Vicky Moscholiou (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
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 of all kno ...
: Βίκυ Μοσχολιού, ; 23 May 1943 – 16 August 2005),
was a Greek performer with a significant repertoire and a huge contribution to the Greek culture and the history of lyrical (entechno) and urban folk (laiko) song.
Manos Hatzidakis
Manos Hatzidakis (also spelled Hadjidakis; ; 23 October 1925 – 15 June 1994) was a Greek composer and theorist of Greek music, widely regarded as one of the greatest Greek composers of all time. He was one of the main proponents of the " Ént ...
described her voice as "the cello of Greek music", while
Mikis Theodorakis
Michail "Mikis" Theodorakis ( ; 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'' (1969), and '' Serpico'' (1973). He was a three-ti ...
called her "a singer resembling an ancient Doric boulder".
Yannis Tsarouchis had said that "Vicky Moscholiou is the Kotopouli of Greek song.”
Lefteris Papadopoulos
Lefteris (Eleftherios) Papadopoulos (; born 14 November 1935) is a Greek lyricist, writer and journalist.
Lefteris Papadopoulos was born in Athens, Greece on 14 November 1935. He was the son of Greek Pontian refugees, with a father from a vill ...
noted that "the Greek song owes its voice to her," and
Giannis Markopoulos
Yannis Markopoulos (; 18 March 1939 – 10 June 2023) was a Greek composer.
Biography
Early life and education
Yannis Markopoulos was born in 1939 in Heraklion, Crete. Born into one of the old families of the island — his father was an atto ...
said, "Vicky Moscholiou is gifted with natural talent".
Biography
Early years
Vicky (Vasiliki) Moscholiou was born on 23 May 1943 in
Metaxourgeio
Metaxourgeio or Metaxourgio ( ), meaning "silk mill", is a neighbourhood of Athens, Greece. The neighbourhood is located north of the historical centre of Athens, between Kolonos to the west and Plateia Vathi to the east, and north of Kerameikos. ...
, a poor working-class district of Athens, and grew up in the difficult post-war years. She lived with her family (three kids, her parents, her grandmother) in a large room in a courtyard where there were two other large rooms that housed two other families. Her father worked in the vegetable market while her mother, who suffered from
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
, washed clothes to supplement the family's income. With whatever money they had collected they bought an off-plan plot of land, in
Agia Varvara
Agia Varvara (, meaning Saint Barbara) is a suburban town in the western part of the Athens agglomeration in Attica, Greece and a municipality in the West Athens regional unit.
Geography And Demographics
Agia Varvara is situated east of the ...
in
Egaleo
Aigaleo or Egaleo ( ) is a town and a suburban municipality in the western part of the Athens urban area, belonging to the West Athens regional administrative unit. It takes its name from Mount Aigaleo, whose name comes from the words αίγα/a ...
, and built themselves a makeshift arbitrary structure where they lived.
At the age of 12 (1955), he quits school and starts working in a shoe factory as ''"cordeliastra"'', (a trimmer, lining and piecing together the upper parts of shoes). In the factory he worked 12 hours a day, earning the basic wage of an unskilled worker - 50
drachma
Drachma may refer to:
* Ancient drachma, an ancient Greek currency
* Modern drachma
The drachma ( ) was the official currency of modern Greece from 1832 until the launch of the euro in 2001.
First modern drachma
The drachma was reintroduce ...
s per day.
[ Vicky Moscholiou]
(en)
When her father fell ill with heart failure, the family desperately needed money, and a cousin who was already a
bouzoukia singer managed to convince her parents - and especially her father's strict authorities - to let Vicky sing there, where she would be paid 150 drachmas a night. So, at Easter 1962, Moscholiou started working in the nightclub where her cousin also worked, the popular "Trianna Tou Hila" nightclub on
Syngrou Avenue. The club's big names were
Grigoris Bithikotsis and Dukissa, while Moscholiou, along with other girls, sat on the stage from nine o'clock, singing and clapping along to keep the customers entertained.
Career and commercial success
She rose to fame in 1964 with Stavros Xarhakos' song "Hathike to feggari" (The Moon is Lost), which was composed for the movie ''Lola''. According to Bithikotsis, the composer
Xarhakos told Bithikotsis he needed a singer with a different kind of voice for a particular song. Bithikotsis suggested he try Moscholiou, and took her along to be auditioned. However,
Giorgos Zampetas remembers things differently.
"One day Stavros Xarhakos came to the shop. Lambropoulos had instructed him to get Moscholiou to sing a song in a film. He fancied her a lot. We regarded her as just a 200 drachma singer. I took 850 drachmas and Bithikotsis—I don’t know. And he takes Moscholiou to record and me to play bouzouki."
Moscholiou continued with collaborations with
Giorgos Zambetas,
Manos Eleutheriou,
Giorgos Katsaros
Giorgos Katsaros () (born on 7 March 1934 in Corfu) is a noted Greek people, Greek musician and songwriter. He plays the alto saxophone. He has made a variety of recordings, collaborating amongst others with Greek people, Greek musical composers ...
