Early life Anna Vissi was born on 20 December 1957 in
Larnaca. She began singing from a very early age, starting her formal musical studies at the age of six at a local conservatory. At the age of twelve she entered a talent competition and won first prize. Two years later, she was the main singer at Ayia Tilliria, which was also her first TV appearance. In 1973, her family moved to
Athens, where she was able to pursue her studies at the National Conservatory. A year later, in October 1993, Vissi landed the leading role of Aphrodite, in the one-act opera
Ode to the Gods by Stavros Sideras. The legal conflict between Vissi and the production company appeared to come to an end when the Court of Appeal of Athens led to the final compromise of the two sides to the sum of €400,000. A sum that the singer would supposed to pay in the company against the initial sum of 2.3 million Euros. Vissi was vindicated by the decision of Supreme Court that halved the €400,000 that Vissi was ultimately required to pay.
1996–1998: Klima Tropiko, Travma, and Antidoto In February 1996, Vissi released the triple-platinum album
Klima Tropiko. The album featured a new sound for Anna Vissi. It has sold 105 thousand copies as of 2009. After giving more than 40 concerts all over
Greece, she started winter appearances at club "Chaos". In February 1997, Vissi won three Greek Music Awards: Best Female Singer, Best Interpretation, and Biggest Airplay Song. For the winter of 1997–1998, Vissi made appearances at club Gazi. On New Year's Eve, by invitation of the
Mayor of Athens, she performed in the Parliament Square in front of more than 20,000 people, an event which was broadcast on TV all over
Greece and
Cyprus. In March 1998, Vissi broke a record, winning seven Greek Music Awards for her album
Travma. A couple of months later, a new CD single was released with the songs "Crush", "Mavra Gyalia" and "Eleni", as well as a re-release of her multi-platinum album
Travma, with a bonus CD containing songs from previous albums, only in Australia. performing at
Asteria in 1998. In April 1998, Vissi released her album titled
Antidoto, which sold more than 80,000 copies in just a week, breaking all previous records to that point. Some months later, her first international single was released titled "
Everything I Am", containing the original version and three remixes of the song (Almighty Mix, Eiffel 65 RMX, Groove Brothers Remix), and a song with both
Greek and English lyrics called "Moro Mou, No Tomorrow". She also filmed her first music video of a song off that single, directed by Antti Jokinen (Solar films,
Finland), that cost 80,000,000 drachmas (US$310,000). Apart from the English-language single, she also released the Greek-language single "
Agapi Ipervoliki" on an EP of the same name containing six new songs. It became triple platinum and finally settled at four-times platinum. A week after its release in
Greece, the album reached gold status (20,000+ copies), while Australia, South Africa, Spain, Italy, France, Germany,
Turkey, Finland,
Norway, and Asia started to promote it with little success. In November 2000,
Kravgi was released. It was a double album with 24 new songs and included a duet with
Katy Garbi. It reached 3× platinum status in one month, setting a record, and eventually went seven-times platinum, having sold 175 thousand copies (350 thousand units) as of 2009, while she accepted the invitation of the Mayor of Athens to perform in the Parliament Square, at the celebrations of the 2001 New Year's Eve. On 6 June 2001, she was the main singer in a production in
Bucharest (Unirii square, nearby river Dambovitei) along with the No Smoking band and the cinema director and producer
Emir Kusturica. The concert (2001, Peace Odyssey) included a multimedia show, opening with a water screen. More than 150,000 people were present. Kusturica along with producer and director Angelos Hadjiandreou undertook the artistic direction of the event, marrying music with the most modern expression of art. Three months later, on 5 September 2001, she gave a concert in
Cyprus (GSP Stadium), singing in front of more than 18,000 viewers, for more than three hours where she was awarded for the seven-times platinum
Kravgi.
