Nino (Greek singer)
Encyclopedia
Nino Xypolitas is a Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 singer, known professionally as Nino. He rose to fame in 2003 after appearing as a contestant on the debut season of the television show Fame Story
Fame Story
Fame Story was a Greek reality TV show that was a licensed version of Endemol's Star Academy on the ANT1 network. It has been one of the most successful Greek TV shows over the last years. The contestants gave a weekly performance in a 2½–3 hour episode in which the contestants were judged...

. He has since released five studio albums.

Early life

Nino was born in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 on 29 June 1981, and shortly after moved with his family to Rhodes. Nino's first experience with music was at age 3, when his parents gave him a piano as a gift. At a young age Nino wrote his first song, titled "Eisai To Pio Omorfo Pou Iparhi" (You are the most beautiful that exists), dedicated to his mother, who he had a sweet spot for. Thereafter, Nino learned how to play Harmonium
Harmonium
A harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...

, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 (electric classical), drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

, harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...

, accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

, and bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

 by the age of 16. His first real performance was at age 15 live at a night club, were he gained impressions. Nino started to take music seriously at the age 16. After school, Nino moved to Athens to pursued a music career, where he attended various auditions, while also attending college for sound designing at the same time. Shortly after, Nino accepted to perform at a large night club back in Rhodes, and moved back. After a successful concert-series, Nino then went on and performed in Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...

.

2002-2003: Fame Story era

After a few years of performing at small venues, Nino decided to audition for the first season of "Fame Story
Fame Story
Fame Story was a Greek reality TV show that was a licensed version of Endemol's Star Academy on the ANT1 network. It has been one of the most successful Greek TV shows over the last years. The contestants gave a weekly performance in a 2½–3 hour episode in which the contestants were judged...

". His participation in Fame Story proved to be successful, making him one of the most popular new images of the Greek music scene, with many fans across Greece. He became known for his melodic and special connotation of his voice, for his fresh presence and his strong personality.

2004: After Fame Story & Debut album

After being eliminated from "Fame Story" Nino had many offers from various Greek labels, but finally decided to sign with Heaven Music
Heaven Music
Heaven Music is an independent record label in Athens, Greece, founded in 2001 by ANT1 Group. It is known for signing new and young artists.-Overview:...

. During the winter season of 2003-2004, Nino appeared alongside Anna Vissi
Anna Vissi
Anna Vissi , known as Anna Vishy in Cypriot Greek, is a Greek-Cypriot recording artist and actress...

, Konstantinos Christoforou, and Hi-5
Hi-5 (Greek band)
Hi-5 was a Greek - Cypriot pop girl band consisting of female vocalists Marlen Angelidou, Irini Psichrami, Frosso Papacharalambous, Shaya and Nancy Stergiopoulou, who were the winners of the Greek version of the popular talent show Popstars. The band had a large fanbase in Greece and Cyprus. They...

 for a series of concert at club "Diogenis Studio". Follow those appearances, during the early half of 2004, Nino appeared alongside Apostolia Zoi
Apostolia Zoi
Apostolia Zoi is a popular Greek singer who was born in Volos, Greece. She has released four studio albums.-Early life:At the age of 14, Apostolia moved to Thessaloniki to pursue her interest in diving and swimming where she graduating from the Gymnastics Academy. One night while out on the town...

, Elena Paparizou
Elena Paparizou
Eleni "Elena" Paparizou , usually referred to abroad as Helena Paparizou, is a Greek-Swedish singer and occasional songwriter, who was born and raised in Sweden by Greek parents. She began her career there in 1999 as a member of the duo Antique, while she also worked briefly as a model for a...

, and Thanos Petrelis
Thanos Petrelis
Athanasios Petrelis is a popular singer. He has released four albums and several singles.-Fame Story:...

 in a series of concerts at club Thalassa
Thalassa
Thalassa may refer to:* Thalassa , a primordial Greek sea goddess* Thalassa , a moon of the planet Neptune* Thalassa, a fictional planet in Arthur C...

. In July 2004, Nino released his debut album titled Nino, Nino, Nino. The album contained 13 songs, mostly love ballads, along with songs containing folk and pop elements. The music for seven of the songs were penned by the then up-and-coming composer Kyriakos Papadopoulos. Additionally, music was penned by Christoforos Germenis and Takis Damaschis while two songs from the album were also penned by Grigoris Petrakos, who emerged from "Fame Story" also. The lyrics were written by Vasilis Yiannopoulos, while Natalia Germanou
Natalia Germanou
Natalia Germanou is a Greek lyricist, television hostess, radio producer, DJ and journalist.Germanou has written lyrics for many popular Greek singers such as Anna Vissi, Christos Dantis, Elena Paparizou, Sakis Rouvas, Despina Vandi, Mihalis Hatzigiannis, Notis Sfakianakis, Natasa Theodoridou,...

 wrote the lyrics for the song "Horis Na Se Ksero" (Without knowing) based on an idea of Nino's. The production manager was Antonis Gounaris. The album debuted at No.1 on Greek Album Chart and after 3 weeks it was certified gold selling more than 20,000 copies. The album spawned many airplay hits such as "Kalimera" (Good morning), "Sa Navagoi", "As Telionoume" (Let's end this) and after 3 months of its release it became Platinum. Reception of the album was generally well perceived, while a magazine wrote "The El Nino phenomenon has just reached". For the winter season, Nino appeared alongside Peggy Zina
Peggy Zina
Kalliopi Zina , known professionally as Peggy Zina, is a Greek singer. Peggy Zina made her discographic debut in 1995 with her self-titled album. She has since released ten studio albums and is a high-profile artist in the Greek music industry...

 and Kostas Karafotis for a series of concerts at club "Apollon" in Athens.

