Leandros was born
Vasiliki Papathanasiou in
Palaiokastritsa,
Corfu. In 1958, her parents took her to West Germany where she stayed with her father permanently after her parents' divorce. She revealed her talent at a young age while taking on worldwide hits of the year and was covered by other artists. She was shortly singing in eight languages with her albums, singles and EPs being sold all over the world. in 1973 In 1970, her first TV show
Ich Bin was broadcast in 13 European countries. It received many awards for its originality and thought-provoking contemporary graphics including in 1971 the world-famous
Bronze Rose of Montreux. It was also the first time that Vicky used the same stage surname as her father (actually his real Christian name) and became known from then onwards as Vicky Leandros having been known simply as Vicky during the 1960s. Guests appearing were
Julien Clerc and
Deep Purple. The show has been repeated over the years and is seen as a classic piece very evocative of the era though at first it was not well received in all quarters owing to its surprising even shocking imagery in an age when songs were not generally accompanied by visuals for marketing purposes. Throughout the 1970s other film portraits by prominent film makers were to follow which attracted interest around the world. She later went on to host a television series in the UK for the
BBC, entitled
Music My Way. Leandros recorded the song in seven languages. Later that same year, Leandros released her version of the
Theodorakis composition "O Kaymos (Sorrow, in Greek: Καημός) (The Love in Your Eyes)" which became a hit all over the world in various language versions. It peaked at #40 in the UK Singles Chart. She recorded a
Spanish-language album that gained her attention in
Latin America. The first single, "Oh Mi Mama", was a minor hit, but the second single, "Tu Me Has Hecho Sentir”, although not promoted by Leandros or CBS due to differences between the two and a reported health scare, was a big hit in Spanish-speaking countries in 1979. It regularly appears on compilation albums and is easily the most famous and remembered song by Vicky Leandros in Spanish. A new album,
Wie am Allerersten Tag went unreleased and Leandros became pregnant and took time off over the next 18 months. In 1981, she recorded the album
Love is Alive including duets with
Demis Roussos,
Johnny Hallyday and US star
David Soul for a
United Nations Benefit. She would also release the album
Ich gehe neue Wege and its Greek version,
Irtha Yia Sena that same year. In 1982, by the success of the song "Verlorenes Paradies" from the same titled next album which saw Leandros back in the upper reaches of the singles charts in many territories after a few years absence. It was also recorded in Dutch. In 1983 came the album
Vicky containing the popular song and single
Grüße an Sarah, which is regularly still sung in concerts often a cappella with the other musicians and vocalists making the sounds of the beats and instruments vocally to combine with Leandros' main vocal. Later that same year, Leandros recorded again in Dutch a song specially for the Dutch-speaking market; "Ver van het leven". In 1984 the French version ''A l'Est d'Eden
, was a big success in France reaching #2 on the singles chart. This single and corresponding album (Vicky
) gave Leandros a notable comeback in Canada and she toured there after a gap of many years in 1985. Two more single releases from the album also became Canadian hits, those being Tu As Sept Ponts A Traverser
and Salut Bien Sarah
, the French version of Grueße an Sarah''. In 1985, Leandros would release another album,
Eine Nacht in Griechenland. The album achieved Gold status in the
Benelux and German speaking countries. Leandros took time off following the album's release to focus on her private life the year after the album's release. In early 1988, Leandros returned with a new album,
Ich bin ich. Working with Klaus "Nick" Munro, the album contained many new rhythms and was more rock- oriented than previous works. Leandros did not tour and made very limited appearances during this period concentrating mainly on her family life and her three young children. Nevertheless, two singles were released from the album,
Du hast schon laengst Goodbye gesagt and a re-mixed version of
Oh Oh Oh. In 1989 she returned to her music career in Greece and charted with her comeback album
Piretos tou Erota. In 1990, Leandros released the album
Starkes Gefühl which notably contained a new version of "Après toi" her Eurovision song contest winner of 1972. The album also contained the German version of
Piretos tou erota, now
Süchtig nach Geborgenheit which was the first single cut. The early 1990s saw her scoring successful albums in Greece with
Prosexe (1991),
Andres (1993), and in Germany with the singles
Du Bist Mein Schönster Gedanke (1994), and a duet with
Tony Christie, ''We're Gonna Stay Together (1995)''. The resurgence of popularity in Greece saw first the re-release on vinyl of Leandros' early albums (with different sleeves) and later a CD release of them all with bonus tracks. From 1995 to 1998, Leandros collaborated with German hit-maker
Jack White and released three Top-10 albums as well as the German version of the
Titanic song
My Heart Will Go On. This song
Weil mein Herz dich nie mehr vergisst gave Leandros her highest-charting record since Verlorenes Paradies in 1982. In 2000, Leandros started producing her own records. The album
Jetzt /
Now was a success and her own compositions received critical praise. Her duet with
Chris De Burgh was one of the highlights of the album. Following this she featured again on the charts of several countries such as Canada, China, Japan, Belgium and South Africa due to the many
greatest hits collections that several companies released. In 2003, Leandros recorded a new album
Tragoudi Alliotiko with songs by
Mikis Theodorakis accompanied by the
Kamerata Orchestra under Theodorakis's supervision. The album became a success in Germany, central Europe and in Greece. TV stations and tabloid newspaper reviewers celebrated her comeback while other publications and reviewers questioned the rationale behind Leandros' performance of songs from a political composer like Theodorakis. Around this time Leandros appeared in many TV shows on German and Greek television including galas with
José Carreras. The album made it to the 100 best selling records of 2003, and Theodorakis wrote that he considered her "among the two or three most important interpreters of [my] work". In 2003, Leandros received two prestigious awards from the Greek government for her promotion of Greek culture and music abroad and another from the
Greek Orthodox Church for her work for poor children in
Africa. The latter award was presented to her at her classical concert held at the
Herod Atticus amphitheatre in October 2003 and is the highest honour that the Greek Orthodox church can bestow. Leandros is the only woman to date to be awarded such an honor. 2005 saw the release of a double album
Ich Bin Wie Ich Bin containing new recordings of her songs. The album charted in
Germany,
Austria and
Switzerland. Her Jubilee Tour of Europe started in February 2006. A month later she took part in the German pre-selection for the
Eurovision Song Contest 34 years since
Après toi. Her song ''Don't Break My Heart'' which had already entered the charts failed to win the most votes from the televoting public. Leandros released a CD in March 2009 titled
Möge der Himmel. This album contained soul elements combined with some R&B flavour, hip hop and rap. The change in direction was headline news and the album received mixed reviews. The next album
Zeitlos in 2010 returned to the idea born in 2008 of recording a collection of French songs and World hits in the
German language. In 2011, she re-recorded her hit ''L'amour est Bleu
as C'est Bleu
for the Scooter album The Big Mash Up. The unusual collaboration was named a highlight of the record and was released as a single on 2 December 2011. A new studio album with the title Ich Weiss, Dass Ich Nichts Weiss'' was released on the
Ariola label in 2015. The majority of the tracks contained were co-composed (music and lyrics) by Leandros. The themes of the songs are based to some extent on personal life experiences of the singer. In 2024, Leandros retired from touring. ==Personal life==