London Greek Radio

Singer Tamta, has officially recorded the Cypriot entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest at studios in Stockholm, Sweden.

She will sing ‘Replay‘, described as an up-tempo pop “banger”, at the 64th annual contest in Tel Aviv this May.

Georgian-Greek singer, Tamta Goduadze, 38, was announced as CyBC’s artist to represent Cyprus last December, officially instigating the Cypriot ‘well-drilled’, organised Eurovision machine quite early this year.

The song’s composer Alex Papaconstantinou AKA Alex P, was the man behind Eleni Foureira’s ‘Fuego’ – last year’s impressive runners-up position in the competition.

He has been assisted by Sweden-based songwriters Teddy Sky, Viktor Svensson, Kristoffer “Bonn” Fogelmark and Albin Nedler.

The songwriters have penned hits for some of the biggest-named artists in music such as One Direction, Mark Anthony, Demi Lovato, Avicii, MO, 5SOS, Jennifer Lopez, Nicki Minaj, Arash and more.

Tamta told Cypriot TV, (translated) “I’m going to (sic.Tel Aviv) without forecasting what position Cyprus will achieve. I hope that what we will present on stage will make you proud. I’d like to thank everybody for their support and hope that you stand by me on this wonderful Eurovision journey.”

Tamta revealed that she felt that the tune complimented her signature pop-style credentials and she was impressed with the creative team behind the track, which convinced her to fly the Cypriot flag in the competition.

She is soon to start filming the official music video to the Eurovision track this month.

The release date for the Cypriot tune is confirmed for March at the earliest, which enhances the fans’ excitement even more.

Cyprus competes in the Eurovision first Semi-Final on Tuesday 14th May at 8 pm GMT.

For all of your Eurovision news on Cyprus, make sure you regularly check back to lgr.co.uk and tune in to hear “Replay” on LGR in the coming weeks.

London Greek Radio wish Tamta and the Cypriot delegation the very best of luck in the competition.

Cyprus’ Eurovision Entry for 2019 Confirmed (click here for more Eurovision news) 

‘Replay’ team, from left to right, Alex Papaconstantinou, Viktor Svensson, Teddy Sky, Tamta, Kristoffer “Bonn” Fogelmark, Albin Nedler (picture)

Article written by Tony Neophytou

Tamta Goduadze will represent Cyprus at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv in May.

The Cypriot broadcaster CyBC announced the female artist and song a few weeks ago, ending weeks of speculation.

Tamta will sing ‘Replay‘, a pop-dance, up-tempo number.  Her entry is penned by Greek-Swedish hitmaker Alex Papaconstantiou, aka ‘Alex P‘, the man behind Eleni Fouriera’s ‘Fuego’ – the impressive runners-up from last year, along with Sweden-based songwriters Teddy Skye, Viktor Svensson, Kristoffer “Bonn” Fogelmark and Albin Nedler.

Tamta, 38, was born and raised in Georgia, where she started singing at the age of five and moved to Greece at the age of 20.  After singing on a TV reality talent contest, she was signed by a major record label in Greece and has a back catalog of several hits.

The sure-fire Eurovision track is believed to be exactly moulded for Tamta’s signature pop-style credentials.

CyBC chiefs felt that Tamta was right for this year’s contest as she is perceived earnestly to have the “complete package” that comprises of a strong ‘live’ singer and entertaining act.

The Cypriot tune will be officially released in February or March, further maximising Eurovision fans excitement.

Cyprus also returns with Eurovision artistic stage director Sacha Jean-Baptise, the woman behind ‘Fuego’.  She will be tasked with elevating Tamta’s stage routine ensuring that it will translate into points on the scoreboard.

The Head of the Cypriot delegation, Evi Papamichael explained that a big named artist would be a necessary solution to answer the Eurovision’s competitiveness, amidst so many countries, which numbers 42 this year.  She said that Tamta was the broadcaster’s preference this year.

Tamta has had a long-time quest to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest and almost came close to achieving it on previous occasions.  In 2007 Tamta was pipped to the post by Cypriot singer Sarbel, in Greece’s Eurovision heat stages, with the ballad ‘With Love’.  In 2016, she missed the deadline for the Greek selection process by a few hours with the subsequently-released track ‘Unloved’.

