Chrysanthi-Pagona Pytiropoulou (; born December 7, 1982), better known as Chrispa () 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. She has released five studio albums.

Early life

Chrispa was born Chrisanthi-Pagona Pitiropoulou (Chris-pa) in

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 ...

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 ...

on 7 December 1982. ''

MAD TV ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series created by David Salzman, Fax Bahr, and Adam Small. Loosely based on the humor magazine '' Mad'', ''Mad TVs pre-taped satirical sketches were primarily parodie ...

''. Retrieved 22 April 2008 At the age of five, she moved to Pireus,

where she began to experiment with music and dance. Originally, she had no dream to become a singer, and loved ballet. ''Music.net.cy''. Retrieved 22 April 2008 After thirteen years of ballet, she left it behind partly because of her short height, and pursued musical instruments, taking courses at her school for

phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...

, piano and guitar. Chrispa's singing career began at age 18 when she sang a song with Sofia Vossou at her summer concert in

Aegina Aegina (; ; ) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina (mythology), Aegina, the mother of the mythological hero Aeacus, who was born on the island and became its king. ...

. Vossou described Chrispa's voice as "very good" and her connections eventually helped Chrispa get a record contract with Alpha Records. Her talent was quickly realized and she sang in more concerts with other popular singers such as Stamatis Gonidis, Labis Livieratos, and

Themis Adamantidis Themis Adamantidis (; born 28 September 1957) is a Greek singer and songwriter. He released around two dozen full-length studio albums, on Columbia Records, Minos Records/EMI and WEA The Wea were a Miami–Illinois-speaking Native Americ ...

Musical career

2003–2007: Getting started

In the spring of 2003, at the age of 21, Chrispa released her debut album, titled '' ora'' with Alpha Records. The first single from the album, "Esena Thelo", gained radio success and had a music video and remix. Chrispa's next album was the self-titled '' Chrispa'' in 2004 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 ...

. A repackaged album was released in 2005, titled '' Chrispa 100%''. The compilation featured hits from her first two albums; a new single, "Mou Kani Plaka O Theos," which became a radio hit; a DVD of her music videos; and remixes. Also from the album were the radio hits "An Den Ipirhes", "Savvatokiriako", "Fevgo Gia To 7", "I Kolasi Eimai Ego", and "Pali Tha Peis Signomi". 2005 also brought several collaborations for Chrispa. She sang with Giorgos Tsalikis and

Constantinos Christoforou Constantinos Christophorou (Κωνσταντίνος Χριστοφόρου, born in Limassol, Cyprus on 25 April 1977) is a Greek-Cypriot singer. He represented Cyprus in Eurovision Song Contest as a solo singer with " Mono Yia Mas" (1996) a ...

in the summer, while during the winter of 2005–2006 she went on the road with

Elli Kokkinou Elli Kokkinou (, ; born 24 July 1970) is a Greek singer. Sony BMG Greece. Retrieved on February 20, 2008 She is among the most popular singers in Greece today and has performed together with many notable Greek names of the music industry such a ...

, the Andreas Stamos, Constantinos Christoforou and

Kalomoira Maria Kalomira Sarantis (; born January 31, 1985), known professionally as Kalomira (sometimes Romanization of Greek, transliterated as Kalomoira), is a Greek-American singer. Born and raised on Long Island, just outside of New York City in the ...

. In 2006 and 2007, she released two more albums, ''Posa Hrostao'' and ''Kathreftis'' respectively. The first single from ''Kathreftis'' is "Mia Stigmi", which was made into a music video.

2008–present: From Eurovision to "Eisai asteri" and "Me skotonei"

She was a candidate in the Greek national final to represent Greece in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcasting Unio ...

. Chrispa had chosen a song composed by Marios Psimopoulos with lyrics by Antonis Papas. The provisional title of the song was "SOS For Love", but later it was changed to "

A Chance to Love "A Chance to Love" is a song and CD single by Greek singer Chrispa. It was Chrispa's entry in a race to be the Greek representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. About It was officially released to the media and radios by ERT on Februar ...

