Polina Πωλίνα |
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Birth name | Polina Paraskevi Misailidou |
Also known as | Polina (stage name) |
Born | Nea Smyrni, Greece |
Origin | Thessaloniki, Greece |
Genres | Pop, 1980s |
Occupation(s) | Singer |
Years active | 1977–present |
Labels | Sony Music |
Website | www.polina.biz |
Polina Paraskevi Misailidou (Greek: Πωλίνα Παρασκευή Μισαηλίδου) is a Greek singer, who is better known in her own country simply as Polina.
Polina was born and raised in Nea Smyrni, a suburb south of Athens. She started her career in 1977 singing the song "Lives" at the Thessaloniki Song Festival. In 1979, Polina appeared at the Eurovision Song Contest as a backup singer to Elpida as she performed the entry "Sokrati".
However, that would be her only time going to Eurovision. She was picked in the 1986 national selection to represent Greece at Eurovision Song Contest 1986 in Bergen, Norway, but Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi, Greece's national broadcaster, pulled out of the Contest unexpectedly. Polina stated that it was due to political troubles in Greece at the time, but she noted that a Eurovision website had learned that the real reason was that the Contest was to be held the night before Orthodox Easter. Had she performed, she would have appeared eighteenth and she would have performed the song "Wagon-lit".
She is best known for the string of chart successes she had in Greece in the late 1980s, including "Birimpa", "Push-Ups", "Let's Go to the Seychelles", and "Radio, Love Me". She has also collaborated with several well-known composers, particularly Stamatis Kraounakis, with whom she has had a working relationship since the release of her Birimpa album in 1986.