Despina Vandi

Δέσποινα Βανδή (Despina Vandi), 22 July 1969, Tipigen, Dusseldorf, Germany) is a Greek female modern laika - pop singer who has sold one million records in Greece alone. She has been dubbed in interviews and publications as "one of the biggest pop stars in Greece". Δέσποινα owes her success almost completely to the songwriter Φοίβος (also known as Phoebus). She has released 7 studio albums so far and 6 cd-singles. She started her career in 1994 by releasing the successful "Γέλα μου" (Gela Mou). Two years later she recorded her second album Εσένα περιμένω (Esena Perimeno) which had the same luck as her debut album. "Δέκα εντολές" [Deka Endoles (Ten Commandments)] was released in 1997 and it was the album that made Δέσποινα Βανδή well known and successful to the wide public. This is the very first album that Δέσποινα Βανδή collaborated with songwriter Φοίβος and it went Platinum. In 1999 her fourth studio album "Προφητείες" [Profities (Prophecies)] was released in Greece by Minos EMI and in Arabian countries by EMI Arabia in 2000. It was a big success and it went 3X Platinum in Greece. The style of the album was identical to the style of her previous release as they were both written and produced by Φοίβος. Γεια (Gia) is the most successful album of Δέσποινα Βανδή that has been released several times. It had the same style as her previous albums which was a mixture of pop and modern laika. It was originally released in Greece in 2001 and achieved 4x platinum status. It was re-released in 2002 including the single "Άντε γεια" (Ante Gia). Α US edition was released in 2004 by Escondida Music. Ιt was her first international release and the song "Gia" reached number 1 on the US Billboard Club Dance Airplay. In 2004 "Στην αυτή του παραδείσου" [Stin Avli Tou Paradeisou (In the Garden of Paradise)] was released, composed entirely of modern laika songs. It was very successful (2x platinum in Greece) but not as much as Γεια since she started recycling herself by recording only songs written by Φοίβος. Following its platinum status, it was re-released with four new songs and a bonus DVD, and renamed "Special Edition: Στην αυτή του παραδείσου" in December 2005. In 2007 she released her seventh studio album called "10 χρόνια μαζί" (10 Hronia Mazi). The album is dedicated to the 10 year collaboration with Phoebus and features a track of the same name. The album is a triple CD, with the first CD containing pop/rock songs, the second CD containing Modern Laika songs and third CD containing remixes of older songs. The album is once again completely written and produced by Phoebus. It was a top-3 hit and not as successful as her previous releases since it lacked innovation in terms of production.