Alexia Vassiliou (Cypriot singer)
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| Alexia Vassiliou (born February 5, 1964), better known as Alexia, is a Cypriot vocalist, musician, performer, singer who represented Cyprus twice in the Eurovision Song Contest, first with the musical band Island, and then by herself. Alexia is one of the most talented, versatile and renowned singers in Greece, with a series of gold and platinum records, including one in Scandinavia, and a Top-100 hit in the U.S.A., while she was still a student at Berklee College of Music, in Boston. Her first album "Alexia", was an overnight success, starting a wave in singing Greek pop music. Her debut it is supposed to have sold more than 180,000 copies, being the most successful debut album from a Greek artist. |
| Location | Born on February 5, 1964, in Famagusta, Cyprus, Alexia's charismatic nature in music was demonstrated from a very early age. However, the coup d' état in July 1974 that aimed to overthrow the established government, followed by the Turkish invasion and occupation of the island's north region, forced many people including Alexia, to be displaced from their homes. From that moment on they were refugees in their own country. Despite the harshness and severity of the time, Alexia was encouraged by her family to pursue her dream and explore her promising talent. As a result she was drawn to music at a very young age by performing at music festivals and on television but at the same time she was eager to explore her musical interests through formal training. |
| Biography | After her graduation from Berklee College of Music in 1985, she moved to New York where she performed for several years and gradually became the lead singer of four different Jazz and Fusion bands. Axiom was one of them. Alexia and her bands used to play gigs around Manhattan as New York was at that time one of the most promising places for new artists. The City was booming with creativity and talent…many remarkable musicians, each one with his/her own legacy in music history, were living and creating music in the heart of New York.
In 1991 she took part in the Eurosong contest, which was held on the island of Corfu, Greece and she won the first place with the song “Ela”, composed and orchestrated by one of the most distinguished and prolific Greek composers and pianists Mimis Plessas and lyrics by Loukila Karer.
In 1994 Alexia performed the lead role in the production "Frank 'n Stein", written and directed by Stavros Sideras. The soundtrack composed by George Hadjinassios, o |
From 2000 onwards Alexia has also been working on the production of her two new albums: Re-bE is a triple album, which encompasses for the first time Alexia's own music compositions, lyrics, narratives and improvisations. The Jazz album Birds have to fly, for which Alexia wrote all the lyrics, was composed, orchestrated and performed by horn player Peter Massink. Both albums will be released by Performance Street in Athens, Greece.
New Music
In an effort to explore new ways of thinking and expression, Alexia devoted part of her time on the study of creative writing with alternative Nobel Prize nominee and feminist activist Christiana Lambrinides. Through a series of workshops over a period of five years, Alexia was able to obtain valuable knowledge on such diverse, yet interrelated concepts, that are directly related to creative expression and writing such as performativity, gender studies, feminist studies and art.
During this time she had the opportunity to come acr |
| http://www.alexiamusic.com/ |
Along with the recordings of her new albums, Alexia continued to work on a series of voice improvisations, called "Voice Alone", by just using her digital recording device and a simple microphone. The "Voice Alone" series will form part of a broader upcoming project called “The Improvisation Series”. The concept of this new project is based on experimental music work, for which Alexia has been working on for many years now.
For the first part of this project, Alexia has been co-improvising and recording with musicians from Athens, Thessalonica, Syria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, New York, Los Angeles, Armenia, Israel and Paris. The project is still in progress and once it’s completed it will also be released by Performance Street.
Discography
1981: "Monica" (Maxi-Single)
1984: I am siam - She went pop
1987: "Aspro mavro" (Maxi-Single)
1987: Alexia
1988: Party On the Rocks
1989: Ena dyo tria
1989: "Lefka Christougenna" (Maxi-Single)
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