Sarbel won the Greek national final with his song Yassou Maria and will be the 28th representative of Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest. The country is qualified to compete at the final of 12 May.
Anna Vissi's successor has been chosen tonight. The Greek national final took place tonight at Athinon Arena, Athens, where Sarbel competed together with Tamta and Christos Dantis. The final verdict of 50% televoting and 50% jury votes gave to him the golden ticket for Helsinki. Sarbel, 26 years old, will represent Greece in Helsinki with his song Yassou Maria. He'll be the 28th representative of Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest.The composers are Marcus Englof & Alex Papaconstantinou and the lyrics are written by Mack.
Sarbel was born on 14th May 1981 in London,UK, to a Greek Cypriot father and a Lebanese mother. Being only 22 years old, Sarbel's Curriculum Vitae already numbered leading roles at the English National Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, as well as in programmes run by BBC and Channel 4 on plays including "The Prince and the Goose Girl," Carmen," "Toska," "Turandot" and "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare. In 2004 he released in Greece the oriental hit Se Pira Sovara, based on the Arabic song Sidi Mansour. In 2005, he released his first solo album, entitled Paraxeno Synesthima and soon went gold. In July 2006, he released his second album, Sahara. He has already recorded a duet with Sweden's pop star Cameron entitled Mi Chica in Spanish, English and Greek. A new album will be released in the spring of 2007.
Thanks to Anna Vissi's 9th place finish last year in Athens, Sarbel will compete at the final of 12th May. Greece is the only country that has not yet been relegated to the semi-final, after having attained places in the top 10 since 2004 (third in 2004, first in 2005, ninth in 2006).
UPD Voting details
Overall scoring
Sarbel 39,69%
Dantis 31,28%
Tamta 29,02%
Televote-SMS results
Sarbel 44, 45%
Dantis 31, 95%
Tamta 23,60%
Jury vote
Sarbel 17,46%
Tamta17,22%
Dantis15,31%
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuH4hMF6mR8
