Marlain Angelidou, who has already represented Cyprus once in the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest enters the race once more taking part in the Cypriot 2008 final with a “non-euro' song as she herself states.
Athens-born Marlain is a singer, actress and dancer. Her career started back in 1999 with the production of Aznavour's Lautrec in London's West End. The same year she represented Cyprus with Tha'nai erotas placing low in the scoreboard although she led the polls before the contest. For the following three years, until 2002, Marlain starred in lead roles in many musical productions in the UK, Italy (La Scala in Milan) and the USA.
At the end of 2002, following her participation in Shakespear's Othello as Desdemona, she turned down a full scholarship by the British Council for an MA in acting. Instead she returned to Greece to participate in Hi-5, the first Greek pop girl band. A product of a TV talent show, the band shot to the top of the charts having one platinum and one gold album before they broke up two years later. Marlain tells her fans who still keep asking her about Hi-5 through her MySpace : "Personally I believe its natural for a 'manufactured' band to have a short life span. Of course, I really feel sorry for all the fans who really enjoyed what we did, I can only thank you from the bottom of my heart and say I wish we could return the favour somehow. Each one of us has to go her own way now, carrying her own learning experiences and memories from those 2 years. Thanks again to all those who will log on and ask, be well and bless you".
Next year, on 12 January, Marlain Angelidou will be trying once more to win the ticket for the Eurovision Song Contest in the Cypriot national final. Her song is called Rejection and Marlain says about it: "'Rejection' talks about all those times when 'being different' costs you something you want. I never thought I would re-enter this competition but here I am with a non-'euro' song! See you there…"
Currently Marlain performs together with Michalis Chatzigiannis (Cyprus 1998) in Athens and she is working on her first solo album of her own songs.
You can visit Marlain Angelidou's official MySpace here where you can listen to her songs.