Tamta felt it an incredible honour to be representing Cyprus, a nation which has always strongly supported her music endeavours and undertaking this bold task, was a way of her giving something back to her Cypriot fan-base.

Having released four studio albums (including a Best Of) and multiple hit singles, Tamta is frequently heard on the LGR airwaves.

For all of your Eurovision news on Cyprus, make sure you regularly check back to lgr.co.uk and tune in to hear “Replay” on LGR in the coming weeks.

London Greek Radio wish Tamta and the Cypriot delegation the very best of luck in the competition.

Article written by Tony Neophytou

Cyprus has confirmed that Greek star Eleni Foureira will be the Cypriot representative for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest held in Portugal.

Cypriot broadcaster CyBC made the official announcement and the title of her entry ‘Fuego’ (Spanish for “It’s Fire”), is written by Alex Papaconstantinou, or Alex P, a Greek-Swedish producer, well-known in Eurovision circles.

The up-tempo Eurovision track has a distinctive, maybe even innovative, ethnic feel with it sometimes being referred to as “ethno upbeat”.

It is a modern pop song that embellishes the instrument of the clarinet or ‘klarino’ as a familiar ethnicity trait in Greek, as well as Mediterranean music.

CyBC chiefs felt that the Albanian-born singer was right for this year’s contest as the upbeat song compliments Eleni as a singer and dancer.

Eleni, who will be 31 by the time of the contest in May, began her music career in 2007 as a member of the Greek girl group Mystique, before pursuing a solo career after the group disbanded in 2009. She is charismatic, who’s stage-skills are expected to “attack” the Cypriot entry effectively which will no doubt, help this upbeat song.

The staging of the entry has been assigned to the internationally acclaimed artistic director and choreographer Sacha Jean-Baptiste, who has extensive experience at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Cypriot bosses had ditched ideas of a Cypriot sing-off to find their entry’s hopeful and instead made the offer to Eleni’s Panik Records, therefore, internally selecting her for it.

In a statement, the singer said she felt incredibly honoured to sing for Cyprus and is hoping to set the leader board on fire, with her catchy track.

”I would like to say a big thank you to CyBC and all the Cypriot people, for giving me this opportunity. It is a great honour for me to represent this wonderful country which has supported me that much for all of these years.

She added, “My Eurovision song is called Fuego. It is written in English; only its title is Spanish. I am very glad that Alex has composed such a great song. This has actually been the reason for my positive answer to this Eurovision invitation. My promise is that I will do my best.”

Eleni was born in Fier, Albania and is a Greek artist of Albanian origin. She has lived in Greece from a very young age when her family settled in Kallithea, Athens.

Her back-catalogue of successful London Greek Radio hits have included her current hit ‘Vasilissa’, along with ‘To Kati’, ‘Ase Me’, ‘Chica Bomb’, ‘Reggaeton’, ‘To Party De Stamata’, ‘Ston Erota Tin Trela’, ‘Fotia ft. Nevma’, ‘Pio Erota Pethaineis’, ‘Rantevou Stin Paralia’, ‘Anemos Agapis’, ‘Pio Dinata’, ‘Ti Koitas’, and ‘2018 S’agapo’.

Eleni has always desired to be at Eurovision, revealing that it has always been a childhood dream of hers.

In 2016 she proposed ‘Ti Koitas (Come Tiki Tam)’ to the Greek national broadcaster ERT, but they refused it. Greece failed to qualify for the final for the first time that year with Argo.

Eleni almost made it to Eurovision in 2010, when she competed in the 2010 ‘Ethniko Teliko’ with ‘Kivotos Tou Noe’. While she missed out by coming second place, it did not diminish her Eurovision goal, which is lucky for Cyprus as she’s tipped to have a “killer track.”

In the last few years, Eleni has released four successful studio albums and multiple singles. One of those hits was ‘Sto Theo Me Paei’, a Greek cover of the 2015 Eurovision entry of Israel ‘Golden Boy’ by Nadar Guedj.

More recently she has released singles in both Greek and English and in 2017 scored a new international hit with the song ‘Send For Me’, a collaboration with successful producer and rapper A.M. SNiPE.

‘Fuego’ will be released in the coming weeks, with no official date set yet.

The LGR website will have the song on its release date in the weeks leading up to the competition.

