Aleka Kanellidou

Born

1946-01-29

Birthplace

Plaka, Athens, Greece

Biography

Aleka Kanellidou (Greek: Αλέκα Κανελλίδου, Athens, 29 January 1946) is a Greek singer. She was born in Plaka and grew up in a family of musicians. She is the daughter of violinist Yannis Kanellidou. At the age of 17, while still a student, she decided to pursue a career in singing. Due to her love for jazz, she mainly focused on foreign repertoire. She became known for the song "Crazy Girl" in Yannis Dalianidis' film The Sea Beads (1967), where she doubles for Zoe Laskari. In 1974, Kanellidou was awarded the Best Performance Award at the Thessaloniki Song Festival, performing the song "Let Me Go", one of her greatest hits. She had participated in the Festival three other times—in 1966, 1968, 1972. The success of the song made her more widely known. She appeared alongside well-known artists while she was also productive in terms of recordings. Her songs were written by important composers and lyricists, most notably Nini Zaha, whose name was associated with that of Kanellidou. Her most commercially successful albums remain For a Few (1979) and Night is, It Will Pass (1985), with their total sales exceeding 100,000 copies.