Ivi Adamou

Early life

Ivi Adamou was born on 24 November 1993 in Ayia Napa, Famagusta, to a Greek Cypriot father and a Bulgarian mother. She is one of the three children of her family; she has two sisters, one older and one younger. At the age of 9, she got on the stage for first time and participated in a music competition where she competed with the song "Kaka Paidia" by Anna Vissi and managed to win the competition. Since that competition, she started music theory, vocal lessons, and piano which allowed her to acquire the suitable skills to win prizes in several local song competitions.

At the age of 15 and during her second year at the lyceum, Adamou auditioned for The X Factor and as she managed to make it through the live shows, she had to be travelling from Cyprus to Greece. Following her participation in the second series of the Greek version of the X Factor she signed a contract with Sony Music Greece and since then she lives in Greece, where she studied at the Panteion University. Even though she had started a musical career, she decided to study sociology. She graduated and received her diploma in 2015.

2009–10: The X Factor

Between 2009 and 2010, Adamou took part in the second series of the Greek version of The X Factor, ending in sixth place. During her time on the show, she listed Beyoncé as her biggest influence, as well as Christina Aguilera and Whitney Houston. Nearly all the songs she performed during the show were in the English language with only one of them being in the Greek language.

Adamou sang "Just Dance" on the first live show and she received positive reviews by the judges. In the second and third live show, she sang P!nk's "Just Like A Pill" and Kelly's "Because of You" respectively and she once again received positive reviews with the latter one being honoured as one of the best performances in the show until then. However, with her performance of "Papa Don't Preach" by Madonna in the fourth live show she received negative reviews, with Nikos Mouratidis stating that the song didn't suit to her voice. For the next three live shows, she performed "When I Grow Up", "Hurt" and "Halo" and despite her unsuccessful performance in the fourth live show, they were positively reviewed by the judges. On the eighth live she performed her first Greek song, "Hristougenna" along with "All I Want For Christmas Is You".

On the ninth live show Adamou performed "Celebration", making it the second song of Madonna that she performed. She also had a duet with her teammate, Nini; the two performed Anna Vissi's "Dodeka". On the tenth live show she performed "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" and even though she received mostly positive reviews, Mouratidis had negative opinion on the performance just like he did on her previous performance. On the eleventh live show, she performed another song from the Pussycat Dolls, "Hush Hush". For first time, Adamou was in bottom two with Hovig but she was saved by the judges. In the final showdown, she chose to perform "I Have Nothing", the song she sang in the bootcamp.

On the twelfth live show, she performed for second time, a song from Christina Aguilera. Even though she was one of the favourites to win, she was eliminated during the twelfth week, where she came at bottom two against her teammate Nini Shermandini. She was voted to stay in by George Levendis and Nikos Mouratidis and Nini was voted by Katerina Gagaki and George Theofanous. Even though it was tied, Theofanous' vote counted twice and therefore Adamou was eliminated. After her elimination, a "fight" started between Adamou's label Sony and Theofanous; the record label wanted Adamou to return because of the fake results, as stated by the media.

2010–11: Kalokairi Stin Kardia, San Ena Oniro and tours

While Adamou was not a finalist in The X Factor with her sixth-place finish, she managed to obtain a record deal with Sony Music Greece, an affiliate of the show. Her elimination from the show was the source of a dispute between representatives of Sony Music Greece and George Theofanous, Adamou's mentor on the show. Her first single, "A*G*A*P*I" was release just a few days after her elimination from the show. She performed the song for first time at Aksizei Na To Deis (It's Worth to Watch), a show of ANT1. Its music video was released on 22 March 2010. She also performed the song as a guest performer during the final of The X Factor. Following her debut single, Adamou released the Greek version of the Barbie in A Mermaid Tale soundtrack.