,
Akis Panou, and
Loukianos Kilaidonis, among other well-known composers and songwriters. Songs she was famous for include "Paei, paei", "Aliti", "Pou pas choris agapi", "Nautis bgike sti steria", "Ta deilina", "Oi metanastes", and "Anthropoi monachoi".
Two of her hits gave their names to night clubs in
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
, "Deilina" (Dusks) and "Ximeromata" (Daybreaks). She was one of the first in Greece to sing both in night clubs and concerts, and she also sang in the royal courts of
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
,
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
and
Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
. She was one of the first entertainers to sing in aid of
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
.
Personal life
In 1967, Moscholiou married the soccer legend
Mimis Domazos, although later they divorced. They had two daughters, Evangelia and Rania.
She died in Athens in 2005 following a two-year battle with
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
, leaving a legacy of significant cultural achievements.
In 2008, following a public dispute between Moscholiou's two daughters, the villa she lived in
Thrakomakedones was sold fully furnished to the wealthy goldsmith Panagiotis Stylianoudis and his spouse Villy Kamarinopoulou.
Discography
*1966: ''Ένα Μεσημέρι''
*1967: ''Θαλασσινά φεγγάρια (Συμμετοχή)''
*1969: ''Κόσμε αγάπη μου''
*1969: ''Μια Κυριακή''
*1970: ''Βίκυ Μοσχολιού''
*1970: ''Το Σαββατόβραδο''
*1972: ''Περιπέτειες''
*1972: ''Συνοικισμός Α''
*1973: ''Στροφές.''
*1973: ''Τραγουδά Ξαρχάκο Σπανό''
*1974: ''Νυν και αεί''
*1975: ''Λαϊκή Παράδοση (Συμμετοχή)''
*1975: ''Σκοπευτήριο (Συμμετοχή)''
*1976: ''Ανεξάρτητα (Συμμετοχή)''
*1976: ''Λεύκωμα''
*1976: ''Τα Σήμαντρα (Συμμετοχή) Νομικός''
*1977: ''14 Χρυσές Επιτυχίες''
*1977: ''Τραγουδά Σπανό''
*1978: ''14 Χρυσές Επιτυχίες 2''
*1978: ''Λαϊκά τραγούδια απ' όλο τον κόσμο''
*1979: ''Όταν σε περιμένω''
*1980: ''Βίκυ Μοσχολιού''
*1980: ''Το Τραμ Το Τελευταίο''
*1981: ''Σκουριασμένα χείλια''
*1982: ''Αξέχαστες Επιτυχίες''
*1982: ''Σ΄ένα Κόσμο σαν κι αυτό''
*1982: ''Τραγούδια της Ευτυχίας''
*1983: ''Αξέχαστες Επιτυχίες 2''
*1984: ''Του σίδερου και του νερού''
*1986: ''Στους ανήσυχους δρόμους''
*1987: ''Γυμνό''
*1987: ''Κόκοτας - Μοσχολιού''
*1990: ''Εφημερία''
*1990: ''Gro plan''
*1990: ''Η Αθήνα τη νύχτα''
*1990: ''Μεγάλες Επιτυχίες''
*1991: ''Γειά σας που πέφτουν τα σύνορα (Συμμετοχή)''
*1992: ''Το καινούριο πράμα''
*1993: ''Τα Μπιζουδάκια''
*1994: ''Από τους θησαυρούς των 45 στροφών''
*1995: ''Ο Τζακ Ο΄ Χάρα''
*1995: ''Οι Μεγάλες Επιτυχίες''
*1995: ''Τραγουδά Ζαμπέτα''
*1996: ''Μια γυναίκα δύο άντρες''
*1996: ''Τραγουδάει Αρχοντορεμπέτικα''
*1996: ''Τραγούδια από τις 45 στροφές''
*1997: ''Αξέχαστες επιτυχίες 3''
*1998: ''Οι Μεγάλες φωνές του Ελληνικού τραγουδιού''
*2000: ''Τραγούδια από τις 45 στροφές 2''
*2001: ''Οι Μεγάλες Επιτυχίες 1''
*2002: ''Μεγάλοι Έλληνες Ερμηνευτές 2''
*2002: ''Ανοιχτό Βιβλίο''
*2003: ''Πήρα απ΄τη Νιότη Χρώματα''
*2004: ''Οι Μεγάλες Επιτυχίες 2''
*2004: ''Βραδυνό σινιάλο''
*2005: ''Εγώ εσένα αγαπώ''
*2005: ''Μοσχολιού Βίκυ 40 Χρόνια''
*2005: ''21 Μεγάλα τραγούδια''
*2006: ''Τα Κινηματογραφικά''
*2006: ''Στα εννέα όγδοα''
*2008: ''Βίκυ Μοσχολιού: Δεν ξέρω πόσο σ' αγαπώ'' (a "best-of" compilation in a box set of six CDs)
Bibliography
* ''Βίκυ Μοσχολιού: Δεν ξέρω πόσο σ' αγαπώ'' (biography) by Κώστας Μπαλαχούτης, 2008 (A booklet accompanying the box set with the same title)
References
External links
Lyrics from her songs translated into English
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moscholiou, Vicky
1943 births
2005 deaths
Deaths from cancer in Greece
20th-century Greek women singers
Greek laïko singers
Singers from Athens