2005-2006: Ilikrinis and Epireastika

During the first half of 2005, Nino accompanied Peggy Zina
Peggy Zina
Kalliopi Zina , known professionally as Peggy Zina, is a Greek singer. Peggy Zina made her discographic debut in 1995 with her self-titled album. She has since released ten studio albums and is a high-profile artist in the Greek music industry...

 for part of her world tour to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. Following the success of his debut album, Nino started working on his second album. Nino returned in November 2005 with a more mature sounding album titled Ilikrinis (Honest), containing 15 songs. The album featured more laika
Laika
Laika was a Soviet space dog that became the first animal to orbit the Earth – as well as the first animal to die in orbit.As little was known about the impact of spaceflight on living creatures at the time of Laika's mission, and the technology to de-orbit had not yet been developed, there...

 than his previous album, while he collaborated with many producers such as Christforos Germenis, Christos Basios, Constantinos Pantzis, Stratos Diamantis, and Marios Psimopoulos. The lyrics were written by Vasilis Yannopoulos, Evi Droutsa, John Bagoulis, Margarita, Giannis Liontos, Christina Soldatou, Andreas Bonatsos and Vasilis Theodorakoglou. Nino collaborated with his idol Stamatis Gonidis who wrote two songs. The first single from the album was "Fovamai" (I'm Scared), which gained substantial airplay. "Gia Na Eimai Ilikrinis" (To be honest) and "Sexy" were further released as radio singles. The album was certified gold.

In March 2006, Nino released his third studio album Epireastika (Influenced), which included 11 songs. The cover of the album depicted Nino as a statue after special treatment, while it was notable for differing from traditional album covers that the Greek audience was accustomed to until that point. Music was penned by Christoforos Germenis, Dimitris Paraskevopoulos, Vangelis Tountas, Andreas Lambrou, Harry K, Marios Psimopoulos, Evi Droutsa, Philip Elias, Michael Favios and Grigoris Petrakos. Stamatis Gonidis wrote two more songs, while the collaborated successfully for a series of concerts all winter long at club "Thalassa". The first single "Erota Mou" (My love) was a radio hit, while the music video was criticized for being too graphic. The music video depicted Nino and a woman simulating sex and received an X rating (inadequate for minors), the most severe rating on Greek television. Though the clip mostly was filmed above waist and did not show any frontal nudity, it is one of the only Greek music videos to date to include a rating symbol when played on television. "Epireastika" (Influenced) and "Pethaino" (I die) were also released as singles from the album . Though the album reached number 3 on the Greek charts, it is not considered as successful as his past albums as it did not gain a certification.

In September 2006, Nino accompanied Natassa Theodoridou
Natassa Theodoridou
Natassa Theodoridou , born October 24, 1970 in Thessaloniki, is a well-known Greek singer and the only female Greek artist to have her first three albums achieve platinum status. She has been certified for a total of at least 432 thousand albums and 20 thousand singles sales by IFPI Greece...

 on tour to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. For promotion of the album, Nino appereared alongside Elena Paparizou
Elena Paparizou
Eleni "Elena" Paparizou , usually referred to abroad as Helena Paparizou, is a Greek-Swedish singer and occasional songwriter, who was born and raised in Sweden by Greek parents. She began her career there in 1999 as a member of the duo Antique, while she also worked briefly as a model for a...

 and Pashalis Terzis for a series of concerts at club "Iera Odos" in Athens during the winter season. Following those appearances, the show moved to club "Odeon" in Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...

 during the first half of 2007.

2007-present: Thavmata and I Parastasi Arhizei

In May 2007, Nino and his brother were attacked near Thessaloniki's airport. Two people on a motorcycle shot the car in which the two brothers were riding in seventeen times with a Kalashnikov
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...

 gun. No was injured in the event, and according to police, the incident occurred in the provincial road of Thessaloniki, Nea Michaniona. The motorcycle driver and another passenger approached the car and began to shoot. The driver and the accompanying motorcycle then disappeared while police found seven bullets in the area.

A half year after the release of his third album, Nino released his fourth album titled Thavmata (Miracles) on October 29, 2007. Many well-known producers collaborated with Nino on the album, including Akis Deiximou, Antonis Pappas, Takis Bougas, Nikos Gritsi, Viki Gerothodorou, Nino Vangelis Tountas, Evi Droutsa, Andreas Bonatsos, Stelios Maris and Eleni Giannatsoulia. Nino also had a hand in writing many of the songs himself. For the cover, Nino was photographed on the stage of the club he was appearing at during that time period. The first single was "Thavmata" which received some success on the radio.

