Sakis Rouvas

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Sakis Rouvas
Background information
Born	5 January 1972
Origin	Corfu
Genre(s)	Rock,Pop, Dance, Modern Greek
Years active	1991–present
Label(s)	Polygram (1991-1997),EMI (1997-present) Universal Music (2002-present)
Website	sakisrouvas.com

Anastasios 'Sakis' Rouvas (Greek: Αναστάσιος "Σάκης" Ρουβάς) (born January 5, 1972 in the island of Corfu) is a very popular Greek singer and athlete, as well as an actor, and a model, who has sold over 200,000 records in Greece. He has been known by many throughout Europe since 2002, and became very loved in 2004, (as one of the favourites to win) when he won the third place in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in Istanbul for Greece with the smash hit Shake It! He is a multi-platinum selling artist who has collaborated with countless top names in the Greek music industry, and outside, such as world-famous song-writer Desmond Child. Sakis is also happy to have been officially declared years ago as Greece's best stage performer and contemporary male artist, and to have the largest fanclub for over a decade.

1 Early life
2 Athletic career
3 Music career
- 3.1 1991-1993: The Rise to Fame
4 Current Projects
5 International Charts
6 Discography
7 Voice acting
8 As a pop artist
9 Personal life
10 Trivia
11 External links

[edit] Early life

Sakis was born in a village on the Greek island of Corfu (Kerkyra) as the second son to a very poor family. He has on older biological brother and three other step/ half brothers. His athletic abilities shone from the beginning, and he participated in many sports prior to academic studies since elementary school. He loved music and would always find a way to get the latest big album from outide Greece. Soon before his teen years, music would become a very big part of his life, as he decided to follow his dreams and make it as an entertainer.

As a child, he himself realized his incredible talents and strong eagerness to excel at a very young age, but was rarely given a chance to show them due to multiple problematic situations within his family. There a lot of abuse between his parents and they got divorced when he was only twelve years-old. After that point, the only two people that raised for him were his grandmother and uncle. His father remarried and Rouvas was forced to do many hard jobs for a young boy, so the family would have enough money to care for his younger brothers, but he would secretly give some to his mother, who he didn't live with. Those close to him got to hear his striking voice. Sakis quickly learned to play guitar, and would often sneak out and perform as the frontman for many different bands at local clubs (much to some of his family's dismay). He had decided to start his career on his own and before he was out of high school he managed to get on the Greek National Gymnastics Team, at the age of seventeen. All of his classmates remember the night of their graduation, where Sakis sang his rendition of the greatest hits of Elvis and the Beatles at theafter party. This was the first true time that everyone from his hometown got to hear him. Rouvas refused to let all of the conflict with his family slow him down, at seventeen he left Corfu for Athens, to further on pursue his athletic career.

[edit] Athletic career

Before graduating high school, Sakis was signed on to the Greek National Gymnastics Team. As a gymnast he won numerous awards, and his scores were always high. He was selected to represent the country in international competitions for pole vault.

[edit] Music career

[edit] 1991-1993: The Rise to Fame

While working on gymnastics in Athens, Sakis Rouvas continued working at music. It wasn't very long before famous Greek modern laika artist, Dakis, noticed Rouvas' incredible personality and potential to one of the biggest Greek stars and Decided to help him out with signing on , and making his first appearance. At the the age of nineteen, Sakis Rouvas made his first professional appearance as a singer in early 1991 at the Athens Show Center. The Greek division of the Polygram record label quickly noticed his stunning voice and breathtaking appearance and Sakis was immediately signed on, with his and the labels' dreams of him becoming the next Greek super star! A few months later, his debut album had been packaged, and he went on to perform his first single Par'ta(Take Them) at the prestigious Thessaloniki Song Festival, ultimately taking home the first place and instantly conquered many fans. The public felt that a star, a kind of which Greece had never seen was born. His life was quickly changing from his childhood days of poverty in Corfu. Perhaps fate rules over his career, just as it did the day of the festival. After the show, Sakis was driving in downtown Thessaloniki when he and another driver collided head-on, and even though no harm was brough to either party, it resulted in a confrontation. Who should the man be other than Elias Psinakis, a talented musician, although he was inexperienced and not then famous, and a strong business man, who had spent years in the United States studying music. It was by rare chance that they would meet this way, considering neither of them lived in the city. After realizing that Sakis was the singer that had been announced the 1991 winner of the festival when hearing so by a by-stander, Elias had a change of heart and proposed to become the manager of the young pop-star! It wasn't long before they would become best friends and rock Greece with hit after hit, whether it be inmusic or elsewhere! became the controversial manager and soon to be best friend of Sakis. Sakis Rouvas' self-titled debut album was a big hit, especially considering that pop/rock music wasn't really that favorable at that time in Greece. The album certified Sakis as Greece's first ever male pop-star, but in many peoples' minds, especially by non-Greek fans, he was and still is considered as Greece's first and only real pop singer by international standards.(mainly because he doesn't bounce between pop and modern laika, and always performs elaborate stage shows with lots of dance). The album "Sakis Rouvas" was made No.1 for many weeks by the fans. Fans were infatuated and all of Sakis' concert appearances were constantly covered by the press.