2002–2004: Mala, Chi, and Paraksenes Eikones ''. In early 2002, Vissi starred in the musical
Mala – I Mousiki Tou Anemou, based on a true love story that took place during
World War II in
Auschwitz, between
Mala Zimetbaum and Edward Galiñski. The musical was shown on
Mega Channel a year later. An album containing the songs performed at the play was also released and charted, reaching gold status in Greece and platinum in Cyprus. This was Vissi's first album since 1981's
Anna Vissi that included songs written by other composers besides Nikos Karvelas. The album produced many hits. To promote the album, she started appearing at "Diogenis Studio" for the winter season 2003–2004, with
Konstantinos Christoforou,
Nino and girl band
Hi-5. with Labis Livieratos (with whom she collaborated in the early 1990s), while in July, her album
Paraksenes Eikones was re-released with a bonus CD single called
Remixes 2004, which went gold. On 29 August 2004, Vissi performed at the closing ceremony of the
XXVIII Olympiad, in
Athens. She then gave a concert in
Cyprus on 3 September, at the GSP Stadium in
Nicosia, where she sang for the first time her new English song called "Call Me". ". On 20 December 2004, Vissi released a live album and DVD, There she sang her new English song "Lie" and surprised fans and media by appearing on stage with half her head shaved. This performance was considered by many to be her comeback to the Greek music scene after an absence of more than a year. The album went platinum within 24 hours of its release and peaked at number one on the
IFPI Greek Top 50 albums chart, selling 40 thousand copies. The dual disc version featured special footage from her and
Nikos Karvelas in the studio. In the album, there is a song featuring the lead singer of the Greek hip-hop band
Goin' Through called "Erota I Polemo" ("Love or War").
Euro Edition also contains the three other Greek Eurovision Preselection songs: "Beautiful Night", "Who Cares About Love" and "Welcome to the Party", which has entered the playlist of American satellite radio station "Sirius Beat". During the contest, Vissi performed in the 16th spot of the night and appeared alone on stage, wearing a
Jean-Paul Gaultier outfit. Although she had been one of the favourites during the pre-contest period, she only managed to get 9th place with 128 points (hers was one of the two pre-qualified entries to finish in the top 10, the other being
Romania). The other eight songs were all qualified from the semi-final.
Finland won the contest with the rock band
Lordi and their song "Hard Rock Hallelujah". In interviews prior to the contest, she had stated that if there was anyone she would like to lose to, it would be the Finnish entry.
Lordi had also expressed their liking of the Greek song in interviews. Following the contest, "
Everything" was released in
Finland on 24 May 2006, by
Sony BMG Finland. It had already been released in
Sweden and it peaked at 24. It featured a different cover, than the original single. The dual disc version of
Nylon was also re-released with the Eurovision single. Vissi gave a concert at London's
Royal Albert Hall on 27 May 2006. The tour was called 'The Best of Anna Vissi 2006' and was covered by
Alpha TV. In the fall of 2006, she embarked on a Greek mini-tour, performing around
Greece in sold-out concerts, as well as
Cyprus with
Goin' Through. In the beginning of 2007, Vissi moved to Los Angeles, United States to start work on an English album. In February 2007, she accompanied longtime friend
Patricia Field to the
Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, United States. in 2007. Vissi also embarked on a world tour in January 2007. She travelled to Australia with
Konstantinos Christoforou and had three concerts in Melbourne and Sydney, and from 10 April 2007 through 1 May 2007, she toured North America. Along with Takis Zacharatos, she performed in Chicago, New York City,
Atlantic City,
Connecticut (
Foxwoods), Los Angeles,
Montreal, and
Toronto. Vissi continued her tour in October 2007 with a European mini-tour. The concerts included
Amsterdam and
Brussels with her concert in Paris being cancelled without an explanation. During the tour, she stated that she was only halfway through her world tour. In September 2007,
Sony BMG released a compilation titled
The Essential Anna Vissi in select markets. The album contains seventeen tracks, including some of Vissi's biggest hits. It also includes the previously leaked, but unofficially released English song "Is it Safe?" In November 2007, she held a special charity concert in London for the "Oinoussian Benevolent Fund". It was held at the "Royal Opera House" in Covent Garden with the
London Philharmonic Orchestra and she raised £250,000, excluding the entrance tickets costing £200.
