Apostolia soon realized that she would like to pursue a music career, and began vocal and singing lessons with Christos Lirintzi. At the same time, she was singing with well-known singers such as Vasilis Karras,

Evridiki Evridiki Theokleous (, ; born 25 February 1968), known mononymously as Evridiki, is a Greek Cypriot singer. She is best known in Europe for representing her home country, Cyprus, in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1992, 1994 and 2007 with the s ...

ONE 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, Aggelos Dionisiou, and more. Zoi performed the duet "Maskes" with famed singer

Peggy Zina Panagiota-Calliope Zina (; born 8 March 1975), known professionally as Peggy Zina (), is a Greece, Greek singer. She made her recording debut in 1995 with her Peggy Zina (album), self-titled album. She has since released twelve studio albums and ...

at the club in her last year while living in Thessaloniki and soon left for

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

to further her career.

2003: Beginnings and ''To Proto Vima''

In Athens, her first year of singing in the Athenian music clubs was with

. Soon after, she got a record contract with

Minos EMI Minos EMI is a record label, record company based in Athens, Greece. The company serves as the Greek record label and offices of the multinational Universal Music Group. EMI is credited for founding the record business in Greece in the 1930s, b ...

and released her debut album '' To Proto Vima'' (The First Step) in June 2003. Writers of the album included well established composers such as Evi Droutsa, Marios Psimopoulos, Christodoulos Siganos, and more. The songs "Mi M'Akoubas" and "Shedon Pote" became hits and showcased her talent, while the latter became the theme song for the series of the same name on ERT. In the summer of 2004, she started appearances at popular club "Thalassa" with

Elena Paparizou Helena Paparizou (; ; born 31 January 1982) is a Swedish-Greek singer, and television personality. Born and raised in Sweden to Greek parents, she launched her singing career in Sweden in 1999 as a member of the laïko (Greek folk music) and Eur ...

, Thanos Petrelis, and Nino where she further showcased her vocal abilities.

2004–2005: ''Apo Do Kai Pera'' and "To Kalytero Doro"

After the summer of 2004, she left

and signed with the newly created imprint Virus Music of the Greek independent record company Legend Recordings. In the fall of 2004, she started appearances at the club "Gazi" with Nikos Kourkoulis and Andreas Stamos. In January 2005, she released her second album under Virus titled ''Apo Do Kai Pera'' (From here on out). The single "Krima" written by

Christos Dantis Christos Dantis (; born Christos Vlachakis, 26 September 1966), is a Greek multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, lyricist, and record producer best known for his hits such as "To Palio Mou Palto" and "Ena Tragoudi Akoma" and later for co-w ...

became a huge radio hit, and her first true big hit. The album produced many hits including "Mou Eleipses", "Apo Do Kai Pera", and "De Vazo Ego Mialo", making her a household name. In the summer of 2005, she once again appeared at club "Thalassa", but this time with Thanos Petrelis and Kostas Karafotis. In the winter season of 2005-2006 she continued her collaboration with Petrelis, and was also joined by Katerina Stanisi at club "Apollon". During the Christmas season of 2005, Apostolia released a Christmas themed CD Single along with boyband 4Play under Virus Music titled "To Kalytero Doro" (The best gift). Nikos Terzis penned the tracks, while the CD Single also included Zoi's song "Den Eisai Tou Goustou Mou" as well as 4Play's "Pote". After her shows at club "Apollon" finished in the spring, she started singing at the club "Rodon!" with Andreas Stamos in Thessaloniki until the summer.

2006–present: ''Th' Afisei Epohi'' and ''Me To Heri Stin Kardia''

On May 5, 2006, Apostolia Zoi released her third studio album titled ''"Th' Afisei Epohi"'' (It will leave a history) featuring fifteen new songs. This album featured a bit of a different sound while not completely straying away from the sound of the first two albums. The titled track because a hit, while the album also featured a rap style duet with friend Gianni Tsimitseli titled "Lipstick". In June 2007, Zoi sang a duet remix with the famous

Kostas Tournas Kostas Tournas (; born 23 September 1949) is one of the pioneers of modern Greek rock. He is a singer and composer of many hits in the '70s including ''Ti Na Mas Kanei I Nychta'' (''What Can The Night Do For Us''). He shaped Greek rock music in ...

of "Geia Sou" at the "Mad Music Video Awards". For the winter season of 2007-2008, Zoi sang at "Kendro Athinon" with

Giannis Ploutarhos Yannis Ploutarchos (Greek: Γιάννης Πλούταρχος, ; born 18 December 1970) is a Greek singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most popular laïko singers of his time, and has been characterized with having a genuine laïk ...

, Tamta, and Giannis Vardis. In Fall 2007 she re-signed with her original record company

. She then went into the studio to record new material for her fourth studio album. On June 9, 2008, Zoi released the first single "Ti stis 8, Ti stis 7" exclusively on ''Rythmos FM'' which was followed by the release of her fourth studio album ''Me To Heri Stin Kardia'' on June 23. The second single "Ki Esi Ekei", was released in mid-September 2008 with lyrics by Ilias Fillipou and music by Giorgos Kafetzopoulou.

Nomads

Apostolia won the reality show ''

Nomads Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, Nomadic pastoralism, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and Merchant, trader nomads. In the twentieth century, ...

'' and she gained 100,000 euros.

Discography

Studio albums

All the albums listed underneath were released and charted in

and

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

CD singles

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial fan club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zoi, Apostolia Greek laïko singers 21st-century Greek women singers Minos EMI artists Virus Music artists Living people Musicians from Volos 1980 births People from Elassona