On October 31, 2007, Nino appeared with Elena Paparizou
Elena Paparizou
Eleni "Elena" Paparizou , usually referred to abroad as Helena Paparizou, is a Greek-Swedish singer and occasional songwriter, who was born and raised in Sweden by Greek parents. She began her career there in 1999 as a member of the duo Antique, while she also worked briefly as a model for a...

 for a concert in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

 at "Eleftheria Stadium". During the first half-middle of 2008, Nino appeared alongside Chrispa
Chrispa
-Early life:Chrispa was born Chrisanthi-Pagona Pitropoulou in Athens, Greece on December 7, 1982. At the age of five, she moved to Pireus, Greece where she began to experiment with music and dance. Originally, she had no dream to become a singer and loved ballet...

 and Andreas Stamos at club "Thalassa" in Athens for the promotion of his album. During the winter season, Nino once again reunited with Peggy Zina
Peggy Zina
Kalliopi Zina , known professionally as Peggy Zina, is a Greek singer. Peggy Zina made her discographic debut in 1995 with her self-titled album. She has since released ten studio albums and is a high-profile artist in the Greek music industry...

 and Kostas Karafotis for a series of concerts at club "VOX" in Athens.

At the start of 2009, Nino took a break from music to complete his fulfill service in the Hellenic Army
Conscription in Greece
As of 2009, Greece has mandatory military service of 9 months for men between the ages of 18 and 45. Citizens discharged from active service are normally placed in the Reserve and are subject to periodic recall of 1–10 days at irregular intervals.-Duration:Universal conscription was introduced in...

 in Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...

, which was completed in January 2010. Nino took a Leave of absence in June 2009 and performed a cover of the song "I Kissed a Girl" with the band Kokkina Hallia at the 2009 MAD Video Music Awards.

Nino's fifth studio album I Parastasi Arhizei (The show begins) was released on November 22, 2009. The album, originally planned to be released in October 2008, was delayed due to a rift created between Nino and Heaven Music
Heaven Music
Heaven Music is an independent record label in Athens, Greece, founded in 2001 by ANT1 Group. It is known for signing new and young artists.-Overview:...

 after his unwillingness to renew his contract with the label. Nino's contract with the label ended in November 2009, forcing the label to release the album as stipulated under their contract. The album, which contains 11 songs, was released via Espresso newspaper as a bonus when purchasing the newspaper. Composers on the album include Nino, Konstantinos Pantzis, Stamatis Gonidis, Kostas Spiliotopoulos, Vasilis Theodorakoglou, and Panagiotis Giatrakos. Lyricists on the album include Nino, Stamatis Gonidis, Mihalis Rados, and Vasilis Theodorakoglou. The album was released with no promotion, and will not be further promoted by the label.

On December 11, 2009, Nino officially signed a five-year contract with Greek songwriter Phoebus
Phoebus (songwriter)
Phoebus sometimes spelled Phivos or Fivos , is a well-known songwriter in both Greece and Cyprus. Phoebus is mostly known for his music through Despina Vandi and Katy Garbi, although he has composed albums for many other artists in Greece and Cyprus...

's record label, called The Spicy Effect
The Spicy Effect
The Spicy Effect, commonly referred to as Spicy, is a Greek independent record label founded in 2009 by songwriter and record producer Phoebus, in association with the investment arm of Nea Tileorasi.-Overview:...

. Nino had previously collaborated with Phoebus for a song on Elli Kokkinou
Elli Kokkinou
Elli Kokkinou is a Greek singer who was born in Athens, Greece. Kokkinou is among the most popular singers in Greece today. She has performed together with Greek music stars such as Anna Vissi, Glykeria, Paschalis Terzis, Sakis Rouvas, Tolis Voskopoulos, Thanos Petrelis, Natassa Theodoridou,...

's album "Sto Kokkino
Sto Kokkino
Sto Kokkino is an album by popular Greek artist Elli Kokkinou that was released on May 15, 2003 by Heaven Music. The album gained 2x Platinum status, and was later re-released with four new songs and a DVD, and under the title Sto Kokkino Platinum Edition.Sto Kokkino Platinum Edition was released...

".

On May 14, 2010, Nino released his first single from his new label titled "Theos" (God), exclusively on Dromos FM. Nino performed the song live on May 19, 2010 at the Playmate 2010 beauty contest aired by Star Channel
Star Channel
Star Channel is a Greek television network that broadcasts a mix of foreign and Greek programming. It launched in December 1993 and is owned by Nea Tileorasi A.E.. The main news bulletin is called Star Eidiseis, which is currently hosted by Aimilios Liatsos...

 . The song was later released the next day as a music download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...

on May 20, 2010. A second single titled "14 Flevari" (February 14) followed on January 27, 2010.

Albums

  • 2004 - Nino, Nino, Nino
  • 2005 - Ilikrinis
  • 2006 - Epireastika
  • 2007 - Thavmata
  • 2008 - I Parastasi Arhizei
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK