Mando (singer)

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Mando
Μαντώ
"Mando II"
Background information
Birth name Adamantia Stamatopoulou
Born April 13, 1966 (1966-04-13) (age 42)

Flag of Greece Piraeus, Greece
Origin Greece
Genre(s) Rock, pop, dance
Years active 1985-present
Label(s) Polymusic, Sony Music, Minos EMI, Alpha Records
Website http://www.mando.gr

Mando or Manto (Greek: Μαντώ), born Adamantia Stamatopoulou (Greek: Αδαμαντία Σταματοπουλου), is a popular Greek singer. She was born in Piraeus on April 13 and raised in Athens by her jazz pianist father, Nikos Stamatopoulos and a classic soprano opera mother Mary Apergi. From a young age she began to develop her talent and interest in music, and was characterized as a "born musician".

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[edit] Early life

At the age of four it was noticed that Mando had unbelievable vocal abilities and could easily sing opera aries, gospel and jazz music. Her parents, astonished by her musical capability, signed her up at the National Conservatory for piano and music theory lessons. Meanwhile, she also took up vocal training and dance lessons. At the age of 10 she began to teach herself how to play the guitar and various percussion instruments. Her dedication and passion quickly led her to compose her own melodies.

At the age of 14 along with her school work, her music, and her English and French lessons, she performed in the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar", which went up under the direction of Mimis Plessas and Dimitris Malavetas.

She sung for various orchestras and was a member of various jazz groups and trios, working music in all its textures: jazz, Greek, European, American, Arabic. This gave Mando the ability to work various sounds with ease, not to mention, sing and compose all types of music.

[edit] Personal life

Mando loves music, nature and love they are the sources of her inspiration. She adores sports, swimming, tennis, bowling and cooking and her favorite hobby is to look out at the ocean. Mando also loves to read about psychology and to occupy herself with interior decoration. She has two children, a boy and a girl and her sister, Chriso Stamatopoulou, was a contestant on the "Super Idol" reality television show.

[edit] Professional career

[edit] 1985–2002

After the completion of her musical studies and at the age of 18 she signed her first record contract with CBS, which gave her the international hit "Fill me up" and offered her the chance to an international career at a very young age. Mando remained in America for 5 years where she took up vocal training with the very famous Hal Sheaffer (vocal trainer of Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli) and interacted with many musicians, producers and with people who helped her talent grow. Her diverse knowledge and international edge defined her as the Greek artist with the international voice. Mando's record company Minos, with which she stayed 7 years, brought her back from America for the production of 6 more successful albums:"Dos mou ena fili" (Give me a kiss), "Afto to kalokeri" (This summer), "Ptisi gia dio" (Flight for two), "Kinisi triti" (Third move), "Esthisis" (Senses), "I diki mas I agapi" (Our love), and "Anisiho vlema" (Unease look).

Her thriving career at Minos brought a new record deal with Sony Music, where her career flourished even more. So far she has released 4 albums under the Sony label: "Ston evdomo ourano" (On the seventh sky), "Gia oles tis fores" (For all the times), "Prodosia" (Betrayal), "Se alli Diastasi" (In another dimension). She also released 3 cd-singles under the this label ...

Through out her career, Mando has had many hits, such as "Danika" (Borrowed), "Faros" (Lighthouse), "Ston evdomo ourano" (On the seventh sky), "Esi" (You), "Fotia sta prepi" (Burn the have too's) and many many more.

In addition, she has also embarked on many international tours in various cities like Los Angeles, London, Paris, Toronto, Montreal, New York, and Chicago performing in various concert halls, such as, New York's Madison square Garden, and Chicago's Aircrown.

She has also toured and collaborated with many established artists such as: Marinella, D. Mitropanos, Tolis Voskopoulos, Paschalis Terzis, C. Nikolopoulos, Dimitra Galani.

Mando has collaborated with the best songwriters in the Greek music business and not only, such as Phoivos, A. Papadimitriou, K. Haritodiplomenos, N. Germanou, G. Theofanous, E. Giannatsoulia etc. Moreover, Mando's compositions have not only been sung by her but by many other artists as well, such as P. Terzis, K. Kouka and many more.

Mando composes mainly on her guitar and loves to pen for Greek artists as well as foreign. Just recently she penned the track "Where You Are" for Jessica Simpson, which has been in the hot 100 chart 2 months now, and has also been chosen as the theme song to 20th century Fox's new film production titled "Here On Earth". It has sold more than 1 mill copies so far.

One more very impressive international collaboration is that with Jean Michel Jarre on one of his own tracks which has been sung by Mando in Greek with the title "Zoi" (Life) and will be included on her new album. This collaboration of hers is a great achievement since the godfather of electronic music entrusted Mando in singing his composition "C'est la vie" with the original orchestration.

Another, very recent international collaboration is Mando's duet with Turkish top artist Sertab Erener titled "Aşk/Fos" (Love/Light), which was greatly accepted and loved by the Greek people.

At the end of 2003, Mando recorded a new double album deal with Alpha records which title was: Oi agapes fevgoun, ta tragoudia menoun (The loves are gone by, the songs remain).

[edit] 2003: Eurovision

Mando's first attempt to enter the Eurovision Song Contest was in 1989; she ended up second, only one point behind Marianna. She took action against the Greek television station ERT because one of the jury members didn't vote. She won, but because it was too late to change anything, Marianna went to Eurovision.

Mando was chosen to represent Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "Never Let You Go". Most believed that her chances were good, but she ended up languishing in 17th place.

[edit] 2008–present: Mando II & Afraid of the Dark

Mando has planned a comeback for 2008 with two new albums: one Greek and one English. The first single from the Greek album titled "Dos Mou Logo Na Sotho" (" Δως Μου Λόγο Να Σωθώ ") is a pop rock song and was released as a music video on May 10, 2008, premiering on "Megastar". The album, titled Mando II is scheduled was released on May 30, 2008.

The English album, titled Afraid of the Dark, has evident American beats and is a very promising international album for Mando. Four songs from the album were released by means of her official Myspace and the album is expected to be released sometime in 2008.

[edit] Trivia & News

Mando was the first Greek artist to form her own fan club in 1992, which now has more than 20,000 members. She was also the first to create her own website 13 years ago. Nowadays she appears to the night club Athens On The Rocks alongside Pascalis and Sofia Arvaniti with great success. Sofia Arvaniti (born May 4, 1968) is a Greek singer, songriter and lyrics writer of pop, rock and sometimes folk music. In the period 1985 - 2007, she has sung not only next to famous artists like Anna Vissi, Nikos Karvelas and Vasilis Papakonstantinou, but also has co-operated with known songwriters like Michalis Rakintzis and Costas Haritodiplomenos.

[edit] Discography

[edit] External links

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Greek Female Artists
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See also:
Related articles:
Preceded by
M. Rakintzis		 Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
2003		 Succeeded by
Sakis Rouvas