". The song has an ethnic style, described as a "Dance Oriental",''National Final, 27 February 2008,

Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly shortened to ERT (), is the state-owned public radio and television broadcaster of Greece. History Overview ERT began broadcasting in 1938 as the Radio Broadcasting Service or YRE (). Followin ...

(ERT).'' with lyrics in both

and English. At the national final, held on 27 February 2008, Chrispa performed "A Chance to Love" first out of the three participants. She placed third with 15.9% of the vote.

Kostas Martakis Kostas Martakis (; born 25 May 1984) ERT. Retrieved on February 19, 2008 is a Greek singer and model who rose to fame after appearing on Greek talent show ''Dream Show'' aired by Alpha TV in 2006. Following his participation, he released five stu ...

placed second, and

went to Eurovision with " Secret Combination", eventually placing third. On 6 October 2009, Chrispa released her fifth studio album, titled '' Mehri Edo''. It included eleven new tracks composed by Stefanos Korkolis, with lyrics by Rebecca Roussi. It was reported that Chrispa had expressed dissatisfaction with her label's lack of promotion of the album, and as a result, considered prematurely exiting her contract with

. Since that album, Chrispa has released four digital singles: "Den yposxomai tipota" (I can't make any promises) (2010), "Eisai asteri" (You're a star) (2011), "Kolla 5" (Hi5) (2012) and "Me skotonei" (It's killing me) (2013).

TV appearances

''Dancing With the Stars''

Since October 2013, Chrispa has appeared as a contestant on the Greek

Dancing with the stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

. Though the judges appear to be very harsh on her, giving her low scores, she has managed to remain in the game as a result of the game's televoting. It is even mentioned on social media that her popularity has increased after the guest judge (Giorgos Liagkas) insulted her.

Other TV appearances

Chrispa has appeared in many Greek TV shows promoting her songs. In 2009 she guest starred on the Greek sitcom ''Polikatoikia''. She also appeared on the TV show ''Pame paketo'', where she invited her music teacher

Sofia Vossou Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river and has many mineral springs, such as the ...

to thank her publicly for believing in her and helping her to have a career. Another notable appearance was on the Greek ''Big Brother'', where she entered the house, as a part of a game, in order to harass the contestants.

Personal life

Chrispa married Panagiotis Nikolaou in July 2010. The two had met a year earlier, and they were engaged a month after meeting.

Discography

Albums

*2003: ''Tora'' (Greece #49) *2004: '' Chrispa'' (Greece #32) *2006: ''Posa Hrostao'' (Greece #1; gold) *2007: ''Kathreftis'' (Greece #6) *2009: '' Mehri Edo''

CD singles

*2004: "Mou Kani Plaka O Theos" *2007: "Diki Sou Gia Panta" (Remix) *2008: "

Digital singles

*2004: "Oh God" *2005: " Boro Boro" vs Chiculata feat.

Sarbel Charbel Michael (; ; born 14 May 1981) known mononymously as Sarbel, is a British-Cypriot pop singer. His singles include " Se Pira Sovara", and albums '' Parakseno sinesthima'', ''Sahara'' and '' Kati san esena''. Ηe represented Greece in th ...

*2008: "Hawaii" feat. Master Tempo *2010: "Den Yposhome Tipota" *2011: "Eisai Asteri" feat. BO *2012: "Kolla 5" *2013: "Me skotonei" *2014: "Den Erotevome" ("Ola Kala") *2015: "Den Ektimas Me Tipota" *2016: "Etimasou" *2016: "Ta' Theles" *2017: "Aladdin" *2018: "Kane Oneira" *2019: "Eheis Trelathei"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chrispa 1982 births Living people Greek laïko singers 21st-century Greek women singers Minos EMI artists Singers from Athens