2008–2009: Apagorevmeno On New Year's Day, Vissi kicked off the new year by holding a large concert in
Larnaca, Cyprus. She spent a large portion of 2007 and 2008 recording her English album. In an interview with fans, she discussed the album, describing it as
"a rock album with unbelievably nice songs, that some of the biggest people in the USA music industry worked on. It is an album that could only be made in the USA, that represents who I am, and I believe that this album will be a big plus in my career so far." It was revealed that the album will be released in the first half of 2009. In April 2008,
MAD TV hosted a competition for its "Greek Week", in which visitors to their website were able to vote for their ten favourite Greek music videos, with the winners being showcased in a special "Greek Top 30 Countdown" on 20 April. Vissi was the most nominated artist with thirteen music videos, and managed to secure the number one position with "Treno", while "Agapi Ipervoliki" came in at number four when the top 30 were announced. On 28 June 2008, Vissi posted the song "Diri Dakta", that had been recorded previously, on her official MySpace profile for her fans; the song did not appear on her new album. Later in the year, on 4 October 2008, Vissi held a charity gala at the
Grosvenor House Hotel in London. A bonus track from the Greek album was released on 29 October 2008, along with its music video. The song, titled "
To Parelthon Mou" ("My Past"), is the title track to the Greek film
Bank Bang, released in December 2008. The music video for the song was filmed on 22 October 2008, at
The Mall Athens. It was the first album since 1983 not to include any songs and, generally, any input by
Nikos Karvelas. The reason she gave for this in an interview with "Down Town" magazine was that the two had got tired of each other, but clarified that this did not rule out a collaboration in the future. The album was certified gold in the first week of release, and reached number one on its second week on the charts before settling at 2× platinum status. As of April 2009, the album has sold 27 thousand copies. and changing musical tastes, leading to a general decline of the laiko-pop scene and image-based singers, Despite these comments, Apagorevmeno became the biggest selling album by a female artist in Greece for the year 2009. On 24 February 2009, Vissi renewed her contract with
Sony Music Greece. Vissi had originally planned to start appearances at "Athinon Arena" in February 2009, as part of her comeback and for promotion of the new album, however, she decided to hold a concert in
Athens during the summer, instead. The tour began in July 2009 and all appearances were sold out throughout
Greece. The tour ended with a concert at GSP Stadium in
Nicosia, Cyprus, on 25 September 2009; overall, the tour was a success for Vissi, who had not performed for the Greek audience in four years. On 16 November 2009,
Apagorevmeno was re-released as
Apagorevmeno+ with three new songs and two remixes in special ecological packaging. Vissi started appearances at "Athinon Arena" on 6 November 2009 with Greek band Ble, Yiorgos Sambanis, Mario, Vera Boufi, Elissavet Spanou, Michalis Zeis and DJ Dim Trik. The show was named "The Fabulous Show", after her then-latest single, "Fabulous", which was included in
Apagorevmeno+. The show marked the comeback of Anna Vissi in the nightlife of
Athens after four years of absence and received good reviews. Vissi was on stage for almost 4 hours every Thursday, Friday and Saturday until closing night on 20 March 2010. The show proved to be a huge success both artistically and commercially. After the run in Athens the show moved to
Thessaloniki on 3 April 2010 with spectacular opening night attendance.
2010–2011: Agapi Einai Esi, and Oso Eho Foni performing at Athinon Arena in 2011. On 9 October 2010, Vissi released the single "
Agapi Einai Esi". The music and lyrics are by Nikos Karvelas, the song being their first collaboration in four years. On 24 October, she released a three-track CD single titled "
Agapi Einai Esi" packaged with newspaper "Real News" nationwide, while on 19 December she released the new studio album
Agapi Einai Esi. For the winter season 2010–11, Vissi teamed up with
Sakis Rouvas for a concert series at
Athinon Arean called Face2Face, beginning on 15 October,. This marked their first appearance and collaboration since they both appeared together at club Chaos in 1996, as well as being Vissi's second year in a row appearing at Athinon Arena. The show extended to 19 March, (as Rouvas was scheduled for surgery prior to his Easter solo shows) and was the most successful show of the season. In late December 2010, Vissi launched a songwriting contest for amateur writers to submit songs to her, which lasted until mid-February 2011. Vissi released a documentary named "Oso Eho Foni" on
Alpha TV on 30 March 2011. Described as a
rockumentary by Vissi, she first confirmed she was filming with director and friend Christine Crokos in July 2010. The show, which Vissi has stated is not a reality show, focusses on Vissi's everyday life and include footage from the last three years, including her proceeds recording album, practising with Rouvas for the Face2Face show, and meetings with
Jean Paul Gaultier and
Dave Stewart. Vissi performed a charity concert at the
OACA stadium on 15 April 2011 to raise money to save the amateur league Panathinaikos football team. On 27 April, Vissi gave a charity concert for the Sophia Foundation in Nicosia. In May 2011, Vissi embarked on a North American & Canadian tour. On May in interview in Los Angeles said that she will do a concerts in Germany and Cyprus. On 15 June 2011, Vissi began the European Tour and the first concert was to take place in Limassol, and two days later, on 17 June, in Bucharest. In September 2011 Vissi performed a mini-Cypriot tour titled
Etsi Apla, performing four concerts. On 5 November 2011 Vissi performed in Stuttgart, Germany. On 12 November, Vissi was awarded by Hellenic Charity Ball who recognised the brightest arts and entertainment luminaries in the Greek-American community.The ceremony take place in San Francisco. On 5 December, premiered exclusively released on Rythmos FM the first song "Mono an trelatho" ("Only if I go crazy").