On 13 April 2010, Adamou's first collaboration was released through the MAD TV; she was featured on Stavento's song "San Erthi I Mera" which became a summer hit in Greece and Cyprus. In less than three months, the song got more than 3 million views in the original video which was later taken down which made it one of the most viewed Greek music videos at that time. The song stayed in the top five of the Greek Airplay Chart for 20 weeks, and sold 60 thousand legal downloads. Her second single, "Sose Me", was released on 27 April 2010 with its video clip premiering on 5 May 2010. A few days later, teasers for Adamou's debut extended play were revealed. Meanwhile, Adamou started touring in Greece and Cyprus along with Stavento. On 14 June 2010, Adamou performed at the 2010 MAD Video Music Awards with the band OtherView, a cover of the song "Last Kiss", originally by Ishtar.

Adamou's debut extended play, Kalokairi Stin Kardia, was released in June 2010 and included her first two singles, "A*G*A*P*I" and "Sose Me". Adamou recorded, for second time, the Greek version for a Barbie soundtrack; Barbie: A Fashion Fairy Tale. On 29 July 2010, a contest started through the official website to select the third single of the album; either "To Mistiko Mou Na Vris" or "Gelaei" would be the third single. Apart from select the next single, the voters had the chance to watch the shooting of the video clip. "To Mistiko Mou Na Vris" was announced on 30 August 2010 as the third single and the shooting for the video started in September, while the video premiered on 13 October 2010.

Adamou's first EP was certified gold for shipments of more than six thousand units. She received her gold album from Sakis Rouvas right after her performance of "To Mistiko Mou Na Vris" in the second live show of the third season of The X Factor. On 28 October 2010, it was announced that Adamou would release a Christmas EP which would include convers of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", "Last Christmas", "White Christmas" and a medley of "Agia Nihta" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". Christougenna me tin Ivi Adamou (released as Christmas with Ivi Adamou abroad) was released on 22 November 2010. The EP peaked at the first place of the Greek iTunes while it was certified double platinum in Portugal for selling more than fifty thousands units.

In early 2011, Adamou admitted that she got proposition from ERT to represent Greece in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest which she turned down stating that even if she's interested in participating, she wants to finish school. In March 2011, she started working on her first studio album. In April 2011, Adamou collaborated with Melisses in the song written by the band, "Krata Ta Matia Sou Klista". Both the song and the music video premiered on 23 April 2013. In May 2011, it was announced that Adamou would release a song named "Murderous" which caused tension between Adamou's and Paparizou's fans as the song was previously announced as Paparizou's song. The song was later included in Adamou's first studio album as a Greek-language song titled "Tis Agapis Ta Thimata".

On 14 June 2011, Adamou attended the 2011 MAD Video Music Awards and performed with Midenistis a remix of the song "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)". That year, she received her first nominations at the MAD Video Music Awards; she was nominated for the Best New Artist and Best Female Artist. She was also nominated for the Best Hip Hop/Urban, Best Duet and Best Video Clip for the song with Stavento, "San Erthi I Mera". She won the award for the Best Hip Hop/Urban song.

In June 2011, a video teasing the new album entitled San Ena Oniro was shared through Adamou's channel. The first single from the album was "Kano Mia Efhi" written and produced by Meth. The shooting for the music video started in July and premiered on 29 July 2011. Her first studio album, San Ena Oniro, was released on 25 July 2011 and included ten songs. "Voltes St Asteria" was announced as the second single of the album on 25 August 2011. A teaser of its music video was revealed on 5 October 2011 and premiered on 11 October 2011.

2012–15: Eurovision Song Contest

In early August 2011, Adamou was rumoured to represent Cyprus in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. On 6 August 2011, CyBC officially announced that Adamou was internally selected to represent the country in the contest. In January 2012, CyBC published the songs that Adamou would perform in the selection; "Call the Police", "La La Love" and "You Don't Belong Here". The national final took place on 25 January 2012 where "La La Love" was declared as the winner and therefore the Cypriot entry in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. A month before the contest, it was reported that Cyprus could be disqualified due to not having the funds from the House of Representatives. In response to this fact, Adamou reportedly said: "[...] I am optimistic that not only we'll be in Baku, but we'll also have a great procedure". During the contest, Adamou was reunited with fellow The X Factor contestant Eleftheria Eleftheriou who represented Greece. At the running order draw, Cyprus was drawn to perform 12th in the first semi-final on 22 May 2012 and then successfully reached the final where it was drawn to perform 8th and ultimately finished in 16th place. "La La Love" entered the single charts in many European countries, including Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden. "La La Love" along with the other national final songs were included in the euro edition of San Ena Oniro with an additional Greek version of "You Don't Belong Here" titled "Fotia Vrohi".