The Cypriot delegation will be quietly optimistic about their qualifying chances for a fourth year, following the recent successes by Minus One, John Karayiannis and Hovig.

Cyprus competes in the First Eurovision Semi-Final which airs on Tuesday 8th May, on BBC Four. The Top 10 countries to qualify are assured a place in the final on Saturday 12th May, on BBC One.

London Greek Radio wish Eleni Foureira and the Cypriot delegation the very best of luck in the competition.

Article written by Tony Neophytou

Overseas Cypriots, participating in the 19th World Conference of the World Federation of Overseas Cypriots (POMAK) and the International Coordinating Committee – Justice for Cyprus (PSEKA), in Nicosia, have called on the Turkish Cypriots, whether in Cyprus or abroad, to work with the Greek Cypriots to end the Turkish occupation and reunify the country.

In a message, overseas Greek Cypriots, who have gathered here, call on the Turkish Cypriots to contribute to maintaining and strengthening the positive climate that has been created and note that in a reunified Cyprus all legitimate residents will be able to enjoy the wealth of hydrocarbons in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone.

”We reminisce older times and the good relationship between the two communities, in conditions of freedom, democracy, and mutual respect, and we look forward to the moment of reunification,” overseas Cypriots say.

They add that, ”despite the tragic occurrences and despite the continuing occupation by Turkish troops, we believe that the reserves of mutual understanding are enough to form the foundation of a solution that will secure a reunified, independent, federal Cyprus, without occupation troops and settlers, demilitarised, sovereign, with a single citizenship and international identity, based on UN principles and resolutions, the high level agreements, international law, and the acquis communautaire, where human rights will be guaranteed for all its legitimate inhabitants.”

”We believe that the right solution of the Cyprus problem – with the Republic of Cyprus in the EU – gives a new dimension to our common homeland with huge benefits for both communities, safeguarding at the same time the safety and progress of all of us. We must jointly strive so that we can enjoy the benefits our accession to the European family offers us,” they say.

Furthermore, overseas Cypriots note that “it will be possible for all of us to enjoy the newly-discovered wealth of hydrocarbons in Cyprus’ exclusive economy zone, which belongs to all the legitimate residents of our homeland, in a reunified Cyprus.”

Overseas Cypriots call on the Turkish Cypriots, including those living abroad, ”to work and join forces to lift the Turkish occupation and reunify our homeland.”

They call on the Turkish Cypriots ”to contribute in your own way and support the continuation of the negotiating process in the framework of the UN parameters and the good offices mission of the UN Secretary General, so that progress can be achieved, differences can be overcome, and we can arrive at a viable and functional solution.”

Furthermore, they call on the Turkish Cypriots ”to contribute to maintaining and strengthening the positive climate that has been created, including the efforts for confidence-building measures, which will contribute to improving the daily lives of Cypriots and cultivate trust between the two communities.”

”We also believe that it is an important duty of ours to work collectively for the return of the town of Famagusta to its legitimate residents, as provided for in relevant UN resolutions, without pre requisites and reconditions, and for the adoption of other confidence-building measures which will give new impetus to the negotiations and will have a mutual benefit for both communities,” overseas Cypriots note. They add that ”dedication to UN decisions and resolutions, the implementation of international law and the acquis communautaire,

They add that “dedication to UN decisions and resolutions, the implementation of international law and the acquis communautaire, are guarantees for safeguarding the human rights and personal freedoms of us all.”

”We wish to live in a regime of security, through a solution which will exclude the creation of separate states or a confederation. This homeland is ours, all of us, and belongs to all Cypriots,” they concluded.

Article written by Cyprus News Agency, London Greek Radio

With the dust barely settled to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest since the elapse of a few months, the Cypriot broadcaster CyBc is expected to be announcing very soon the launching of a nationwide song contest, as a way of selecting our Cypriot tune, at 2018’s Eurovision Song Contest to be held in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

The drawing up of the specific rules for our Cypriot national final will be soon to be officially released, and it’s believed, this will be as quickly as August or in the autumn. We here at London Greek Radio have also learnt some information about what shall comprise the local competition. The public contest will be applicable to Cypriot singers, ‘maybe’ also songwriters and composers… We ‘insert’ here… another option… the powers that be are seriously thinking of appointing a well-known ‘composer’, to pen our Cypriot tune. Our very own UK Cypriot songwriters, producers and singers of Cypriot origin, will have eligibility to be entering the race (only in the case of an ‘open’ final). In years gone by, our talented British Cypriot artists have noticeably left a strong impression on it, taking advantage of their chance to be entering Eurovision finals on the island.

