Arleta rose to international fame as an icon of the Greek ‘new wave’ scene. She was mostly known for her vocal skills, however, she also played the guitar.
Did you know:
- Her real name was Argyro-Nikoletta Tsapra and she was born in Athens on 3 March 1945.
- Arleta had many succesful partnerships with some of the most popular members of the Hellenic showbusiness of the previous century. Most notably among them were beloved actress Aliki Vougiouklaki and composer Mikis Theodorakis, but also a few lesser known names, such as Sakis Boulas, Lakis Papadopoulos, Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Stamatis Kraounakis, and many others.
- Although she knew great success in music, Arleta started off from an entirely different field within the industry, as she studied drawing at the Athens School of Fine Arts. Yet during the 60’s, she discovered that her talents lied elsewhere and she began performing at an underground bar named “Kivotos” (“Arc”). That would become the base from which she would go on to launch her career.
- Her inaugural album, released in 1966 and titled “Tragouda I Arleta” (“Arleta Sings”) was heavily scrutinized by the Junta, the military government that occupied Greece at the time. She was forced to replace two of the original tracks that were meant to be included in the album, dubbed “Livadi” (“Field”) and “Kapies Nihtes” (“Some Nights”) with other songs. Yet that fact didn’t hamper the album’s success with fans.
- On September 3 1986, Arleta celebrated her 20 years in the industry with a live concert at the Lykavittos Outdoor Theatre. Over 6,000 people were at the event, making it one of the most highly attended musical performances in Greece up until that time.
Source: Wikipedia, CNN Greece, Kithara.gr
