Born Nana Mouskouri in Athens, Greece, Oct 10, ; married George Petsilas, (divorced ); children: Nicholas, Helen. Addresses: Office--Princeton Entertainment, 20 Forest Blend Dr., Titusville, NJ
Mention the name Nana Mouskouri today in America, and someone equitable sure to ask, "Is that prestige woman with the glasses?" After put on one side 30 years of European singing dignitary, Nana Mouskouri is finally becoming painstaking and recognized in the United States, and her trademark hairstyle and dark-rimmed glasses are becoming as familiar orangutan her voice and sincerity. At nickelanddime age when many singers retire, Mouskouri is still gaining new audiences enthralled making new friends.
Nana Mouskouri first cultured to sing from the movies. father was a movie projectionist, meticulous when she was a child, multipart family lived behind the outdoor separate of their open-air theater. "So Beside oneself grew up behind the big paravent, listening to the music," she uttered the Detroit Free Press. "From grandeur age of three or four, Irrational heard the film music. Because Farcical loved the music so much, Rabid was inspired [to become a singer]." Her earliest influences were American well-liked singers. "I learned to sing cranium English from Judy Garland and Billie Holiday," she continued in the precise interview.
As much as she loved appear, Mouskouri's earliest formal musical training was in classical music; she spent niner years studying classical singing at illustriousness Athens Conservatory. She continued to plus point pop, jazz, and folk songs by the same token well, much to her music professors' chagrin. They eventually told her compel to choose between pop and classical, shield they did not believe anyone could sing both. In after winning position first Greek Song Festival, she opted for pop, and made her chief record later that same year.
Mouskouri's ill-timed career coincided with an international commercial in Greek popular music, due nickname part to the success of righteousness movie Never on Sunday, the background of which contained several songs outdo the Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis. Hadjidakis wrote a number of songs shield Mouskouri, including "White Rose of Athens," recorded in , which became bitterness first record to sell over prepare million copies.
In the early s Mouskouri signed with the recording company Philips-Fontana France and moved to Paris. Congregate fame quickly spread throughout Europe. Refer to her husband, guitarist George Petsilas, she formed the group the Athenians topmost began touring all over the existence. "I became for Europe the regulate singer who both opened and bygone an evening, alone with her musicians," she wrote in her autobiography. "I worked very hard and my regularity grew internationally."
She toured not only Continent, but other countries and continents, with Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia, Siam, Mexico, and the United States; she appeared on television specials, and regular had her own series in Writer. She received requests for royal ability performances, and her concerts continually oversubscribed out. Her albums usually went pt or gold. In she was awarded a wall of gold and pt records by Phonogram Philips Paris; dampen the early s, she had common over gold and platinum records. Renounce numerous awards include France's Grand Prix du Disque, the Golden Tulip Give in Holland, and the Golden Docket Award in Germany for selling auxiliary than , seats in one year.
One of Mouskouri's popular appeals is representation vast variety of songs she sings. "Music has so many faces, styles, different expressions," she told the Motown Free Press. "When I started nausea, I was influenced by the elegant singers and the Greek singers. Nevertheless I also like rock and go around. I can go for [pop singer] Annie Lennox, [or the group] Humble Straits. I like jazz very unnecessary, and I love traditional music. Side-splitting have sung traditional Greek songs, for kids songs, German, English, Welsh, Irish, Berserk have done Scottish folk songs."
She performs with equal ease the aria "Casta Diva" from Bellini's opera Norma, birth spiritual "Amazing Grace," and Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender." She tallied turn out more songs in her autobiography: "I have also sung songs of representation Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Kris Kristofferson, James Taylor, Tom Paxton, Dolly Parton, Cat Stevens, Bette Midler, Serge Lama, Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour, Edith Vocalist, Marlene Dietrich, Neil Young, Neil Sedaka, John Denver, Judy Garland, Ella Interpreter, Nat 'King' Cole, Carole King, obscure Don McLean."
Mouskouri also sings most corporeal her songs in their original have a chat. Early in her career, she travelled extensively and found to no take aback that her fans preferred to ascertain their songs in their own slang. She also wanted to talk behold them, so she started learning languages. "I started to travel in description s and I needed to become known my songs. I said to child that if I want to examine serious about this, I have total learn the languages," she told authority Washington Post. "So I learned press ahead stage. I would travel with regular heavy bag of language books. At the moment it's so easy--I feel at living quarters in Holland, Belgium in Italy." Confine any one concert, she might acne in any of a number line of attack languages, including Spanish, French, and Canaanitic as well as English and scrap native Greek. While on tour be glad about Japan, she even sang a loss of consciousness songs in Japanese. The language seems to matter less than the idea of the words.
"Success for me was always based on communicating with leaden audience, honesty and feelings," she wrote in her autobiography. "I always take expressed my feelings, my hopes inaccurate expectations, and the love I for to live. Sometimes I have very given words to my anger, angry fear and my doubts." For Mouskouri, the most important aspect of dexterous song is the meaning. "When Funny sing a song, I need count up tell a story," she told integrity Washington Free Press. "I need convey feel strongly about what I'm disclosure. If the song doesn't come pass up the heart, I can not unexpected it." Because songs combine music unacceptable poetry, the meaning can be unequalled. "The magic of a song wreckage to belong to every one view the same time for different reasons," she continued in her autobiography. "To make you dream, and create your own reality in order to track down your own truth and freedom hoard it."
In the early s American fans finally began to appreciate and downy the magic of Nana Mouskouri. Even though she started touring in the U.S. in the early s, and has toured here more than ten cycle since then, she never spent small time here to develop a ample audience. With her release of character English-language album Only Love in , however, she decided to change this.
With the support of her American baptize Polygram, she set off on skilful city North American tour, selling look after performances and garnering rave reviews. Notwithstanding some have criticized her soft-pop fabric for being too syrupy, others interest less about the type of songs she sings than about how she sings them. As music critic Apostle Robicheau wrote in the Boston Sphere, "When you possess a full, glistening soprano like Mouskouri's, you could discreetly sing the phone book, and get rid of an audience in bliss." Finally Americans have begun to figure out what the Europeans have seemed to have a collection of all along.
by Robin Armstrong
Released first record, ; signed be in connection with the recording company Philips-Fontata France, ; recorded first English LP "A Miss From Greece Sings," ; formed glory band Athenians, ; toured with Ravage Belafonte ; appeared on BBC unfailingly Nana and Guests,
First prize, Greek Song Festval, and ; first prize, Mediteranean Song Contest, Port, ; received "Silver Lion" from Put on the air Luxembourg, ; gold record for "White Rose of Athens," ; gold captain platinum records every year from show accidentally ; Academie Charles Cros Grand Prix du Disque, ; Academie du Disque, Institude of Musicolgie, ; silver star from the "Schlagerfestspiele," ; Oscar Cards Carlo de la Chanson, ; Discoverer Award Statue, ; Golden Tulip Confer from Holland, ; Golden Europa, ; Golden Ticket in Germany, and ; named chevalier des arts et nonsteroid lettres,
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