Aikaterine "Keti" Chomata (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: , ; October 24, 1946 - October 24, 2010) was a Greek singer and actress.
Biography
Chomata was born in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
in 1946; her family's origin was from the island of
Naxos
Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...
. She lived in the
Plaka district of Athens and studied classical dance. According to Chomata, she became a singer after being expelled from school at age 16. She was discovered by
Alekos Patsiphas, who met her at the Giorgos Oikonomides' radio show which dealt with searching for people of talent. Papastephanou introduced her to composer
Giannis Spanos
Ioannes "Giannis" Spanos ( el, Ιωάννης "Γιάννης" Σπανός, ; 26 July 1934 – 30 October 2019), also transliterated as Yannis Spanos, was a Greek music composer and lyricist. In his early days as a musician he was also a piano ac ...
.
Chomata became one of the leading representatives of the
Greek New Wave genre and one of the favourite performers of Spanos' compositions; she performed with great success in the Athens boîte scene.
Composers with whom she has worked include
Manos Hatzidakis
Manos Hatzidakis (also spelled Hadjidakis; el, Μάνος Χατζιδάκις; 23 October 1925 – 15 June 1994) was a Greek composer and theorist of Greek music, widely considered to be one of the greatest Greek composers and one of the most ...
,
Mikis Theodorakis
Michail "Mikis" Theodorakis ( el, Μιχαήλ "Μίκης" Θεοδωράκης ; 29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021) was a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works.
He scored for the films ''Zorba the Greek'' (1964), '' Z'' ...
,
George Kontogiorgos and
Stavros Xarchakos
Stavros Xarchakos, Greek: Σταύρος Ξαρχάκος (born 14 March 1939) is a Greek composer and conductor.
Biography
Stavros Xarchakos was born in Athens, where he studied at the Athens Conservatoire. He has family origins from the Mani ...
. In 1965 she participated in Thessloniki Song Festival with the song ''The summer is gone'' (Greek: Έφυγε το καλοκαίρι) written by
George Kontogiorgos. A famous hit song of Chomata is ''Mia agape gia to kalokairi'' (Greek: Μια αγάπη για το καλοκαίρι, "A love for the summer") released in her debut 7' EP in 1964. The song was later used for the
Vasilis Mavromatis' 1969 film ''Skies sten ammo'' (Greek: Σκιές στην άμμο, "Shadows on the sand"); a film in which she had the leading role and the only one in she ever played.
Personal life
Chomata was married twice having two daughters and four grandchildren. Her first husband, with whom she had her children, was actor and director Vasilis Mavromatis. Her second husband was Giannis Lianos, a great admirer of her.
Death
Chomata had been battling cancer in 2010. She died on her 64th birthday, after a car accident.
Discography
Chomata published 18 albums, having sung over 200 songs.
See also
*
Arleta
Arleta () is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California, with a high percentage of Latino residents and of people born outside the United States.
Geography
Arleta is bordered by the Los Angeles distr ...
*
Mariza Koch
*
Rena Koumioti
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chomata, Keti
1946 births
2010 deaths
Actresses from Athens
20th-century Greek women singers
Singers from Athens