70 Years of Marinella – Farewell to the Queen of Greek music
For seventy years, she held the scepter as the queen of Greek song. “They should put me in the Guinness Records! Not only because I am still singing, but because people still want me,” she used to say. The Marinella phenomenon continues to impress across time.
I will never forget her in the magical Athens Festival performance of Moonlight Sonata by Yiannis Ritsos, set to music by Stavros Xarchakos. Many concerts followed in Greece and abroad, and just when you thought she might finally rest and spend time with her grandchildren, you learned she was preparing even more.
Marinella stepped down from the stage, turned off the lights, and said farewell to us on Saturday, March 28. Keeping her personal life away from the spotlight, she left behind a remarkable legacy through her work. And just as every one of her appearances was an important event, so too is her death an event that has shaken Greek society, which adored her.
Two Duets, two marriages, and a great love
The “great lady” is the only one who has the privilege to have her name in the same line, and be known in history for her duet with two great singers. She became famous by singing next to Stelios Kazantzidis for nine years, before connecting, both in art and in life, with Tolis Voskopoulos. She married Kazantzidis in 1964 but their marriage only lasted a year.
In Novermber of 1973, she married Tolis Voskopoulos and their marriage went on until 1981.
At the height of her career, while performing in great shows and large tours, she shocked the Greek conservative society by becoming a single mother. She gave birth to her beloved Georgina, the child of Freddy Serpieri, the horse-riding champion, her relationship with whom she kept secret for a long time.
“I should be on the Guiness records! Not just because I am still singing, but because the world still asks for me”
A restless Mind
Marinella has always had a restless mind. Combined with her huge talent, it would shape the status quo of nightlife. She established her style from the first moment that she stood alone on stage. Prior, women used to sing seated all night. She threw out the chairs. She cut her hair short. She wore pants. She dyed her hair blonde. She cooperated with the best maestros, directors, and light experts. She used theatrical projectors. She replaced plate smashing with gardenia throwing. Her shows were musical performances.
She was cheered at the Odeon of Herodus Atticus, the Athens Concert Hall, the Panathenaic Stadium, the Pallas venue, and Badmiton theatre. She was applauded during the “Passions of Women” which featured dance sequences from the tragedies of Evripides, that were set into music. She starred in the unique television series “Then came the bees” of Kostas Koutsomitis, a musical about her life, as well as the life of her dear Sofia Vempo. However, the thing that will always make her stand out, is that every time she goes on stage it feels like her first performance.
It doesn’t matter if she will be singing traditional songs, rempetika, gypsy songs, or jazz. She grabs the microphone and just breathes for a few seconds with the same “holy” restlessness as the first night.
I kept secret from my daughter that I am a singer for many years. She grew up not knowing what I do for a living. I would come back home from the venue at 6 in the morning and would wait for her to get up. I would wear my pajamas and robe, and Georgina would think that I had just got out of bed. I would make her breakfast and see her out the door; only then would I go to sleep. I would then wake up at midday before she came back, I would cook and stay with her until evening, when she would go to bed. Then I would go to work. When I eventually told her that I am a singer, I would sometimes take her with me in the dressing room and when a fan would come asking for an autograph, I would tell her that mommy is a singer only when onstage, and that here she is only Georgina’s mother. I would do the same when I went to the school to get her grades, or during seasonal celebrations. I tried to be discreet so that she would never feel that her mother is something else…
…I went on singing until my seventh month of pregnancy. The news that I wasn’t married came as a shock. I and Elena Nathanail were the only ones that did it back then, the two looneys, but the worlddidn’t seem to have a problem, and neither did the venues…
…I was very much in love with Freddy Serpieris. We were together for four years. After our daughter was born, he wanted to get married. However, I told him that it was better to just stay friends…
…I broke up with Kazantzidis because I wanted to keep working, while he didn’t want me to. (…) I must have been one of the very few women that managed to break free from a duet with a man and have her own career…
…I wore trousers, because back in those days people would break dishes and we would be injured, blood coming out our knees and calves while we were sitting and singing. I wore trousers to hide the blood. I cut my hair short because I sweat a lot and couldn’t keep on having long hair. So, I cut them short and they became a part of my image…
We would like to thank Freddie Pitilakis for sharing these unknown facts about the life of Marinella, as well as unpublished pictures from the huge material of over 160.000 photographs that he has himself amassed.
