Kyriaki Papadopoulou was born in the city of
Thessaloniki in northern
Greece, on 19 May 1938. Her parents were Greek refugees of
Pontic origin, but their families before the exchange had settled in
Constantinople. She was the fourth and last child of a large family, which despite its poverty, was rich in love and in artistic vein. The whole family gathered around the turntable and sang, while her father tried to teach children the steps of the
waltz and the
tango. She performed in public from the age of four singing on the radio broadcast on
Paidiki Ora (''Children's Hour'') and later doing ads for shops such as "Melka" in Thessaloniki, earning her first pocket money. She participated in many performances of children's theatre. At age 15, she gave up her budding career to finish school, but by seventeen, her passion for the theatre returned and she joined the troupe of Marie Laurent and played small roles. One day, the lead singer fell sick and sought out Marinella as a replacement, who was willing to take the singer's place. Marinella then became the lead singer of the troupe. Additionally, she later joined the Military Theatre because the renumeration was better. At the same time she started her career as a singer at the "Panorama" centre of Thessaloniki, where Greek actor and singer Tolis Harmas coined the name "Marinella" for her, inspired by his song. She released her first song in 1957, "Nitsa, Elenitsa
(Little Helen)". Her early career was marked by her collaboration with singer
Stelios Kazantzidis. Together they managed to become the greatest duo of Greece, unsurpassed even today. Starting at the night club "Luxembourg" in Thessaloniki where they enjoyed great success, they later moved to Athens, where they became widely known. They sang the songs of
Mikis Theodorakis,
Manos Hadjidakis,
Vassilis Tsitsanis, Giorgos Mitsakis,
Giorgos Zambetas, Apostolos Kaldaras, Theodoros Derveniotis,
Stavros Xarchakos, and Christos Leontis, who are considered the best composers of their era. ==Early career==