After Eurovision, Adamou had a summer tour with concerts in Greece, Cyprus, Sweden and Spain. In Spain, she recorded "Time to Love" with Marsal Ventura, a Spanish DJ. When she returned to Greece she recorded another song called "Ase Me" with Kleopatra from Stavento. On 14 January 2013, on an appearance on Mega Channel's program Proino Mou, she announced that she would be releasing a new album in February 2013, but the album was not released during that time. She also announced through her Facebook page that her new song with Marsal Ventura, "Time to Love", would be released in early February. Stavento posted a backstage photo from the shooting of their new song with Adamou named "Na Sou Tragoudo" which was released on 4 March 2013 and was available for digital download on 11 March 2013.

Adamou renewed her co-operation with Sony Music Greece on 5 April 2013. She revealed during her interview at MTV that her new album would have the title Eho Ourano (I Have Sky). Her next single, released on 31 May 2013, was titled "Ponane Oi Agapes" (Loves Hurt). For a fourth consecutive year, Adamou performed at the MAD Video Music Awards with Anise K and Shaya the song "Walking on Air". As Sony Music Greece was shut down, her album's release was cancelled. In January 2014, Adamou announced during one of her concerts that she would be returning with a new song after the small "break". She also revealed that the release of the song would be special. On 4 April 2014, Adamou appeared at the 2014 MadWalk along with Elisavet Spanou and Courtney Parker, where they all performed "Sway" for the Red Dress Act.

Following the first season of The Voice of Greece, the kid's version of the show was announced with Adamou being speculated as one of the coaches along with Demy due to both being young singers. On 3 June 2014, it was confirmed by Adamou and Kouinelis that the two would be performing a duet for the 2014 MAD Video Music Awards. On the ceremony that took place on 23 June and was broadcast on 2 July, Adamou and Kouinelis performed "Na Sou Tragoudo" as well as remix of "Min Tis to Pis" along with Kostas Tournas. Adamou started her summer tour with Stavento in August and performed in several places in Greece and Cyprus. On 17 October 2014, it was reported that Adamou received a proposition from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation to host the Cypriot national selection for the 2015 Contest. However, it was later announced by CyBC that Antri Karantoni would be presenting the selection. In late 2014, Adamou started her second residency show along with Kostas Tournas, Kostas Karafotis and Violeta Dagkalou.

2015–16: Digital Singles, 80's The Musical and tours

After reaching one billion views, the official YouTube channel of the Eurovision Song Contest published a video with the top 10 most watched Eurovision songs with Adamou's "La La Love" being on sixth place with more than 30 million views, the second most watched 2012 song after Loreen's "Euphoria". On 4 May 2015, Adamou published a photo on her Facebook page with her being in a studio, teasing the release of new music. Adamou was confirmed to perform for the designer Gregory Morfi in the 2015 Cyprus MadWalk among other performers such as Despina Vandi, Demy and Eleftheria Eleftheriou. On 14 May 2015, during the show for the 2015 Cyprus MadWalk, she performed "La La Love" and a cover version of "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" by Modjo.

