Del.icio.usVicky Leandros
She was born Vassiliki Papathanasiou in Paleokastritsa, a resort on the island of Corfu, in the Ionian Sea. As her father wanted to expand his career, he went to Germany while Vicky grew up at her grandmother's house until the age of five. In 1957 her parents took her with them. They lived in Hamburg, where she went to a German school. When her parents divorced she stayed with her father. Vicky Leandros has been living in Germany ever since.
She revealed her talent at a very young age and when she was 13 she released her first single, "Messer, Gabel, Schere, Licht", which was an immediate success.
In 1967, she received an offer to sing for Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "L'amour est bleu". She finished in fourth place. This was the beginning of a unique career for her and her father: She was singing in eight languages, with her albums being sold all over the world.
In 1972, she received the second offer to represent Luxembourg at the Eurovision. She accepted and won the contest with the song "Après toi". Translated into English as "Come What May", it was also a big hit in the UK. The total sales of the album up to nowadays have far exceeded 10 million copies. In 1974 she recorded "Theo" a song that was a huge hit mainly in Germany but that also offered her many golden records around Europe.
In 1975 she releases the album "Across the Water" in the USA that was recorded in Tenessee and Miami. Different from her European works the album combined country, rock and soul rhythms and gained praising reviews from all over USA and the Billboard. Therefore, she signed a million- contract with CBS for albums in the USA and started working in Hollywood with Kim fowley. But Vicky did not feel like home and asked to move back to Europe.
After her America adventure she throws in the market albums with German volkslieder, Christmas songs and even a Spanish album which made it very successully in Spain and Latin America!
Because of her pregnancy she takes sometime off around 1980. By that time she would have been the best female singer of the 70ies, having released albums all around the world and received tenths of awards and have made hundreds of sold out concerts as well as tenths of #1 Hits in the charts of 5 continents!
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. The album brought her successfully to the 80ies while her French single "A L'Est D'Eden" saw a huge success selling more than 1,5 million albums in France.
Before returning to her private life in 1986 to raise her 3 children she made an album dedicated to her country, Greece. It saw gold to the Benelux and German speaking countries.
She made a huge comeback in Greece in 1989 with the album "Piretos tou erota" and in Europe in 1994 with the duet with Tony Christie "We are gonna stay together". Since then she has been toured very successfully and gained for once again international acclaim.
From 1995 to 1998 she collaborates with German Hit-Maker Jack White and releases three Top-10 albums including the German Version of the Titanic song "My Heart will go on".
In 2000 she started producing her own records. The album "Jetzt" / "Now" was a big success and her own compositions were praised as the best ballads she has sung over the last decade. Her duet with Chris De Burgh was one of the highlights of that album.
In the meanwhile she sees again herself on the charts of several countries such as Canada, China, Japan, Belgium, South Africa and others due to the many Greatest hits collections that several companies released.
In 2003 she recorded a new album with songs by Mikis Theodorakis with the Camerata Orchestra under Theodorakis's supervision. The album became a big success in Germany and central Europe and in Greece, too ("Tragoudi alliotiko"). 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 Mikis Theodorakis. Leandros has appeared in many TV shows on German and Greek television, including a gala for Jose Carreras. The album made it to the 100 best selling records of 2003 and Mikis Theodorakis wrote that "for her interpetations and work I consider her among the 2-3 most important interpreters of my work."
Vicky Leandros has received innumerable awards, including gold and platinum records from all around the world for albums that have sold more than 100 million copies. Leandros has worked with many well-known composers and producers, such as Kim Fowley,Leo Leandros, Brad Shapiro and Michel Legrand, and also with conductors such as Herbert von Karajan and C. Denjean. She has been awarded among others with the "Bronze Statue of Montreaux", "Golden Europa", "Record Award of USA", "Bronze Statue" (Japan) and many others.
Collaborations also with Jose Carreras, Chris DeBurg, Demis Roussos, Johnny Hallyday, David Soul, Tony Christie, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Roger Whittaker, BBC Orchestra, Berlin Philarmoniker among others.
From 1982 till 1986 Leandros was married to Greek entrepreneur Ivan Zissiades; he is the father of her son, Leo. In 2005, Leandros and her second husband, Enno von Ruffin, separated after 19 years of marriage. The couple has two daughters, Milana and Sandra.
Her Jubilee World Tour 2006 will start from Austria, Switzerland and Germany and countries such as Greece, France, Canada, Australia, UK, Belgium, Holland will follow. The tour will be followed by a new album with her best songs newly arranged and sung.