Eleni Foureira

At 37 years old, Eleni Foureira has this physical status:

Eleni Foureira, born 7 March 1987, is a Greek-Albanian singer and dancer.

She began her music career in 2007 as a member of the Greek girl group Mystique before embarking on a solo career after the group disbanded in 2009.

With the song Fuego, she represented Cyprus in Eurovision Song Contest 2018, finishing 2nd.

Foureira has signed a solo contract with Universal Music Greece and debuted her self-titled debut album in 2010, which has received a gold medal in Greece.

She later signed to Minos EMI and went on to release her second and third studio albums Ti Poniro Mou Zitas and Anemos agapis in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

Both albums were well-received in Greece and Cyprus.

In 2015, Foureira left Minos EMI and signed with Panik Records.

Vasilissa's fourth studio album, Valiantssa, was released in 2017. With the song "Fuego," she represented Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018.

She advanced from the first semi-finals to the grand final on May 8, 2018 — the highest result the contest has ever saw.

Early life

Entela Fureraj was born in Fier, Albania, on March 7, 1987. Her mother is a seamstress, and her father works in building. Ioanna, Margarita, and Giorgos are three siblings. Foureira grew up in the Eastern Orthodox faith, and she has a grandfather who was from Greece. The family moved to Vlor, then Greece, after the Albanian Civil War in 1997. The family lived in Albania for two hours a day, and after being hit with bullets in Greece, they headed to Greece. Foureira and her family landed in Athens, Greece, after arriving in Greece.

Foureira began playing guitar at a young age, learning how to play guitar and later working in a theatre for three years.

Personal life

Since 2017, she has been in a friendship with Alberto Bota, a Spanish footballer who was playing in Greece for Olympiacos F.C. At the time, it was a teen's birthday.

The Greek media have speculated about Foureira's ancestral roots from the start of her career. She pretended to be Brazilian as a Mystique member. She later said that her father was from Athens and her mother from Ioannina, although she had some Mexican roots as well. Foureira claimed to be a Greek citizen by descent in 2018 and that her grandfather, who was Greek, was also named Greek.

Foureira was born in Albania and her birth name was Entela Fureraj, according to the Greek media in 2013. Foureira did not comment on the surveys until 2014, when she first announced them. She said she did not reveal her ethnicity in order to be accepted in the Greek music market. She continued to say that she never understood the topic because she always felt Greek and that she had only received Greek education. Andreas Giatrakos, who discovered Foureira and recruited her to join Mystique, later said he wanted Foureira to be proud of her roots and would not have rejected her if she had been born in Albania.

In a picture with Albanian singer Eugent Bushpepa, Foureira demonstrated Albania's patriotic eagle gesture during the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The photo went viral in Albania and Greece, being well-received in the former but causing controversies in the latter.

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Career

Foureira began her music as a member of the Mystique group. Andreas Giatrakos discovered her, and the company also included Alkmini Chatzigianni and Maria Makri. They debuted "Se alli selida" in 2007, and the following year, they gained fame with the single "Min kaneis pos de thymasai" featuring Greek hip hop group NEVMA. In 2009, they went broke.

Foureira signed a solo deal with Universal Music Greece, the same brand as Mystique, after Mystique broke up. She appeared on Mega Channel's charity program Just the Two of Us. Panagiotis Petrakis, a singer, and actress Panagiotis Petrakis tied for first place. In December 2010, Foureira recorded her self-titled debut studio album. She then joined Minos EMI. Ti Poniro Mou Zitas was her second album, but Anemos agapis was released in 2014. She appeared in the Athens musical Barbarella: the 80's Musical from 2015 to 2016, as Sofia, alongside other Greek pop stars including Ivi Adamou and Katy Garbi. Following the success of Anemos agapis, she left Minos EMI and signed with Panik Records. She appeared on season three of So You Think You Can Dance, the Greek version of So You Think You Can Dance. Valiant Studios' fourth studio album, Valiantissa, was released in 2017.

Foureira has attempted to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest for the past several years. With Manos Pyrovolakis, she qualified for the Greek national final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Greece, performing the song "Kivotos tou Noe" in 2010. They came in second second, behind Giorgos Alkaios. At Eurosong 2013 - a MAD show, she appeared "Wild Dances" with Ruslana. She considered participating in Eurosong 2015, a NERIT & MAD exhibition, but ultimately did not participate. She attempted to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Come Tiki Tam," but Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation refused her (ERT). She was turned down by the radio for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 once more in 2017.

Foureira would represent Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Fuego," according to the campaign's founder in February 2018. Alex Papaconstantinou, a Greek-Swedish songwriter, composed the song. Foureira was named one of three ethnic Albanians competing this year, each of whom represent different countries. Foureira posed with Albanian contestant Eugent Bushpepa, who gave the crossed hands sign denoting Albania's double eagle. Nationalist Greeks protested Foureira, demanding that she be barred from the tournament, but Cyprus continued to support her. She advanced from the first semi-final to grand final on May 8, 2018 on May 8. She finished second in the national juries and the second most votes from the public tele voting process in the final, on May 12, 2018; this was Cyprus' best Eurovision placement in history.

Eleni signed a new contract with Sony Music just shy of Eurovision 2018. Helena Paparizou (who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2005) became only the second Greek artist to sign a major record label by doing so. In late June, she unveiled her Greek single "Caramela," which topped the Digital Single Chart in late June. She released "Tómame," a non-album album track that had previously been a top-five hit in mid-October. "Fuego" has been certified platinum in Spain, gold in Norway, and Sweden, becoming Eleni's first song to achieve this.

Eleni's first international project, Gypsy Woman (EP), featured the song "El Ritmo Psicodelico" as the lead single on May 17, 2019. She began a European tour in various cities in Greece, Spain, and the United Kingdom to further promote her studio project. Foureira was named as one of the four artists from previous competitions for an interval act in the final, where she performed the 2007 runner-up Verka Serduchka's "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" on the Host Broadcaster press conference. She was most active in collaborations with musicians such as Kaan and Snoop Dogg, and Claydee throughout the year. Yayo's electropop and R&B single was released in March 2020. "Temperatura" was released in June by the Greek singer in June, which was later accompanied by a Spanish version.

She appeared as a surprise guest at Festi i Kngs 58, Albania's national selection competition for Eurovision, held in Tirana, Albania, in December. She performed a few Albanian folk songs with television host Alketa Vejsiu, as well as a monologue in the Albanian language on her Albanian roots, since she moved from Albania during her childhood.

Eleni Foureira's two dance-pop, electropop, nu-disco, and synth-pop albums "Light It Up" (in October) and "Dokimase Me" (in December), both of which feature 1980s and retrofuturism tropes, are set to reach the end of 2020. The singer announced that her forthcoming second extended play, titled Light It Up, will be released in early 2021. "Mporei," a song with Greek rapper MadClip, was released in May 2021 as the best duet at the Super Music Awards.

She appeared on "Mono Esy Kai Ego" with Greek singer Konstantinos Argiros in May 2022. Foureira released her fifth studio album, Poli Ploki, on June 3rd, a follower of the singles "Mporei" and "Aeraki (To Thiliko)" on June 3rd.

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