Charbel Michael (; ; born 14 May 1981) known mononymously as Sarbel, is a British-Cypriot

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

singer. His singles include " Se Pira Sovara", and albums '' Parakseno sinesthima'', ''

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

'' and '' Kati san esena''. Ηe represented Greece in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2007 The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, Finland, following the country's victory at the with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...

with " Yassou Maria".

Biography

Early life

Sarbel was born and raised in

Southgate, London Southgate is a suburban area of north London, England, in the London Borough of Enfield, north of Charing Cross. History Southgate was originally the south gate of Enfield Chase, the King's hunting grounds. This is reflected in the street n ...

, England, to Maronite Cypriot parents; his father, Elias, was a singer and

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute fam ...

player while his mother was a lawyer. Sarbel's family made frequent summer trips to

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

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 ...

. He received a Jesuit education at

St Ignatius' College St Ignatius College is a Catholic Church, Catholic Voluntary aided school, voluntary aided secondary school for boys aged 11–18 in Enfield, London, England, founded by the Society of Jesus in 1894 and completely moved to its present site by 1 ...

in Enfield. Sarbel studied music (voice), drama, art, and

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...

. From the age of 5 to 16 he performed at the

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...

and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and has recorded Tosca in English for Chandos Recordings as the shepherd boy.
He was named after the Maronite Saint Charbel Makhluf, Charbel. His name is correctly pronounced "Sharbel", but since standard

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 ...

lacks a "sh" sound, Greeks pronounce the name "Sarbel" in accordance with the Greek transliteration ("Σαρμπέλ"). Sarbel sang yearly at St Ignatius and other talent shows.

Music career

At the age of 18, Sarbel went to

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, where he sang at the Heraklion Palladium. At the age of 21, still living on the Greek island of Crete, he was signed on by Sony BMG (Greece) on a six-year recording contract.

2004–2005: ''Parakseno sinesthima (Παράξενο Συναίσθημα)''

In 2004 he recorded the Arabic hit " Se Pira Sovara" featuring Greek singer

Irini Merkouri Chrysovalanto Chalilopoulou (; born 26 May 1981), known professionally as Irini Merkouri (, ), is a Greek pop and laïko singer. Career Early life Merkouri was born and raised in Ilion, Greece, Ilion, Athens to Hellenization, Hellenized-Romani pe ...

. The song is based on an Arabic song called " Sidi Mansour" by

Saber Rebaï Saber Rebai (, ''Saber al Ruba'i''; born 13 March 1967) is a Tunisian singer, actor, and composer. He is known for his song " Sidi Mansour". Some albums carry the variant transliteration Saber el Rebaii. He is one of the most well-known artists ...

. On the same CD (a CD single) he released a second duet with Merkouri called "Agapi Mou Esi" My love' In 2005, he released his first solo album, entitled '' Parakseno sinesthima'' (in

Παράξενο συναίσθημα). This album went Gold and was re-released with the Wella-sponsored song "Thelo na Petaxo" I wanna fly' and a bonus track of "Boro Boro", which he made famous during his MAD Award Ceremony appearance. The songs "Se Pira Sovara", "Sokolata" Chocolate' and "Thelo Na Petakso" are some of his notable songs.

2006: ''Sahara''

In July 2006, he released his second album, ''Sahara''. That same year he recorded a duet with Greek singer Natassa Theodoridou called ''Na' Soun Thalassa'' Wish you were seawhich was also included as a bonus song on the album. The album includes "Taxe Mou" Promise me' "Sahara" and "Enas Apo Mas" One of us'

2007: Eurovision and ''Sahara: Euro Edition''

Seeing his growing popularity, Greek television ERT asked Sarbel to compete for a ticket to represent Greece in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

in Helsinki, Finland. Sarbel had to compete against established singer

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 ...

and fellow newcomer singer Tamta. Sarbel enlisted the help of Greek-Swedish composers Alex Papacostantinou, Marcus Englof, and Mack to write his song, who are responsible for many of Greek singer

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 ...

's hits. They wrote the song " Yassou Maria", which is performed in English with only the word 'yassou' (and the name 'Maria') being Greek. There is also a version released in a mix of Greek and English. On 28 February 2007, Sarbel performed the song live against the two singers for the ticket. Although the performance had some sound problems, he went on to receive 39.69% of the combined televotes and jury votes, winning the contest. In an interview in March 2007, Sarbel made it clear that he doesn't want an international career by saying "I don't care either being famous abroad or starting an international career. I only care for Greece. I grew up abroad but choose to live in Greece. I can't tell you whether Eurovision helps my career or not, because I don't know. It's very dangerous. However, it is an experience I want to live. I want to have fun in the Contest and do my best.". Following the win, Sarbel toured Europe to promote his song. He also filmed the video clip for the song and changed the scene performance around a bit. The song eventually placed 7th at the

. On 12 March 2007, ''Sahara'' was re-released as ''Sahara: Euro Edition'' and feature the " Yassou Maria" CD single as a bonus. The CD single for "Yassou Maria" was released on 7 March 2007. The CD single includes " Yassou Maria", "Yassou Maria (Greeklish version)", "Enas Apo Mas (Special Holiday Mix)" and a duet with Persian singer Cameron Cartio called "Mi Chica" which was recorded in a mixture of Greek, English, Spanish and Persian and is Latin in style with Greek pop elements.

