Νίνο
Nino Xypolitas (Greek: Στέφανος "Νίνο" Ξυπολητάς, Greek pronunciation: [ˈstefɐnos ˈnino ksipoliˈtɐs]) is a Greek 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. He has since released five studio albums.
Nino was born in Stockholm on June 29, 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, guitar (electric classical), drums, harmonica, accordion, and bass 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 pursue 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.
After a few years of performing at small venues, Nino decided to audition for the first season of "Fame Story". 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.
After being eliminated from "Fame Story" Nino had many offers from various Greek labels acting as second optionners, as he was bound to sign to Heaven Music, the record company that had the management rights on the players of the game, and which a subsidiary of Ant-1 TV, airing Fame story. During the winter season of 2003-2004, Nino appeared alongside Anna Vissi, Konstantinos Christoforou, and Hi-5 for a series of concert at club "Diogenis Studio". Following those appearances, during the early half of 2004, Nino appeared alongside Apostolia Zoi, Elena Paparizou, and Thanos Petrelis in a series of concerts at club Thalassa. 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. Additional music was penned by Christoforos Germenis and Takis Damaschis while two songs from the album were also penned by Grigoris Petrakos, a fellow gamer from "Fame Story". The lyrics were written by Vasilis Yiannopoulos, while Natalia Germanou wrote the lyrics for the song "Horis Na Se Ksero" (Without knowing you) based on a Nino's idea. Producer was Antonis Gounaris, Heaven Music A&R manager and himself one of the Fame Story judges. The album debuted at No. 1 on Greek Album Chart and after 3 weeks 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 reached Platinum status. Reception of the album was generally well perceived, while a magazine wrote "The El Nino phenomenon has just reached". For the winter season that followed, Nino appeared alongside Peggy Zina and Kostas Karafotis (another player within fame Story) for a series of concerts at club "Apollon" in Athens.
During the first half of 2005, Nino accompanied Peggy Zina for part of her world tour to Australia and the United Kingdom. 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 than his previous album, while he collaborated with many producers such as Christoforos Germenis, Christos Basios, Constantinos Pantzis, Stratos Diamantis, and Marios Psimopoulos. The lyrics were written by Vasilis Yannopoulos, Evi & Margarita Droutsa, John Bagoulis, Giannis Liontos, Christina Soldatou, Andreas Bonatsos and Vasilis Theodorakoglou. Nino collaborated with his singer 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 and lyrics were penned by Christoforos Germenis, Dimitris Paraskevopoulos, Vangelis Tountas, Andreas Lambrou, Harry K, Marios Psimopoulos, Evi Droutsa, Ilias Filippou, Michael Favios and Grigoris Petrakos. Stamatis Gonidis wrote two more songs, and they 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 explicit. 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 on tour to the United States and Canada. For promotion of the album, Nino appereared alongside Elena Paparizou 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 during the first half of 2007.
In May 2007, Nino and his brother were attacked near Thessaloniki's airport, while returning to their hotel after his live appearance at a local club. Two people on a motorcycle shot their car with seventeen bullets fired from a Kalashnikov gun. No one was injured. 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 year and a half after the release of his third album, Nino released his fourth one titled Thavmata (Miracles) on October 29, 2007. Many well-known composers and lyricists collaborated again with Nino on the album, including Akis Deiximou, Antonis Pappas, Takis Bougas, Nikos Gritsi, Viki Gerothodorou, 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 period. The first single was "Thavmata" which received some success on the radio.
On October 31, 2007, Nino appeared with Elena Paparizou for a concert in Cyprus at "Eleftheria Stadium". During the first half of 2008, Nino appeared alongside Chrispa 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 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 compulsory military service in the Hellenic Army in Rhodes, which he 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)although recorded in 2008 was finally 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 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, but mainly as a movement of bad will as soon as it became known that Nino was discussing with Vangelis Yannopoulos to join the newly established Phoebus' record company, The Spicy Effect. The album, which contains 11 songs, was released via Espresso newspaper Sunday issue, as a premium give-away. 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 re-issued by the company and is, thus, a unique "limited edition"memorabilia.
On December 11, 2009, Nino finally signed a five-year contract with Greek songwriter Phoebus's record label, called The Spicy Effect, the very same day of Elli Kokkinou's same signature. Nino had previously collaborated with Phoebus for a song on Elli Kokkinou's album "Sto Kokkino", released by Heaven Music.
On May 14, 2010, Nino released his first digital-only single, titled "Theos" (God), promoted in exclusivity on affiliated radio station Dromos FM. Nino performed the song live, for the firsst time, on May 19, 2010 at the Playmate 2010 beauty contest aired by affiliated TV station Star Channel. The song was released the next day as a music download on May 20, 2010. A second single titled "14 Flevari" (February 14) followed on January 27, 2010. and was available, physically, only a few days at Valentine's week, within a "Love" postal card. Beginning of Summer 2011, Phoebus produced a new digital-single titled "OK", a Latin Summer hit that drove the artist to a mini Summer tour on the Greek islands.
All 3 Spicy digital releases were issued at the end of 2011, in a compilation titled "The Spicy Collection, vol.1", alongside with other digital releases of the company. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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Statistics:
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- 299listners
- 58top track count
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