| Chrispa | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Chrisanthi-Pagona Pitropoulou |
| Also known as | Chrispa (stage name) |
| Born | December 7, 1982 |
| Origin | Athens, Greece |
| Genres | Modern laïka |
| Occupations | Singer |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Labels | Alpha Records (2003) Minos EMI (2004–present) |
Chrispa (Greek: Χρύσπα, born Chrisanthi-Pagona Pitropoulou on December 7, 1982) is a Greek singer. She has released five studio albums.
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Chrispa was born Chrisanthi-Pagona Pitropoulou[1] (Chris-pa) in Athens, Greece on December 7, 1982.[2][3] At the age of five, she moved to Pireus, Greece where she began to experiment with music and dance. Originally, she had no dream to become a singer and loved ballet.[4] After thirteen years of ballet, she left it behind party because of her short height, and pursued musical instruments taking courses at her school for phonetics, piano and guitar.[2][4]
Chrispa's singing career began at age 18 when she sang a song with Sofia Vossou at her summer concert in Aegina. Vossou described Chrispa's voice as "very good" and her connections eventually helped Chrispa get a record contract with Alpha Records.[4] Her talent was quickly realized and she sang in more concerts with other popular singers such as Stamatis Gonidis, Labis Livieratos, and Themis Adamantidis.[2]
In the spring of 2003 at the age of 21, Chrispa released her debut album titled Tora with Alpha Records. The first single off the album titled "Esena Thelo" gained radio success and had a music video and remix.[4] Chrispa's next album was the self-titled Chrispa in 2004 with Minos EMI.
A repackaged album was released in 2005 titled Chrispa 100%. The compilation featured hits from her first two albums, a new single, "Mou Kani Plaka O Theos," which became a radio hit, a DVD of her music videos, and remixes. Also from the album, were the radio hits "An Den Ipirhes", "Savvatokiriako", "Fevgo Gia To 7", "I Kolasi Eimai Ego", and "Pali Tha Peis Signomi".[4] 2005 also brought several collaborations for Chrispa. She sang with Giorgos Tsalikis and Constantinos Christoforou in the summer while during the winter of 2005 - 2006 she went on the road with Elli Kokkinou, the Andreas Stamos, Constantinos Christoforou and Kalomoira.[4]
In 2006 and 2007, she released two more albums, Posa Hrostao and Kathreftis respectively.[5] The first single off of Kathreftis is "Mia Stigmi" and it was made into a music video.
She was a candidate in the Greek national final to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.[6][7][8] Chrispa had chosen a song composed by Marios Psimopoulos with lyrics by Antonis Papas. The provisional title of the song was "SOS For Love",[9] but later it was changed to "A Chance to Love".[10] The song has an ethnic style, described as a "Dance Oriental",[11] with lyrics in both Greek and English.[10]
At the national final, held on February 27, 2008, Chrispa performed "A Chance to Love" first out of the three participants and when the results were released, she placed third with 15.9% of the vote.[12] Kostas Martakis placed second, and Kalomoira went to Eurovision with "Secret Combination", eventually placing third.[11]
On October 6, 2009, Chrispa released her fifth studio album titled Mehri Edo. It includes eleven new tracks composed by Stefanos Korkolis, with lyrics by Rebecca Roussi.[13] It was reported that Chrispa expressed dissatisfaction with her label's lack of promotion of the album, and as a result, is considered prematurely exiting her contract with Minos EMI.[14]
Chrispa is currently working on her sixth studio album to be released in late 2010 or early 2011.[15]
Chrispa married Panagiotis Nikolaou in July 2010.[15] The two had met a year earlier, and they were engaged a month after meeting.[15]