In September 1992 he released his second album "Min Antistekese." The title track was also composed by Nikos Terzis. The song and the album established Sakis as one of Greece's first-name top performers.

"Gia Sena" (For You) was his third album, which was released in October of 1993, and reached gold status.

For four years in a row he monopolized the Hellenic Music Awards as he won titles that includeded Best New Singer, Best Song and Best Stage Performance as well as many others.

He has also played a role in reconciliation efforts with Turkey. In 1997, he performed on stage with Turkish singer Burak Kut in a concert in UN-controlled territory on Cyprus. For this, he was awarded the International Abdi Ipekci Prize for understanding and co-operation.

In 2004, he was selected to represent Greece in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest, performing the song Shake it by Nikos Terzis. Clearly learning the lesson from the previous two winners of the contest Marie N and Sertab Erener that, in an era of televoting, a Eurovision entry must now also be a visual spectacle in order to succeed, Sakis produced a raunchy display in which he at one stage ripped the clothes off his two attractive female dancers, leaving them only in shimmering attire that barely covered a tenth of their bodies. The dancers then repaid the compliment by ripping off his jacket, all of which held the attention of the viewing public long enough for them to vote the catchy "Shake It" into third place, equalling Greece's best ever result, up to that point, by Antique in 2001.

He was the host for Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, along with Greek-American Maria Menounos.

[edit] Current Projects

On December 5, 2006, Sakis released what has been critically acclaimed as 'his best work ever', "Yparhi Agapi Edo" (There's Love Here). The album consists of 15 tracks. It is composed mostly of dance hits and a few ballads.
The album blew up the the Greek Top 40 Charts, and remains the best-seller. It became platinum in just three weeks. The first single from the CD is a ballad called "Ego Travao Zori" (I'm In Agony). The video for the single was first shown on December the 15th. The song 18(Yparhi Agapi Edo) reached the top of the Greek Airplay Charts, and the video for the 2nd single "Ola Gyro Sou Gyrizoun" (Everything Revolves Around You) is set to be shown the first week of February.
In the fall of 2006 it was revealed that Sakis teamed up with the biggest production company in Greece and is starring in his first movie, entitled "Alter Ego," which is due out sometime in March. Although the company is keeping everything about the plot top secret, the movie has already gathered lots of interest from audiences and critics everywhere in Greece. A vague description of it is that it's about 5 young artists on their way to the top in a rock band. It is rumored that the film will be released in several countries in Europe.
Sakis is going on tour with Despina Vandi at the beginning of March.

[edit] International Charts

CD SINGLES

The cover of the French release for "Disco Girl"

DISCO GIRL

Week	01	02	03	04	05	06	07
French Singles Charts
Chart position	98	97	84*	92	88	79	90

= re-entered

DIS LUI

Week	01	02	03	04	05
French Singles Charts
Chart position	92	69	63	85	90

The cover of the French release for "Ola Kala"

SHAKE IT!

