Vicky Leandros

She spent the first years of her childhood in her Greek homeland until she moved to Hamburg with her parents in 1958. After her parents divorced in 1961, Vicky Leandros grew up with her father, attended a high school in Hamburg and received singing, guitar and ballet lessons. Her extraordinary singing talent quickly became apparent and she was further encouraged. She made her first television appearance at the age of 13 on NDR's "Aktuelle Schaubude". Their first single was also released in 1965 and was titled "Knife, Scissors, Fork, Light". Vicky Leandros had her international breakthrough when she took part in the "Grand Prix d''Eurovision de la Chanson" in Vienna in 1967.

For Luxembourg she sang the French title "L'' Amour est bleu" and reached fourth place. The song was an incredible success, it was interpreted in a total of four languages and went quadruple platinum. For her performance, Vicky Leandros was awarded the "Golden Europe" in 1968. She owes her international popularity not least to the fact that she performed her songs in several languages right from the start. At the age of 16 she sang in French, Italian, English, Greek, German and even Japanese, later adding Spanish and Dutch. Vicky Leandros made her greatest success and the step to global stardom in 1972. She took part again for Luxembourg in the "Grand Prix d''Eurovision de la Chanson" and won the competition with her title "Après toi".

"Après toi" was recorded in seven languages and sold over 4.5 million copies - making it the best-selling song worldwide in 1972. From then on, Vicky Leandros sang in the largest stadiums in Europe, such as the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Paris Olympics, and she got her own TV show on the British television station BBC. She also had her own television shows in Germany, such as "Portrait Vicky Leandros" (1973) and "Mein Lied für Dich" (1974). After further successful single releases, she went to the USA in 1976, but was unable to build on her European successes there. In 1980 she married the Greek Ivan Zissiadis, with whom she had their son Leandraki. The divorce took place in 1983 and was accompanied by dramatic events and great media interest.

Ivan Zissiadis kidnapped their son to Greece. After lengthy court negotiations, Vicky Leandros was awarded custody and her son was returned to her care. In the years that followed, Vicky Leandros continued to have worldwide success. She recorded many albums in different languages, which were awarded multiple gold and platinum awards. She recorded 31 albums for the Japanese market alone, 63 for Greece, 46 for the Benelux countries and many more. In 1986 she married Baron Enno Freiherr von Ruffin, with whom she had their daughters Milana and Sandra. In the following years she largely withdrew from the public eye in order to be able to devote herself to family life. After a nine-year break from the stage, Vicky Leandros went on tour again for the first time in 1995 and produced three successful albums with producer Jack White.

Since Vicky Leandros didn't want to be dismissed as just a pop singer, she separated from White in 1999 and recorded the album "Now!" on. In September 2001 she was awarded the "Golden Tuning Fork". Even though she was able to celebrate great success in Germany, she was always particularly celebrated in her Greek homeland. She received a great honor in 2003 when, accompanied by a 300-strong choir and a 70-person orchestra, she was allowed to perform in the venerable Herodes Atticus, at the foot of the Acropolis. She was subsequently awarded the "Order of St. Marco First Class," making her an official ambassador of the Orthodox Church. Vicky Leandros is the first woman to be awarded this medal. In spring 2005, Vicky Leandros announced her separation from her husband Enno Freiherr von Ruffin.

In March 2006, Vicky Leandros took part in the preliminary round of the "Eurovision Song Contest" in order to be able to represent Germany in the international competition this time. But she couldn't prevail against Olli Dittrich's country band "Texas Lightening". Vicky Leandro's track record to date includes over 450 single and over 460 long play releases. She sold over 40 million records worldwide. Parallel to her singing career, Vicky Leandros entered Greek politics in 2006, where she won a mandate for the social democratic PASOK and has since served as deputy mayor of the city of Piraeus.