Late 2011–2012: Dodeka, Tirannieme; other releases On 16 December 2011, Vissi started appearing at club REX in a concert series titled "Dodeka" with Mairi Linta. The show is very successful and a lot of Greek celebrities and thousands of fans visit Rex every weekend to watch the best Vissi's show in all the 2000s. On 28 March, released the music video for "Ora na fevgo". On 27 May, premiered on Dromos FM the song "Tiraniemai". On 28 June released the music video for "Tiraniemai" ("Tyranny"). The song reached the top Greek charts and Greek Airplays and came first in Greek iTunes charts. On 12 July, premiered on Lampsi FM the song "Venzini" ("Gasoline"). On 20 July, she released the five-track CD single "
Tiraniemai" packaged with magazine
Tiletheatis nationwide. The CD single features "Tiraniemai", a remix of "Tiraniemai", "Ora na Fevgo", "Mia Nihta to Poli", "Venzini", a remix of "Venzini" and the two music videos for "Ora na Fevgo" and "Tiraniemai". On August she began her 'Summer 2012' Tour in Greece. In late November 2012,
Sony Music in co-operation with
Minos-EMI released
Access All Areas, a 5-CD compilation to mark Anna's 40-year musical career. The compilation included 84 songs from her first album
As Kanoume Apopse Mian Arhi through her latest EP
Tiraniemai. A 64-paged book accompanied the cds with previously unreleased photos of Anna by Christine Crokos. The release was a limited one, with initially only 500 numbered copies being issued in both Greece and
Cyprus. All 500 copies were shipped on just three days, and the compilation was released in March 2013 with further 750 copies. The compilation reached no 3 on the official Greek IFPI charts. Vissi released a Christmas song "Kala Christougenna" (Merry Christmas) to her fans as a gift from her official website on 13 December. and on her birthday, (20 December) she released a new song called "Protimo" (I prefer) written by Nikos Karvelas. On Valentine's Day, she released her new song "I Pio Megali Apati Ine O Erotas" ("The Biggest Fraud Is Love"). It is a ballad with only piano music and is also written by Nikos Karvelas. On 22 March the rock opera
Daimones premiered at Theater Pallas with 15 actors-dancers and 16 musicians and continued with success until 2 June. 10,000 tickets have been sold up before the premier, while, according to Elliniki Theamaton (the production company of Daimones) a total of 53,000 tickets have been sold until June, and was the biggest hit of the year! On the final day, Vissi announced that Demones will re-open on 5 October, for 10 more shows. Vissi sung her own songs "Sta Hronia Tis Ipomonis", "As Kanoume Apopse Mian Arhi" and "Dodeka" as well as the songs "Hrisoprasino Fillo" and "To Yiasemi". Vissi appeared on a similar-purposed concert in the city of
Larnaka on 27 May, singing among other artists in front of an audience of 30,000 people, singing Dodeka, To Yiasemi, Tillirkotissa and Ta Rialia (Cypriot traditional songs), Den Ine Psema and Antonis Remos' Dio Psemata. During that concert Vissi and
Antonis Remos announced their plans to star together next winter in Athens.
