Dimitris Kontopoulos

Dimitris Kontopoulos
Background information
Birth name Dimitris T. Kontopoulos
Born (1971-11-09) November 9, 1971
Athens, Greece
Origin Greece
Genres Dance-pop
Occupation(s) Composer, songwriter, producer
Years active 2000–present
Labels Major
Website www.voxstudios.gr

Dimitris Kontopoulos (Greek: Δημήτρης Κοντόπουλος born November 9, 1971 in Athens, Greece) is one of the most famous Greek music composers known for his dance-pop music.

Personal life

Dimitris Kontopoulos was born in Athens, Greece on November 9, 1971.[1][2] After graduating from the Ziridis school, he continued his studies in film scoring at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California.[2]

Kontopoulos is married and has two children and avoids public appearances, does not talk to the media often, and dislikes being recognized stating that celebrity life kills privacy.[1]

Career

Kontopoulos became active in the music industry in 1999–2000.[1][2] In 1999 he released as a producer the album 'Etsi ime ego' by Iro. The singles of the album 'Etsi eime ego' and 'Tipota' topped the Greek charts making the producer famous nationally. In 2001 he released the second album of Iro as a producer and composer. The singles 'Apogeiosi', 'Etsi eine oi sxeseis' and 'Moni mou' also topped the charts. In 2002, he produced and composed the album of Giannis Vardis. The first single of the album 'Gia ena lepto' topped all charts and remained at the first spot of the National Airplay Chart for over 12 weeks. In 2003 he became involved with the Eurovision Song Contest when he wrote the song "Mia Stigmi" sung by Giannis Vardis. The song competed in the national final to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, but came in second place to Mando and 'Never Let You Go' which went to Eurovision. Though the entry did not win the national final, it topped the charts in Greece for 11 weeks.[1] Also in 2003 he started to compose the music for a movie of the famous Greek director Nikos Perakis. The song of the movie 'Meine mazi mou apopse' became a massive hit in Greece and reached the number one position in the charts. In 2004 he composes the song 'Esena mono' for famous Greek singer Katy Garbi. The song became a massive hit not only in Greece but also in Turkey. A year after famous Turkish singer/presenter Seray Sever made a cover-version of the song with Turkish lyrics.

In 2005, Kontopoulos again wrote a song for Eurovision, but this time for Russia. "Shadows" performed by Anastasia Stotskaya placed third in the Russian national final.[1] In 2006 Kontopoulos composed the score of the popular television series 'Loufa kai Parallagi'. The song of the 'Pano stin trela mou' topped all charts in Greece and it won the first spot of the Annual National Airplay Chart.

In 2006, with Greece hosting the Eurovision Song Contest after Elena Paparizou's victory with the song "My number one", he once again tried to take part in the Greek final as a composer, this time for Anna Vissi. That year, the Greek audience selected four songs including "Welcome to the party" written by Kontopoulos. At the national final, the song came in second with Nikos Karvelas's 'Everything' going to the contest. Although the song didn't win the national selection it was chosen as the song that opened the semifinal of the Eurovision song contest in 2006.

In 2007 Kontopoulos composed the song 'Ola giro sou girizoun' for Sakis Rouvas. The song becomes a massive club hit and it remained for more than a year in the top 50 of the National Airplay Chart. A cover version of the song was popular in Serbia.

Having taken a break in 2007, Kontopoulos returned with the dance pop song 'Always and forever' sung by Kostas Martakis. At the national final, the song came in second but it entered for many years the playlist of international Abercrombie and Fitch stores. In 2008 he produced the song 'Shady Lady' composed by Phillipp Kirkorov and performed by Ani Lorak who represented the Ukraine at the Eurovision song contest and placed second.