On 25 May 2015, she was announced to be part of the Eurovision Cruise, an annual event organized by OGAE Finland, along with Sanna Nielsen and Sonia. In June 2015, she started her summer tour with the Greek band Miss Cherry. She confirmed during an interview with Eurovision Radio International that her new single would be released in October and that she would be a part of a musical in Athens. The musical was later revealed to be the original musical Barbarella: the 80's Musical and that she would star as Evi, a Greek-American teenager. The musical also starred Katy Garbi and Eleni Foureira and would premiere on 28 October in the Pireos 131 Theater in Athens. The musical's premiere was postponed and premiered on 7 November 2015 instead. The musical received generally favorable reviews and Adamou was praised for both her acting and singing skills in the musical. It was revealed that since late November 2015 she would part of the Fever residency show with Nikos Oikonomopoulos and Christos Cholidis. The show made its premiere on 27 November 2015, and concluded on 19 March 2016 while a new show started at Fix Live in Thessaloniki for a limited number of appearances between 25 March 2016 and 23 April 2016.

More than two years after her last single release "Ponane Oi Agapes", Adamou confirmed through her Instagram account that a new song and music video would be released. During an interview to TLife!, she revealed the title of the single to be "Tipota De Mas Stamata" (Nothing Stops Us). The song was written and composed by Michalis Kouinelis and the first teaser of the song was released on 15 January 2016. Adamou was featured on Stavento's "Mi Staksi Ke Mi Vreksi" from their fifth studio album Akoma Onirevome (2016). The song marked their third collaboration on a song with the first two being "San Erthi I Mera" and "Na Sou Tragoudo". On 18 July 2016, Adamou released "Akou Sopa", a remake of the 2010 song "Un Bonito Final", originally by the Spanish group Los Rebujitos.

2016–present: Stavros tou Notou

In 2016, Adamou joined Myronas Stratis and Isaias Matiaba for a special holiday residency show at Stavros tou Notou in Athens on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The three later continued their cooperation for a full residency show in the venue since 21 January 2017. The show was well received and Adamou was praised for her performance in the show. Adamou announced the release of a new song by posting a photo from the shooting of its music video. During an interview on the ANT1 talk show The 2Night Show, a short clip from Adamou's new song was shown. The teaser was officially released on 6 March 2017 along with the title of the song, "Afto Ton Kero".

Style and influences

Since her appearance in the X Factor, Adamou has been performing pop songs. Although almost all the song she performed in the competition were in English, the songs she later released for her discography were mostly in Greek. As she said in an interview, she is influenced by both the Greek and American pop music. Adamou was often named as the "Next Big Thing" or the "Teen Idol" in Greece following the release of her first extended play. The album had a more teen pop style while her debut studio album adopted a more "mature" pop style.

Adamou has named Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera and Whitney Houston as her idols and her biggest influences. She admires Whitney Houston who has been her favourite singer since her childhood and Beyoncé whom admires for her work and talent. She has also said [about Beyoncé] that she would love to work with her.

Since a child I've listened to Whitney Houston and I admire Beyoncé for her industriousness. Every time she [Beyoncé] has an appearance, she tends to have the best result which shows how much she has worked to reach the perfect.

Adamou has also cited Elena Paparizou and Sakis Rouvas as her influences with the latter one coming close to him during The X Factor where Sakis was the host. She has said [about Sakis] that she wasn't a big fan of him before the show, but she admired him when she met and got to know more about him and his personality.

Personal life

Adamou is the second child in her family; she has two other sisters one older, Despina and one younger, Cleopatra. She was born and raised in Ayia Napa, Cyprus and had been travelling to Greece due to her participation in The X Factor. In 2011, she started studying sociology at Panteion University, in Athens where she now lives permanently. In July 2015, four years later, she graduated and got her diploma at the Department of Sociology of Panteion.

When asked about her relationship status between 2011 and 2012, Adamou said that she was not in any relationship despite the rumors that she was in relationship with Michalis Kouinelis from Stavento. Later, in one interview, she denied the rumours. She also said that she was never in love, since she went to Athens to study. In 2014 though, Kouinelis revealed that they were in a relationship for about a year and not for four or five as the media said. The two now live together in Athens as Adamou had been studying there. It was reported in late-April 2014 that after Kouinelis met the parents of Adamou, the two would soon get married. However, neither of them have confirmed the rumours and was not revealed whether they were engaged or not.