Larnaca on 29 July and
Nicosia on 30 July. She also gave a sold-out concert in London's Koko club and appeared in Brussels Bozar for a charity concert In November Daimones were released as 2CD and 2DVD boxest with TV magazine Tileheatis. The album sold 80.240 in its first week making the magazine the number 1 magazine of the week and achieving 7% raise of its usual sales.
2013–2015: Signing with new record label; performing with Antonis Remos, and a new rock opera In November 2013 it was announced that Vissi signed with record label Panik Records in its new label Panik Gold. The first song, and first single off the forthcoming album "I Kathimerinotita Mas" (Our Daily Routine) was released in mid November 2013 and became the most popular single on the i-tunes daily charts on the first day of its release helping it to make a no2 debut on the weekly Official Greek I-Tune Charts and the official Greece digital songs chart by Billboard. It was reportedly the most played song in Greece on its first week of release. On 20 December, her new show "Ena I Kanena" (One Or Nothing) with
Antonis Remos opened at the Pantheon Theatre in
Athens. On 20 January 2014, it was announced that Vissi was voted as the best female artist of the past 15 years from the audience of the no1 music station in Cyprus, Super FM. The same day "Ena I Kanena" was officially released on the radios in Greece and Cyprus. and on 6 February, it debuted at number 1 of the official digital singles chart In Cyprus the song peaked at the top spot of the most popular radio stations A third single, "Kaliteres Meres" (Better Days), written by Nicos Karvelas and produced by Alex Leon, was released in April 2014 and Panik Records announced in Facebook that the new remixed album would follow shortly. On 11 April the first application created for a Greek artist, the Fannatics Live App! was released. Vissi toured Australia throughout October. She also performed in Canada to help the restoration of a Greek Orthodox church On 14 October, Panik Records announced that they were planning to release new songs from the OST of
I Kampanes Tou Edelweis and their plans to release
Ena I Kanena on CD and DVD. They also announced that a new studio album was planned for 2015. On 10 November, a new remix version of her 1997 track "Apolito Keno" was released by Panik Records. "Apolito Keno" (2015 version) featured rapper Mike. On 14 November the main cast of
I Kampanes Tou Edelweis was announced and included Giannis Smasiaris, Nikolaos Karagiaouris, Thanasis Alevras, Emilios Stamatakis and Tania Tripi. A digital single was released on 30 January for the song "As Min Poume... Tipota" (Let's Say... Nothing) from the rock opera soundtrack. The rock opera premiered on 12 February 2015, with positive reviews.
2015–2022: Sinentefxi, Hotel Ermou and live album , on 5 March 2022. On 12 October, she released "Gia Sena" (For You) written by
Nikos Karvelas as the first single of her upcoming album
Sinentefxi (Interview).
Sinentefxi was released on 30 November 2015, featuring 14 new songs. All songs were composed by Nikos Karvelas, while lyrics were provided by Karvelas and Gerasimos Evangelatos (in four songs). The album charted to number 1 of both Cyprus' and Greece's i-tunes charts based only on the pre-orders, and has also entered the top 100 in Malta and Spain. The weekend before the release of the album, major radio stations in Cyprus and Greece held an "Anna Vissi Weekend" previewing exclusively the new songs. During this weekend, the uptempo track "Xana Mana" was confirmed as the second single off the album. and became the album's biggest hit single. The album won "Album Of the Year" at the Super Music Awards 2016 in Cyprus. In June 2016, she presented the hit "Xana Mana" as well as the new single and title track "Sinentefxi" on the MAD Video Music Awards 2016, where she received award for her contribution to the Greek music industry. Since 2015 and for nine consecutive years, Anna Vissi has a successful residency in Hotel Ermou Club in Athens. In 2018 and 2019, she performed the same show with success in Thessaloniki's "Barbarella" night club and toured extensively during all summers in Greece, Cyprus and around the world. She released her third live album called
Hotel Ermou Live 2015–2018.
