Kostas Bigalis

Konstantinos (Kostas) Bigalis (born 15 March 1953) is a popular singer and musician who is known for representing Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest on two occasions: as a singer and composer in 1994 and as a composer in 1996.

Biography

Kostas was born in Athens. He started his career in 1975 after winning the first prize at a music contest for amateurs. He took part in many festivals, he played in the rock opera Jesus Christ Super Star, he entered the Song Festival of Thessaloniki where he was awarded the awards for Best Lyrics and Best Composition and in 1981 he recorded two songs for the soundtrack of the American film Next One. In 1982 he starred as Simon in a religious themed TV series, alongside Anthony Hopkins.In 1984 he formed the music duo Big Alice along with Mariana Efstratiou. They had a number one hit in Greece, entitled I Miss You and it was out to the music markets of 18 other European countries.

Kostas toured abroad for quite a long time and in 1989 he returned to Greece in order to launch a solo career. He had his first album the same year. His big hit came in 1992 with his second album that reached platinum sales.

Eurovision Song Contest

His first attempt to represent Greece in the ESC was in 1989, but his entry never made it to the finals. In 1994 ERT chose him to be the Greek representative with the pop/folk song To Trehandiri. Accompanied by the music group Sea Lovers on stage, Kostas gave a fresh performance, though the results were not so good. He received 44 points and he was 14th out of 25 entries.

In 1996, he wrote music for a song performed by Mariana Efstratiou. The song made it to the eurovision finals but once more the results didn't satisfy him. The song gained 36 points and it was 14th out of 23.

In 2002, he tried once more. This time he penned a duet for himself and young singer Mirella. The song made it to the Greek selection night but it was not victorious. Bigalis was furious with ERT for the bad sound (as he was stating) and he made several TV appearances complaining and accusing ERT for not winning the event.

In 2005, he wrote the song The Light in our Soul for Helena Paparizou in order for her to compete to the Greek selection for the ESC 2005. A few days before the event, his former colleague, Mirella stated that this particular song was performed by her and it was already in a CD that was issued a few months ago in Germany. The fact that the song was aired before the Greek contest was against the rules and the song was disqualified.

Discography

References

• www.musiccorner.gr
• www.madtv.gr