2008–2012: ''Kati san esena''

Sarbel started singing at Votanikos club in Athens, at 2008, along with Natassa Theodoridou and Nikos Kourkoulis. The new single "Eho Trelathei" reek for 'I have been driven crazy'was introduced at the Greek National Final 2008 on ERT. It is a blend of oriental elements with the main chorus being rock. This was followed by the release of the album '' Kati san esena''. To promote his new album amongst his fellow Londoners, he performed at the two-day Cyprus Wine Festival of London in 2008. Sarbel felt that "My performance at the Cyprus Wine Festival (in London) is my chance to give something back to my community." And both performances brought tears to his friend's and family's eyes that still live in London.
In July 2009, Sarbel released a two track CD-single titled "Mou Pai" under his new signing with E.DI.EL record label. The second track on the CD called "So Perfect" is a song written by Sarbel. Sarbel toured internationally performing alongside

Giorgos Mazonakis Giorgos Mazonakis (, born 4 March 1972) is a Greek modern folk-pop and pop singer. Biography Giorgos Mazonakis was born and raised in the neighbourhood of Nikaia, Piraeus. He grew up listening to the traditional laiko songs of Stratos Dionysio ...

in Sydney,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

in Australia and other various solo appearances and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. His new CD album was released in the Spring of 2011. The first single from this CD Album was the pre-release from the album and was called "Kafto Kalokairi" with the initial performance at the Pavilion on the 18 March 2011. The release was accompanied by a music video for the single filmed on the cruise ship Cristall. The following single was "Pou Na Girnas" released in November 2011 and was penned by Greek composer Alexis Serkos. The video clip was released in conjunction with single to launch Sarbel's winter tour of

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

and the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

region.

2012–present

After a tour of Dubai, and other Arab countries, Sarbel went back to the studio and recorded a new single "Proti Ptisi" reek for 'First Flight'which was released in early 2013 and followed up with a tour in Crete, Athens, Beirut and Cyprus. He was also involved in his new record company Honeybel Music which produces lounge music predominantly bought and used in Dubai. Sarbel was a guest as well at the London Eurovision Party which took place in the Shadow Lounge in Soho. The event was organised to promote the representatives for this year's Eurovision Song Contest and Sarbel as an earlier contestant was invited to perform by public demand.

Discography

Studio albums

All the albums listed underneath were released and charted in

and

CD singles

Full singles discography

* 2004: " Se Pira Sovara" * 2005: "Sokolata" * 2005: "Thelo na petaxo" * 2006: "Sahara" * 2006: "Takse mou" * 2006: "Enas apo mas" * 2007: " Yassou Maria" * 2008: "Eho trelathei" * 2009: "Mou pai" It suits me'* 2011: "Kafto Kalokairi" Hot summer'* 2011: "Pou Na Girnas" Why come back?'* 2013: "Proti Ptisi"

Music videos

* 2004: "Se pira sovara" * 2005: "Sokolata" * 2005: "Thelo na petaxo" * 2005: "Boro Boro/Chiculata" (Mad Music Awards) eat. Chrispa">Chrispa.html" ;"title="eat. Chrispa">eat. Chrispa* 2006: "Thriller"/"Pano stin trella mou" (Mad Music Awards) [feat. Vanesa Adamopoulou] * 2006: "Taxe mou" * 2006: "Enas apo mas" * 2007: "Yassou Maria" (ERT Promo Video) * 2007: "Yassou Maria" (Official Video Clip) * 2008: "Eho trelathei" * 2009: "Mou paei" * 2011: "Monaxa esy" * 2011: "Kafto Kalokairi" * 2011: "Pou Na Girnas" * 2013: "Proti Ptisi"

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarbel 1983 births Living people British Eastern Catholics English people of Lebanese descent English people of Cypriot descent English people of Greek Cypriot descent English pop singers 21st-century Cypriot male singers MAD Video Music Awards winners Modern Greek-language singers People from Southgate, London People educated at St Ignatius' College, Enfield Singers from the London Borough of Enfield Sony Music Greece artists 21st-century British singers 21st-century British male singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants