Born on the idyllic island of Corfu in 1949, Vasiliki Papathanasiou, widely known by her stage name Vicky Leandros, became a renowned Greek singer who has enjoyed immense success both in her home country and internationally. With a career spanning nearly sixty years, she is the daughter of musician Leandros Papathanasiou. Vicky showed an astonishing apt for singing starting at a young age.
Early career and Eurovision triumphs
Leandros began her fascinating professional career in the world of music as a teenager in the early 1960s. In 1967, Vicky was just eighteen years old when she had the honor of representing Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest, some seven years before the first official Greek entry to the competition.
Leandros participated with the song “L’amour est bleu,” making history as the first Greek artist to represent another country in this prestigious competition. Her powerful and emotional performance placed her in the top five of performances. Leandros earned fourth place, and the song instantly became an international hit, selling millions of copies around the world.
Leandros did not stop there when it came to the Eurovision Song Contest, however. She returned to Europe’s most beloved show in 1972, again representing Luxembourg. This time, Leandros emerged victorious and won first place for the tiny European state with the song “Après Toi.” The song was a global hit and a favorite of the Eurovision fans for decades, topping charts around the world and turning Leandros into an international superstar almost overnight.
Following the resounding success in the competition, Leandros recorded the song in seven more languages in an attempt to access a greater number of markets.
The multilingual repertoire of a Greek singer
One of the reasons for Leandros’ success—apart from her unbelievable talent—was her ability to perform in multiple languages as if she were a native speaker. Even at the very beginning of her fascinating career, she recorded songs in Greek, French, English, German, Italian, and Japanese, something that not many people in the history of music have been able to do.
This stunning talent allowed her to profoundly connect with audiences in various parts of the world and establish a truly international fan base that enjoyed her music in their own language. By singing in Japanese, Leandros did something that not many other Western singers have done. She was able to deeply connect with the local audience in the beautiful “Land of the Rising Sun.” Her impressive Japanese language skills significantly boosted her career in the country.
“Watashi no Sukina Chocolate” (“The Chocolate That I Like”) along with the “Yogiri No Naka De” (“In the Foggy Night) gained widespread popularity in Japan in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Leandros also recorded Japanese versions of several of her hits which became popular in Europe.
Over the decades, the performer continued releasing dozens of truly successful albums, most of which were targeted specific markets. This included an astonishing 31 albums for the Japanese market alone. She was the first Greek artist to have ever had such success in the country. Her willingness to embrace different languages and musical styles made her a unique phenomenon in the globalization of pop music that followed in the coming decades.
Popularity that lasts forever
The fascinating career of Vicky Leandros continued to flourish throughout the 1970s and 1980s, proving how deeply rooted her connection with the European and international music audiences was. Hit singles like “When Bouzoukis Played” and “Theo, wir fahr’n nach Lodz” topped charts in multiple countries during a time when Greek music was mainly confined within the borders of Greece and Cyprus. Leandros even hosted her own television specials that were broadcast across Europe, including on the BBC in the UK.
Despite the fact that in the world of music, trends shift quickly and people get forgotten in the course of time, Leandros remained a beloved figure for decades. She continued to record music and perform regularly. She also collaborated with other well-known artists such as Demis Roussos, blending together unique elements of music that became iconic. Her albums and singles earned gold and platinum certifications in many countries showing how beloved she remained across the continent.
Now, after this truly fascinating and genuinely incredible career that spanned nearly six decades, Vicky Leandros announced in 2023 that she would retire from music. She has told fans that she will perform in a series of farewell concerts in her beloved Germany and Austria as a final gift to devoted fans who have remained faithful through the years.
The impact of Leandros on the world of music cannot be overstated. As one of the very first —and few—Greek artists to achieve massive international success, she paved the way for later artists, helping bring Greek music to a global audience. Her spectacular Eurovision wins, multi-platinum sales, and popularity that lasted across generations have made her a true icon of European music.
Although Leandros is now stepping back from the forefront of the music scene, she will remain Greece’s beloved ambassador to the world and will continue inspiring Greek artists who dream of an international career.
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