Helena Paparizou

Helena Paparizou (Έλενα Παπαρίζου in Greek characters), born 31 January 1982 in Örgryte, Gothenburg, Sweden, is a popular Greek singer, best known in Europe for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 for Greece with the song "My Number One".

1999-2003
Paparizou, determined to succeed with and fulfill her dreams of being an entertainer, joined childhood friend and fellow Swede-Greek Nikos Panagiotidis, at the age of seventeen, to form Antique. The duo quickly signed their first record label contract, with the Swedish record label Bonnier.

Solo career
Despite the group's success, Antique broke up in 2003 on good terms, as the band had "run its natural course," and Paparizou set about going solo. She signed a solo recording contract with Sony Music and, in December 2003, released her first solo single, "Anapantites Klisis" (later released in English as "I Don't Want You Here Anymore"), a song written especially for her by singer and songwriter Christos Dantis. The single sales were strong, and it received a Gold certification in Greece.

2005: Eurovision
Because of her popularity in Greece, where she ended up spending more and more time, Paparizou was approached to represent the country for a second time in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. She performed "My Number One", "Let's Get Wild", and "OK" on the Greek national final, with "My Number One"' winning the televote. There was also a song called "The Light in Our Soul", but it was later disqualified due to it being released prior to the contest, thus breaking the rules. The song went onto win the final contest (with backing vocals provided by Cypriot former Eurovision-participant Alex Panayi), and brought the contest to Greece for 2006 for the first time in the contest's history.

Paparizou re-released her first album Protereotita in Greece, with a second CD containing her Eurovision entrants, and English versions to previous songs, such as "I Don't Want You Here Anymore", "Antithesis", "okay" and "If You Believe Me"' as well as a ballad version of ("Ehis Kero na Mou Feris") "Louloudia". The 10 track CD was also available separately for those who already owned her debut album. A 16-track compilation of the Eurovision entrants and songs from her debut album was also released in Scandinavia, Switzerland and Turkey under the title, My Number One.

Paparizou's second album in Greek, Yparhi Logos, was released in Greece on April 12, 2006. The album consists of two discs, the first featuring 14 brand new tracks, including "Mambo!" and the second featuring nine live tracks from her Mad Secret Concert (including covers of "Don't Speak" by No Doubt, "Outside" by George Michael, "Smooth Operator" by Sade, "Like a Prayer" by Madonna and "Just Walk Away" by Céline Dion) as well as five new non-album tracks, and a remix of the title track, which is the second single. The album reached the platinum status.

On May 20, 2006, Elena graced the stage of Eurovision once more, to sing her song "My Number One" as the opening act. She later on sang "Mambo!", and then presented the award to the winners Lordi.

Across Europe, "Mambo!" started to be heard and seen; the video has premiered in France and is now showing in Poland and Romania. The song has peaked at number 1 on the RmF radio show for a successful two weeks and also peaked at number 1 on Polish Radio Kolor for many weeks. In Belgium, "Mambo!" has peaked at number 18. In Sweden, "Mambo!" has peaked at 5.

On 22 August, "My Number One" was released in the United States by Moda Records. The CD single contains 10 mixes and the radio edit. "Mambo!" will be released there later on in the year along with remixes.

Shortly the video for "Mambo!" will start airing in the United Kingdom. The promo of Mambo! has already been released and it will be released on 13th November by UK record company AATW (All Around The World).You can also find a remix of Mambo! on the new "dancemania" cd which was released in the United Kingdom on 4th September. the release date for mambo in the uk is the 6th november

Elena's solo debut international album The Game of Love, will be released all over Europe, Australia, Japan, and Canada on 25 October 2006. [2][3] It will gradualy be released world-wide shortly after. The album is planned to be released in 45 countries to begin with. The album will contain six songs from her Greek album Yparhei Logos with English lyrics. The will be a further 6 new songs, and the song "Heroes". "Heroes" was the official song for the 2006 European Championships in Athletics held in Gothenburg, Sweden in August, and was released in Sweden shortly after. It peaked on Swedish charts at number 1. There will album be a bonus song in Greek on the CD called "Ό,τι Αξίζει Είναι Οι Στιγμές". The bonus song is originally by Manou Hadzidaki, and was a big hit in France in 1962. The final tracklist for the game of love ablum is: Mambo, Gigolo, The game of love, It's gone tomorrow (yparhi logos), let me let go, Heart in mine, You set my heart on fire, Hereos, Somebodys burning, Voulez vouz, Carpe diem, Seven days, Teardrops and bonus track o, ti axisi ine i stigm es.

The song "The Game of Love" has gained critical success, striking great interest from Greek pop music critic, Benita Ong. "Gigolo" will be the second single from the album after "Mambo!". The video for the song has already premiered in Greece in Greeklish and there may be a full English version to the video to be released internationally. All together, there will be 14 songs on the album.