2022–2024: Aima, Protimo, #Annaversary, Herodion, Kallimarmaro and Se Periptosi Pou In February 2022, Anna Vissi performed at the Panik Concert by Xiaomi, a concert celebrating the 10th anniversary of the record label Panik Records. As the sole artist under the label's "Panik Gold" branch, Vissi concluded the show. In May 2022, she released the single
"Aima" ("Blood"), written by
Nikos Karvelas and featuring Daphne Lawrence. The song quickly became a hit, garnering over 3 million views on YouTube within one month. In December 2022, she followed up with the release of the single
"Gazoza" ("Lemon soda"). performing in
Larnaca on September 30, 2023, during Vissi's 50th career anniversary concert, attended by 50,000 people. In June 2023, Vissi and Karvelas collaborated on the duet
"Ksana" ("Again"), a remake of
Sakis Rouvas' 1994 song written by Karvelas. The following month, she released the single
"Einai Asteio" ("It is funny"), a remake of
Lefteris Pantazis' 1993 song, also written by Karvelas. 2023 marked the 50th anniversary of Anna Vissi's career, often highlighted on social media as #Annaversary. To celebrate, she held two major concerts in
Athens and
Thessaloniki, as well as a free concert in her hometown of
Larnaca,
Cyprus, on September 30. The Larnaca concert lasted over four hours and featured guest performances by her sister
Lia Vissi and artists including
Helena Paparizou,
Konstantinos Argyros,
Katy Garbi, and
Paola. During the event, the mayor of
Larnaca,
Andreas Vyras, presented Vissi with the "Golden Key" of the city, the highest local honor, which had not been awarded to anyone else in seven years. While the concert was free, attendees were encouraged to donate to the
Ronald McDonald House of
Nicosia and the
Sophia Foundation for Children. It is estimated that the concert was attended by more than 50,000 people. On October 3, her anniversary tour was set to conclude with a performance at the iconic
Odeon of Herodes Atticus in
Athens. The tickets were sold out in a record time of four hours, leading to the addition of a second show on October 6. In December 2023, Anna Vissi released the single
"Lekes" (
"Stain"), written by
Nikos Karvelas, which has reached 2× Platinum status. Around the same time, her 10-year-old song
"Protimo" (
"I Prefer"), also written by Karvelas and originally released in 2013, went viral on
TikTok, with over 1,200 new videos featuring the track. The song, which had accumulated 200,000 streams on
Spotify between 2013 and 2023, surged to 1 million streams within two months, earning the title of "Number 1 Internet Hit" on Spotify for a period of time. In response to its newfound popularity, Vissi released a remake of the song titled ''"Protimo '24"
("I Prefer '24"
) in March 2024. She also embarked on the "Protimo... Anna Vissi"
("I Prefer... Anna Vissi"
) tour, performing across Greece and Cyprus. The tour concluded on October 5, 2024, with a historic concert at the Kallimarmaro Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, attended by 66,000 people. In May 2024, prior to her tour, Vissi also released the single "Hrisopsara" ("Goldfish")'', written by Nikos Karvelas. From September to November 2024, Anna Vissi performed at the "Barbarella" nightclub in
Thessaloniki every Friday and Saturday, before returning to her regular base, "Hotel Ermou", on December 6. Additionally, on November 3, 2024, she performed at the
London Palladium, where her audience included
Jean Paul Gaultier, the designer of her outfit for her
2006 Eurovision performance. A few days after her successful show in London, she released the single
"Se Periptosi Pou" (~"Just in case"), written by Nikos Karvelas. The song reached 2X Platinum status in three months. On December 4, 2024, she released her fourth live album, "
50 Years". The album features the recording of her sold-out performance at the
Odeon of Herodes Atticus in October 2023.
2025–present: Kallimarmaro 2.0 (X2) After the massive success of "Se Periptosi Pou," which remained at number 1 on the Greek airplay chart for 11 consecutive weeks, Anna Vissi announced her summer performances in March 2025. Her scheduled concert on September 4, 2025, at
AEK Arena in her hometown of
Larnaca,
Cyprus, sold out within hours after tickets went on sale, prompting the addition of a second show. Vissi also announced another concert at the
Kallimarmaro Panathenaic Stadium in
Athens, scheduled for September 13, 2025; the same venue had hosted 66,000 attendees during her previous year's performance. Tickets sold out within five days, which journalists reported as a new record time. Due to the high demand, a second show was announced for the following day. In April 2025, Vissi released a new song,
"Ola Gia Ola", written by
Nikos Karvelas.. On Saturday, December 20, the official taping of the show was broadcast by
Mega TV, to celebrate the artist's birthday. A few days later, a complementary, 51-track sound recording became available for streaming and purchase on digital platforms. ==Political views==