Week	01	02	03	04
Swedish Singles Charts
Chart position	32	41	50	57

ALBUMS

OLA KALA

Week	01	02	03
French Albums Charts
Chart position	145	132	146

[edit] Discography

Albums

1991-Sakis Rouvas
1992-Min Antistekese
1993-Gia Sena(gold)
1994-Aima, Dakria, Idrotas(gold)
1996-Tora Archizoun Ta Dyskola(2X Platinum)
1998-Kati Apo 'Mena
2000-21os Akatallilos
2002-Ola Kala(orig.+rerelease=Platinum)
2002-Ola Kala (International English rerelease)
2003-Remixes
2003-To Hrono Stamatao
2004-To Hrono Stamatao Second Edition (incl. Shake It!)
2004-Sakis Rouvas: The Best Of-VOL.I/1991-1996
2005-S´echo Erotefthi(orig.+special ed.=3X Platinum)
2006-Live Ballads(orig.+special ed.=Platinum)
2006-Yparhi Agapi Edo(2X Platinum)

CD Singles

2001-Disco Girl(Platinum)
2002-Ola kala (English Version)
2002-Disco Girl (English Version)
2003-Dis Lui
2003-Pes Tis
2004-Shake It!(3X Platinum)

[edit] Voice acting

Rouvas has also ventured into voice acting, dubbing Disney children's movies into Greek. He voiced Lightning McQueen in Pixar's Cars and earlier he voiced Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

[edit] As a pop artist

Rouvas is the first Greek male pop singer and possibly the only famous for attracting Greek Teenyboppers and 'fangirls' driving them in extreme reactions. These reactions are often described by majors as phenomenal, and are often compared to how English and American girls of the same age react for world-wide pop stars like Justin Timberlake, shouting, crying, pulling clothes, etc.

This singularity makes Rouvas a pop culture symbol in Greece, and an object of satire among mimes and comedians. They often impersonate him by mimicking his over-dramatization, as well as by satirizing the over-reactions of his fans. Rouvas is often criticized by enemies of the mainstream, like intellectuals, who often refer to him as a typical 'symbol' of this trend.

[edit] Personal life

Initially, his sexual orientation had been debated, and he was often considered to be gay [1], although he has never indicated anything concerning this. This ambiguity has been said to be intentional as a marketing trick (similar to the pseudo-lesbians t.A.T.u.). At one time, rumors have flared up (probably by unsourced gossips) that he had a secret marriage with his manager Ilias Psinakis.

In a French magazine interview, the interviewer assumed that Rouvas was gay until Rouvas felt insulted and made clear that he doesn't 'like boys'.^{[citation needed]} In recent years, Rouvas openly makes appearances accompanied by his girlfriends, formerly Rebecca Wang and currently the Greek top model Katia Zygouli. Tabloid rumours existed also about slight flirting with Ruslana and later Maria Menounos (much to Zygouli's dismay according to the media), but their substance was never verified.

During the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 the Dutch spokesman Paul de Leeuw teased him by saying he (Rouvas) and co-host Maria Menounos looked like Will and Grace. Then he told him he liked his blouse and offered to give Rouvas his phone number; Rouvas responded "I bet it is 696969," to which de Leeuw responded, "no, I am not a French guy." This sexually suggestive exchange was castigated by the Greek media^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Trivia

In 2002, Rouvas became the first man ever to be on the cover of the Greek Vogue.
Rouvas is the only Greek singer ever to have been offered to be the face of soft drinks giant Pepsi.
His albums have always gone either gold or platinum in Greece.
Has appeared in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, in one appearance, he carried the torch and another was appearing in the Closing Ceremony with other Greek singers, one of which was superstar Anna Vissi.
Rouvas holds the record of being the highest scoring third placed entry ever in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, 252 points in 2004.
When he was studying in High School, he had an affair with fitness trainer Anna Pagrati.
Since 2003, Rouvas became the face of mobile phone giant Vodafone, in the Greek campaign, just like David Beckham and Michael Schumacher did in the overseas campaigns.
His latest album Yparhi Agapi Edo has gone platinum in a month after its release in December 2006 in Greece.

[edit] External links

Preceded by Manto	Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004	Succeeded by Elena Paparizou
Preceded by Maria Efrosinina & Pavlo Shylko	Eurovision Song Contest co-presenter (with Maria Menounos) 2006	Succeeded by Mikko Leppilampi & Jaana Pelkonen

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