Now, as Cyprus regroups and looks towards the future let’s take a moment to reflect on the last couple of successful years. This year’s finalists ‘Hovig’ came 5th in the semi-final, continuing the qualifying streak, as we cannot forget the achievement of the up-beat Cypriot band Minus One in 2016. In 2015 John Karayiannis with the song ‘One Thing I Should Have Done’ – written by UK Cypriot Mike Connaris won the only Cypriot final we have seen, in the last three years.

The local Eurovision delegation is certainly looking to make it a fourth qualification Cypriot entry in a row, from the selection procedure they are about to embark on.

With the prospect of having a national song contest to choose our next entrant, the country’s Eurovision strategy for 2018 is starting to take shape.

Head back to the London Greek Radio website for all of the latest developments including the release of the formal rules and regulations for the Cypriot Final, outlining the steps that must be taken to submit your potential entry to the Cypriot song competition.

Article written by Tony Neophytou

Below you can read the response of the Foreign and the Commonwealth office to the 23rd of June letters sent to the PM and the Foreign Secretary by the President of the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK, Mr. Christos Karaolis.

 

 

Article written by London Greek Radio

A 15-year-old Cyprus football player is in urgent need of a bone marrow transplant. Giorgos Mikellides is fighting against leukaemia and the island-run Philanthropic Volunteer Organisation of Footballers ”Goal in Life” has asked all people aged 18-45 to enrol as bone marrow donors to help Giorgos win this important battle.

Giorgos is a member of the AEL Limassol U16 (Under 16) football squad where he plays as an attacker. He started playing football 7 years ago until recently when he was diagnosed with leukaemia.

”As an attacker he has scored many times, but it is time for Giorgos to score a decisive goal. In his struggle to score, he is not alone” reads the announcement. Giorgos is in need of a bone marrow donor in order to undergo a bone marrow transplant operation which is scheduled to take place in mid-July in Germany.

Anyone who is between the ages 18-45 and is a permanent resident of Cyprus can enrol as a bone marrow donor. People interested in helping Giorgos or other people who may be in need of a transplant may apply at the Karaiskakio Foundation, or at the Blood Bank of their nearest hospital and by filling in the online form at http://www.karaiskakio.org.cy .

Article written by in-Cyprus, London Greek Radio

Last night Cyprus and Greece celebrated qualifying through to this Saturday night’s Eurovision Song Contest final. This year’s Eurovision will be held in Kyiv, Ukraine, at the International Exhibition Centre IEC.

Demy (representing Greece) and Hovig (representing Cyprus) made it to the Top 10 qualifying songs after enduring a very competitive semi-final phase. The semi-final rankings will not be announced publicly until after this weekend’s Eurovision final, which maximises fans’ suspense.

It is a result which spelt the Greek’s return to the contest’s final after last year’s very early exit. It’s a solid come-back, for this country who’s always qualified except that minor-blip, which we can now begin to erase from our memories.

Demy looked absolutely stunning in her pale outfit as she performed her song ‘This is love’. It’s a progressively up-tempo track which is catchy and radio-friendly. The track was composed by Eurovision veteran Dimitris Kontopoulos, with creative staging by Fokas Evangelinos, the Greek’s dynamic Eurovision team.

The 25-year-old Greek pop singer seemed to enjoy her time on the stage, joined by her dancers Iasonas Mandilas and Paris Paraskevadis-Planets. She was also accompanied by off-stage backing-vocalists Erasmia Markidi, Evgenia Liakou, and Marcus Giakoumoglou. For those who missed it, we can confirm it was a very slick and well rehearsed performance.

Cypriot singer Hovig also celebrated a successful night. His performance involved an excellent staging concept which complimented his song greatly. He performed a modern radio-friendly track with electronic beats, written by Thomas G:Son, a well-known Swedish composer and producer in Eurovision circles.

28-years-old Hovig, a Cypriot artist of Armenian heritage, shows he was proud to have this chance to fly the Cypriot flag. The Cypriot broadcaster internally selected Hovig and G:son for this year’s Cypriot song.

