Marlen Angelidou
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| Marlen Angelidou | |
|---|---|
| Born | (birth name: Marlen Angelidi) September 6, 1978 |
| Origin |  Greece |
| Genre(s) | Rock, pop, dance |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, actress |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Associated acts | Hi-5 |
| Website | Marlen Angelidou's official MySpace |
Marlen Angelidou (Μαρλέν Αγγελίδου in Greek characters (born Marlen Angelidi (Greek: Μαρλέν Αγγελίδη), September 6, 1978 in Athens, Greece), sometimes spelt Marlain Angelidou, is a Greek singer and actress. She is best known for being former member of Greece's first ever manufactered girl band, Hi-5, as well as representing Cyprus in 1999's Eurovision Song Contest with Tha 'Ne Erotas, placing a disappointing 22nd out of 23 with only two points, despite being one of the favourites to win. She also took part in the 2008 National Finals to attempt once again to sing for Cyprus in Eurovision, this time with Rejection, a "non-euro song" by her own admission.[1]
Angelidou, her mother, and siblings all have triple nationality (Greek, Cypriot, and British).
[edit] Early and Later Life
Angelidou was born in Athens, Greece, to a Cypriot-born father of mainland Greek origin and a mother of half Scottish and half Greek Cypriot descent. Due to her father's job position in a multinational company, Angelidou spent most of her childhod around the world: she emigrated to Venezuela aged 5, learning fluent Spanish (which she has since forgotten), then to Belgium, and back to Cyprus, where she lived during her teenage years, on her father's request to return home. Angelidou is currently based in Athens, although her mother and brothers remain in Cyprus.
In 1998 Angelidou completed a BSc in Biochemistry with Management at the prestigious Imperial College in London before choosing to study at Boston Conservatory in the USA. In 1999 she obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Musical Theatre from London's prestigious Royal Academy of Music.
[edit] Career
While she was studying she made her professional debut as the lead in the Stavros ’Sideras’ musical Pygmalion, The True Story (Aphrodite/Galatea) opposite Peter Polycarpou. She was chosen amongst 5000 teenagers for the National Youth Music Theatre production of Annie (Miss Hannigan) at the Edinburgh Drama Festival.
Her professional career started in 1999-2000 with the production of Aznavour’s Lautrec in London’s West End. During 2000-2002 she starred in lead roles in musicals such as Hair (Dionne), Elegies (Judith), toured the UK with Living La Vida Loca (Fantasia), Legends of Swing (singing Ella Fitzgerald songs) and toured Europe with Flower Power Musical Story (Lainer) and Broadway Musical Gala (Principal Soloist) where she had the opportunity to sing solo in front of 11,000 at La Scala in Milan. At the same time she appeared in performances at the Berklee Performance Centre, Boston, USA, Festival Rose D’Or in Juin Les Pins, France, some charity events in Basel, Switzerland, and Dublin, Ireland and in concerts with the Cyprus State Orchestra as a soloist.
At the end of 2002 at the BBC Radio 2 Voice of Musical Theatre International Competition in Cardiff, Wales she was the semi-final winner and one of only six finalists.
In 1998 she came third duetting Fterougisma with Alex Panayi during the Cypriot pre-Eurovision selections show in which the winner would go on to represent Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest. She did, however, manage to get into the Eurovision event the following year with her song Tha 'Ne Erotas, and was tipped to win, although she came a very disappointingly second from last after a mediocre stage performance.
In 2003 she took part in the Greek television contest Pop Stars, winning one of the five spots in a teen girls group that was to be formed on the basis of the show's outcome. The group was named Hi-5 and released a self-titled album in 2003 that went gold in Greece. The band has had hit songs such as Xero Ti Zitao, To Tyhero Asteri, and Yennithika Xana. The group decided to part quietly off-screen in 2005 on good terms after two years together to pursue solo careers. Since 2005 Angelidou has been performing in with her new band, Dickens' Zoo, a Greek rock group. [2] She is taking part in the 2005-2006 Athens production of Saturday Night Fever alongside pop singer Giorgos Tsalikis.
In late 2007 it was confirmed that Angelidou will once again compete to represent Cyprus in Eurovision in Belgrade the following year with the song Rejection, which she penned herself. She came second being commity's favourite and winning the impressions with her performance but the tele-voting did not qualify her to represent Cyprus in 2008 Eurovision Contest. At the time she is preparing her first solo album and some songs have been added in her myspace.com profile.
![[2]](http://www.hi5mania.com/marlen/pictures/sinaulies/dickenszoo/marldckz%20(3).jpg){kind=link}