Kalliopi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kalliopi Saratsopoulou is a famous pop-rock singer/songwriter and Greek actress, who has collaborated with famous Greek artists, producers and song wrtiters.
Kalliopi was born in Athens, Greece. Also known to her friends and family as Kelly, she started singing and acting at the age of 6. After graduating from the German School of Athens, she went on to the Arts Theatre of Karolos Koun to become an actress. She also was studying music at the National Conservatory and taking dance lessons at that time. In the second year of her studies in drama school, she was chosen to play a lead part - Toula - in a play by Pantelis Horn called Findanaki. This part gave her the first stage experience and a great boost in the theatre profession, as she was fortunate to play next to well known actors and to meet great artists and personnalities such as Manos Hatzidakis, Dimitris Horn, G.Tsarouchis to name a few. She got praising reviews for her performance as a 'great new talent emerging', she was given a scholarship and graduated with 'honors' from the Arts Theatre Drama School. She came to London to do a Shakespeare course at R.A.D.A and a one year course at the Arts Educational Schools - The Acting Company. Later on Kalliopi plays Nina in the Seagull by A.Tchekov and Ismene in Antigone by J.Anouihl at the Theatre Museum. She is reviewed as 'ardent, openhearted Nina' in Time Out and as 'the only actor of any flair or promise' cited from the What's on magazine.
Having returned from London to Greece, Kalliopi appeared in numerous plays and shows, playing Phoebe in As you like it by William Shakespeare, Chorus leader in Trojan Women and Medea by Euripides at the Theatre of Epidaurus, Kalliopi in Temptation by Xenopoulos and The Little Prince by A. de S. Exupery which was running with great success for a long time. After that she also worked with actor /director George Michalakopoulos in The Lesson by E.Ionesko and director V.Nikolaidis in Maroula's good fortune by D.Koromila. Also she acted in a couple of TV series episodes in Anatomy of a crime and in two plays for TV called Perikiromeni by Menandros and Blind men's sticks by J.Ritsos.
Meanwhile Kalliopi was singing, did various recording projects of electronic music, like The Mixer of Lena Platonos with producer Coti K. and K.Parissis(FM Records), participated in the album of a band called Apontes and H3 and landed really favourable reviews from Pop & Rock music magazine. At that time music took over her, she felt that suits more her personality and she decided to dedicate herself exclusively to music.
Later she meets some of the best musicians and forms a band called minima. It's a five piece band playing pop/rock music with Alkis Misirlis on drums, Theo Souris on keyboards, D. Sarabaras on guitar, G.Ketesidis on bass and Kalliopi as a singer/songwriter. They released an album minima with Lyra/MBI and work with famous pop singer Christos Dantis touring Greece and doing many live shows in Cyprus and Germany.
Kalliopi started writing pop songs in English and French with influences from jazz to rock and dance music. She co-wrote 'yoo hoo hoo' with Stelios Vounidis, a friend musician and sound engineer and 'killing me' with Theo Souris, keyboard player from her band minima. She spent a few months recording a cd with a friend producer in Athens, and she decided to name it "Yoo hoo hoo " evoking a positive feeling of well-being and childlike happines. I was realesed in the year 2003.
Kalliopi travelled all the way to London and has been living in London to gain exposure and promote her music. She has played a few venues like The Pop Bar, West One Four, Betsew Trotwood and George and Dragon and building up a line up for the summer.
Influences
Kalliopi is influenced by a wide range of artists including The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Nirvana, Blur, The Cranberries, David Bowie, Gwen Stefani, Guns N' Roses, Led Zepplin, The White Stripes.