In 2009 Kontopoulos composed the song ' Kai se thelo' for Sakis Rouvas. The song, for one more time, becomes a massive hit topping all charts in Greece for more than 3 months. It remained at the first spot of the National Airplay chart for 8 weeks and the song became a cover in Bulgaria and Estonia. In 2009 Kontopoulos also produced and composed the album 'Solnce' of Ani Lorak. For the song 'Solnce' of the album he won a Russian Grammy award in the Golden Grammofon awards at the Kremlin. On July 19, 2008, it was announced that Dimitris Kontopoulos would be the composer for Sakis Rouvas and Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. He composed three songs: 'Out of control', 'Right on Time', and 'This is our night' which were voted on at the national final in February 2009.[3] The song titled 'This is our night' got the most votes and thus represented Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, which took place in Moscow. After the results of the jury and the tele-voting were announced, the song was placed seventh on the final scoreboard but if the results were based only on televoting (like in previous years) it would have ranked 5th. In 2010 he released a new song for Sakis Rouvas titled 'Spase ton hrono'. The song topped the Greek charts for months. In March 2010 Kontopoulos became a member of the jury of the Greek Idol show. In September 2010 Kontopoulos released the new song of Sakis Rouvas called 'Parafora'. The song became a massive club hit and it was in the number one spot of the National Airplay Chart for weeks. In December of the same year Kontopoulos released the ballad 'Einai stigmes', performed by Antonis Remos. Two days after its release the song topped the download chart and immediately became a hit. In February 2011 Sakis Rouvas released his new song 'Oi dyo mas' by Kontopoulos. In March the song topped the National Airplay chart becoming the 6th song of the duo Kontopoulos/Rouvas that topped the charts. In September 2011, the three top Greek male artists released songs of Dimitris Kontopoulos: Antonis Remos released as a single the song "Tora Epizo", Sakis Rouvas the song "Kane na mi sagapiso" and Michalis Hatzigiannis performed the song "Axizo" of the movie "Loufa kai parallagi: Seirines stun Steria". In summer 2012 Kontopoulos composed the song "Poses hiliades kalokairia", the song became a massive hit topping both the airplay and download chart for 11 weeks.In December 2012 Michalis Hatzigiannis and hip hop artist Midenistis performed the song of Kontopoulos "Se ena toixo" which remained for 15 weeks at the first place of the National Airplay chart. In January 2013 Dimitris Kontopoulos composed the song "H agapi erxete sto telos" for the advertisement of Lacta chocolate, the song was performed by Antonis Remos stayed for 4 months on the second place of the national airplay chart while the advertisement won 3 Cannes Lions awards as the best advertisement of the decade. In December 2013 Helena Paparizou released his song "Iroas" that entered the top 10 National Airplay chart for 4 weeks while a week later one of the most popular Greek artists Despina Vandi released his song "Hano esena". The song remained at the first place of the Greek airplay chart for 11 weeks. In February 2014 it was announced that Kontopoulos will be the mentor of Vandi at the Greek edition of the Voice TV show.

On May 2013 Dimitris Kontopoulos participated at the Eurovision Song Contest with Azerbaijan.His song "Hold me" performed by Farid Mammadov came second with 234 points, the most points that Azerbaijan has ever received at the Eurovision Song Contest.While it received the maximum 12 points from 10 countries.
Kontopoulos is one of the two composers of the song "Shine" of The Tolmachevy Sisters which it will take a part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 for Russia.


Kontopoulos has to-date composed and produced 14 albums, out of which 8 have gone platinum and two of those twice platinum.[4]

Awards

Production discography

Eurovision Song Contest

Movies

Theatre

TV

Commercial

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Krasilnikova, Anna (2008-02-05). "Greece:Exclusive interview with Dimitris Kontopoulos". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  2. 1 2 3 "Dimitris Kontopoulos Interview". Oikotimes. 2005. Archived from the original on 2005-02-26. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  3. ↑ Konstantopoulos, Fotis (2008-07-19). "ERT to proclaim song selection; hosts announced". Oikotimes. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
  4. ↑ http://eurovision.ert.gr/el/00169-dimitris-kontopoulos.htm

External links

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