Hovig was vocally very solid and interacted well with his dancers Marios Charalambous and Pavlos Lazarou Kertepene. The artist seemed relaxed and sung his cool song, mastering the stage’s full width to tell us his story, about gravity.

The Cypriot artistic director Charis Savva put much effort in to make sure he nailed the performance, and clearly it worked extremely well. The Cypriot’s have pulled out all the stops to be noticed and they were.

Greece and Cyprus confirmed they will be performing second-half draw for the final, with 26 countries competing. Demy and Hovig have to wait till Thursday to find out the other qualifiers. What we know for certain is that they have earned their place next to the big 5 automatic placers: the UK, Spain, France, Germany and Italy in the final this weekend.

The Eurovision Song Contest Final airs this Saturday at 8 pm UK time; you can follow it live on BBC 1.

For those who missed the first semi final, you can catch the Top 10 qualifiers being revealed, here:

Article written by Tony Neophytou

The Eurovision Semi-Final Allocation Draw carried out on 31^st January, at the Column Hall of Kyiv City State Administration, in Ukraine, officially launched the start to Eurovision season.

The Cypriot and Greek entry performers have been drawn to sing in the First Semi-Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, airing on Tuesday 9^th May live on BBC4 at 8 p.m. GMT.

We last visited Kyiv in 2005, that proved absolutely one of the best Eurovision song contests ever, with Elena Paparizou’s song ‘My Number One’ which won the Eurovision, bringing the only Greek victory in the competition.

The Semi-Finals will span Tuesday 9^th May to Thursday 11^th May concluding with the second semi-final, on that occasion. The Eurovision Final will go out live on Saturday 13^th May at 8 p.m. GMT to be held at the Kyiv International Exhibition Centre (IEC).

Cyprus and Greece is amongst 18 countries, conclude the first semi-final. How it works really… The Top 10 qualifiers who pass the round in each allocated semi, with 50:50 Tele-voting, and professional jury points. The semi-heats producing our lucky 20 qualifiers on both Tuesday and Thursday will be entered in the live final.

The 37 Semi-Finalists have been allocated into six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest’s official tele-voting partner Digame. Drawing from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called neighbourly voting and increases suspense in the Semi-Finals.

The UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, and host’s Ukraine thanks to Jamala’s winning song last year are direct finalists. The Big 5 has that upgraded status, as Eurovision’s biggest financial contributory members to the European Broadcasting Union, organisers of the Eurovision.

Hovig aka Hovig Demirdjian will represent Cyprus in Kyiv, internally selected by the CyBc broadcaster. He is a Cypriot pop singer with over 10 year’s music career; he went all the way to the live shows of Greek X-Factor in 2009, and has never given up on his quest to represent the Cypriot flag at the song contest. He will sing our Cypriot tune called ‘Gravity‘, composed by Swedish producer Thomas G:Son. His song has a Eurovision feel and potentially radio-friendly hit song, suggests the song-writer.

The official video is due to be released in March and we can’t wait to get our hand on it to share it with our listeners on LGR and through lgr.co.uk.

Demy aka Demetra Papadea will be the Greek representative, with her tune due to be separately selected by the tele-voting public, on Monday 6th March 2017. She has three songs exclusively written for her by the Eurovision legend Dimitris Kontopoulos with creative staging director Fokas Evangelinos, our dynamic team.  So what happened, Dimitris and Fokas appointed Demy, suggesting she was the best choice to the powers that be that’s how we have Demy, to fly the Greek flag to make a strong come-back to Eurovision this year…

She is signed to the Panik Records family, with a substantial volume of pop hits.

This year’s Greek trio is dubbed the ‘dream team’ surely working very hard to come up with a competitive song. Dimitris and Fokas, have a long illustrious run in the song contest with many Top 10s including Sakis Rouvas, to Sergey Lazarev, Russian entrant in 2016’s Eurovision Song Contest, finished Top 3 on finale night.

The viewers in the United Kingdom are able to vote for their favourites in the first semi-final, airing on BBC 4, so too, Italy and Spain. Meanwhile, Germany, Ukraine and France are voting in the second semi-final of Eurovision on the Thursday evening.