During and after Eurovision, the media reported that Adamou and Eleftheria Eleftheriou were not in a good situation. Both singers stated that everything was okay between them. However, during their performance in the 2013 Greek national final, Eleftheria was to give her hand to Adamou, while Adamou was waving at the audience. Later, Eleftheria said that Adamou didn't do this intentionally. She also said that they are in a good situation.

Adamou has met Beyoncé during her participation at the Greek X Factor, where she won a ticket for her concert in Athens. She has also met Jennifer Lopez at her concert in Stockholm as Adamou was there due to her concert tour.

Charitable work

Adamou has participated in several charities. In 2010, she was part of the Cypriot campaign "Everything I Can" for the prevention of cervical cancer. The same year, she took part in the Greek campaign against breast cancer along with other Greeks including Katia Dandoulaki, Zeta Makripoulia and Dimitra Galani. In 2011, Adamou was appointed as the Young Ambassador for the rights of the children by the HFC-UNCRC Policy Center. As the ambassador of the organization, she performed at the campaign "Beat Bullying" on 27 January 2012 and the incoming of the concert would be donated to the organization's campaign. In 2013, she performed at the solidarity concert in Famagusta to collect food. In December 2013, she took part in a Christmas Concert organised by the Cypriot radio station Super FM and Giorgos Theofanous along with artists including Elena Paparizou, Eleni Foureira, Demy and Kostas Martakis. The money that were raised from the concert's tickets were given to Radiomarathonios. The performers, apart from their own songs, they performed a Christmas song each along with Theofanous' choir. The songs were included in an album that was released along with a Cypriot newspaper. Adamou performed a cover of Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You".

Studio albums

Extended plays

Filmography

Adamou has appeared on several TV shows and awards including her participation on the second season of The X Factor and the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. In 2015 and 2016, she starred in Barbarella: the 80's Musical.

Awards and nominations

Adamou's debut extended play was certified gold for selling over 60,000 copies. Her second extended play, Christmas with Ivi Adamou, was certified double platinum in Portugal for selling over 50,000 copies. Her first studio album San Ena Oniro was released in July 2011 and peaked at the 17th place in the Greek album charts. Her single "La La Love" became a success after competing in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 and was charted in the European countries including Sweden, Spain and the United Kingdom.

She had several nominations at the MAD Video Music Awards since 2011. She won two awards, for the best video clip urban and the best Cypriot artist. She was also nominated three years in a row at the Madame Figaro Awards for the best Cypriot woman singer and won two of them, in 2010 and 2012. In 2013, her song with Marsal Ventura, "Time to Love" won the Spanish awards, LaLore02 Awards, for the best song of the year.

Tours and concerts

Adamou's first tour was in summer of 2010 along with Stavento while the second tour was with Melisses in summer of 2011. For both tours, the singers toured in more than 50 places in Greece and Cyprus. In 2011, she joined Panos Kiamos and Kostas Martakis at their residency concert in the Posidonio Music Hall.

After the residency concert was over, Adamou started touring around Europe to promote her song of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. Following the contest, Adamou started the La La Love Tour and toured in countries including Sweden, Greece and Spain. In 2013, Adamou had a short summer tour and appeared in several clubs. It was confirmed by Adamou and Michalis Kouinelis that they would start touring in Greece and Cyprus during the summer of 2014. In December 2014, Adamou had her second residency show along with Kostas Tournas, Kostas Karafotis and Violeta Dagkalou. In summer 2015, she toured along with the Greek band Miss Cherry, while since November 2015 she was part of the residency show in Fever with Nikos Oikonomopoulos and Christos Cholidis. After the show ended, the trio started a new show in Fix Live for a limited number of appearances between 25 March and 23 April. She was part of a residency concert along with Myronas Stratis and Isaias Matiaba for three shows—on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The residency concert was extended and the trio continued their appearances every Saturday since 21 January 2017.

Concert tours

Residency concerts