Olympia "Lia" Vissi (born 15 May 1955) is a

Greek-Cypriot Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greeks, Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest Ethnolinguistic group, ethnolinguistic community. Accordin ...

singer, songwriter and composer who most notable for her two participations in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

and being older sister of

Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 r ...

singer

Anna Vissi Anna Vissi ( el, Άννα Βίσση, , ; born 20 December 1957), is a Greek Cypriot singer and songwriter. She studied music at conservatories and performed locally before moving to the professional scene in Athens, in 1973, where she signed ...

Career

Vissi participated in the

twice. In

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, she was a supporting singer for Elpida, representing

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and 1984 saw Vissi participate in the Cypriot national song contest with the song "Chtes", which came second. Finally, in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

she represented Cyprus in the contest as a solo singer, singing her own composition '' To Katalava Arga'', to which she also penned the lyrics. The Cypriot entry came 16th out of 19 songs, receiving 15 points, including 8 (rather than the usual maximum 12) from Greece. Cyprus also gave Greece only 8 points this year and total score of the Greek entry totaled 15, and thus Cyprus and Greece shared the sixteenth position. She took part in the 1991 Greek final for Eurovision, singing the anthem Agapa ti Gi. She was placed second behind

Sophia Vossou Sophia Vossou ( el, Σοφία Βόσσου; born 5 December 1961) is a Greek singer best known abroad for representing Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest 1991 where she was placed 13th with the song " I Anixi". Biography Vossou was born in ...

. In 1992, Greek television decided not to televise the national final. Vissi submitted a song for consideration, Kapios, and found herself voted into second place yet again. In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, Vissi embarked on a political career, running for a seat in the

House of Representatives of Cyprus The House of Representatives ( el, Βουλή των Αντιπροσώπων ; tr, Temsilciler Meclisi) is the national unicameral legislature of the Republic of Cyprus. Members and three observers representing Armenian, Latin, and Maronite Cy ...

in the 21 June elections. She represented the

Democratic Rally The Democratic Rally ( el, Δημοκρατικός Συναγερμός, translit=Dimokratikós Sinagermós, ΔΗΣΥ/DISY) is a liberal-conservative, Christian-democratic political party in Cyprus led by Averof Neofytou. The party was founded ...

in the

Larnaca District Larnaca District ( el, Επαρχία Λάρνακας, tr, Larnaka kazası) is one of the six districts of Cyprus. Its capital is Larnaca. It is bordered on the east by Famagusta District, on the north by Nicosia District and on the west by L ...

but she was not elected.

References

The Diggiloo Trush – Eurovision Song Contest Information

An interview with Lia Vissi regarding her running-up for the office
* Dutch Wikipedia article on Lia Vissi {{DEFAULTSORT:Vissi, Lia 1955 births Living people Cypriot composers Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Cyprus 20th-century Cypriot women singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1985 Greek Cypriot singers Modern Greek-language singers People from Larnaca District Thessaloniki Song Festival entrants 21st-century Cypriot women politicians 21st-century Cypriot politicians 20th-century Greek women singers