Lia Vissi

Lia Vissi (born 1955 in Larnaca, Cyprus) is a Cypriot singer, most notable for her three participations in the Eurovision Song Contest and being older sister of the very famous singer Anna Vissi.

Career

She participated in the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) three times. In 1979, she was a supporting singer for Elpida, representing Greece. In 1980, representing Greece again as a part of "The Epikouri", she was supporting her sister Anna. 1984 saw Lia participate in the Cypriot national song contest with the song Htes which came second.

Finally, in 1985 she represented Cyprus in the contest as a soloist, 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. Interestingly, Cyprus also gave Greece only 8 points this year and total score of the Greek entry also totalled 15, but due to different score composition, the Eurovision scoring rules determined the Greek entry was eventually place higher.

Vissi took part in the 1991 Greek final for Eurovision, singing the powerful anthem Agapi ti gi. She was placed second behind Sofia Vossou. In 1992 Greek television decided not to televise the national final. Lia Vissi submitted a song for consideration, Kapios, and found herself voted into second place yet again.

In 2006, Lia Vissi embarked on a political career, running for a seat in the House of Representatives of Cyprus in the June 21st elections. She represented the Democratic Rally in the Larnaca District but, despite the fact that her sister Anna had her widely-publicized third ESC performance the night before, she was not elected.

References

* [http://www.diggiloo.net The Diggiloo Trush - Eurovision Song Contest Information]
* [http://ekloges.politis-news.com/cgibin/hweb?-A=2643&-V=eklogesarticles An interview with Lia Vissi regarding her running-up for the office] El icon
* Dutch Wikipedia article on Lia Vissi