Emily Fakou (Emily)

A few words about me...

"I've loved singing for as long as I can remember! When I was a baby, my mother would always find me chirping away in my cot every morning, as she often likes to remind me.."

Growing up, I loved singing retro greek cinema soundtracks, which I enjoyed performing for our friends and family who were often amazed by the skillful way in which I mimicked the mannerisms and singing voice of one of the most famous Greek actresses, Aliki Vougiouklaki. When I was about 11 years old, I used to look up to Mexican superstar Thalia, and I had learned all of her songs by heart in Spanish, without actually speaking the language. Along with my childhood best friend, we would often record each other perform Thalia's songs, and then we would give each other notes on how we could improve! As I grew older, I became even more passionate about singing, and I often found myself enchanted by various artists, such as Whitney houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Lara Fabian, Christina Aguilera, Sarah Brightman, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, the Eagles, the Beatles, as well as Greek artists, like Anna Vissi, Sophia Vossou, Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Constantina and many others.

At the same time, I was also very interested in Health Sciences, and I studied Dietology, all the while keeping my passion for singing and performing intact. When the time came for me to make the difficult choice between the two career paths, I chose to focus all my efforts towards pursuing a singing career. I started my formal musical education with Irene Hatzieva my first instructor, who had spent years studying music in Vienna. Upon hearing my singing voice, she explained that my voice fell under the rare Legera Soprano Coloratoura Operatic category, and that I could also work on musicals. I studied under her for a year of intense vocal training. I enrolled in a music school, and took vocal training classes under Natassa Liatsou , and in the meantime I started learning how to play the piano. At some point, I was introduced to Sofia Vossou, a great Greek singer, who started training me in pop vocals, orthophony, musical expression, stage presence, repertoire etc. In addition, I took advanced piano lessons under Olga Kouklaki. In the meantime, I was being trained in kinesiology by Nikos Avatagelosς. These past few months I have delved in the subjects of music history, classical music vocal studies and bel canto, and I've also started learning how to play classic guitar, so as to be able to accompany my vocal performances. I am currently continuing my musical studies, and by now I am able to perform art music, light pop songs, greek folk songs, old greek soundtracks, rock/hard rock songs (with greek or english lyrics), A.O.R, pop, jazz, soul songs, as well as ballads (in both greek and english), and even some operatic-style pieces.