This year’s ‘Celebrating Diversity’ theme will define Kyiv Eurovision welcoming 43 countries, to the annual music event. Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, Jon Ola Sand said: ”The notion of celebrating diversity builds on last year’s theme of ‘Come Together’ and is at the heart of Eurovision values: it is all-inclusive and all about countries around Europe, and beyond, joining together to celebrate both our common ground and our unique differences, as well as the love of great music”.

The running order will be determined by the producers of the show and approved by EBU’s Reference Group in mid-March.

Article written by Tony Neophytou

The famous British Cypriot singer-songwriter George Michael, Georgios Kyriakos Panayiotou, sadly passed away at his Oxfordshire home on Christmas Day aged 53 years-old. His death has been said to be due to a suspected heart failure. The UK Greek Cypriots feel like they‘re saying goodbye to one of their own. People from all over the country have visited his Highgate house to lay flowers, cards and candles; you can see the Greek and Cypriot flag hoisted on the fence gate of his place.

George Michael was born on June 25th 1963, in East Finchley. He leaves behind his father Kyriacos Panayiotou, aka Jack Panos, a Greek restaurateur from Patriki in Karpasia and his two sisters Melanie and Yioda. His mother Lesley Anigold Panayiotou was an English lady and a dancer who passed away in 1997.

George Michael was known to have generously pledged his signed discs for London Greek Radio‘s Radiomarathon appeal, he never liked it publicised as such although the set-up around the charity would often mention it on-air and very understandably.

Cyprus’s Deputy Government Spokesperson, Victoras Papadopoulos, and ex-journalist of London Greek Radio, speaking to Cypriot media’s Sigma Live reflects about his personal encounter with pop star George Michael.

”I met George Michael while working as a journalist for London Greek Radio between 1989 -1995 during my postgraduate studies,” Papadopoulos told Sigma Live English.

”At the time George Michael was at the height of his fame.”

”For at least two consecutive years, from what I remember, he visited the radio station and gifted gold vinyl’s to be auctioned for Cyprus’ Radiomarathonios Foundation, at which LGR participated.”

Our listener Kat Koulle tweeted in: Remember listening to @LGR1033 Radiomarathon when I was younger and George would often donate a signed CD to raise money. #RIPGeorge

London Greek Radio has been supporting Radiomarathon Centre based in Turkey Street in the borough of Enfield, where the listeners fundraising is helping children and young adults with learning disabilities at the centre, for a number of years.

Since George Michael’s death, revelations of his acts of kindness and generosity have seen the light of day, for a person who liked his anonymity to be kept. His philanthropic acts helped Terrence Higgins Trust and Macmillan Cancer Trust, as did the UK Thalassaemia Society (UKTS), of which he was Patron.

He gave a student nurse £5,000.00 to cover her debt and £15,000.00 for IVF treatment all anonymously. He also issued free tickets to nurses to watch his concert in Wembley. All the royalties to his 1996 single ‘Jesus to a Child’ went to Childline, reveals its founder and president Dame Esther, very determined it wasn’t out in the public knowledge.

High-level Cypriot figures and individuals have added tributes including the President of the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK Christos Karaolis speaking to London Greek Radio, stated: ”George Michael is one of the most well-known U.K. Cypriots, selling over 100 million records worldwide and winning multiple music awards including 3 Brit Awards. Through his outstanding contribution to the music industry and charity over the years, he highlighted the proud and exceptional contribution of Cypriots to the UK. He will be greatly missed but his legacy will live on. Our hearts go out to his family”.

WE have since learnt that Michael almost represented Cyprus at 1984’s Eurovision Song Contest with song ‘Anna Maria Lena’…?? Andy Paul that year was our Cypriot entry obviously…

He revealed the original idea was to have Michael perform it and they discussed it at great lengths, with the powers that be. Michael’s father Jack pushed the idea to have Michael sing it, only to be refused because he couldn’t sing Greek. As it turned out to be, Eurovision rules only permitted countries to sing in their language that time. Andy on his Facebook page noting: ”We stayed in contact and we met up a few times in the 80’s. He was a great artist and a warm human being. He will be missed, RIP George.”

The singer Andy Kyriacou writing on his Facebook page tells of his knowing Michael. ”We all know how talented he was, but he was also one of the loveliest and most genuine guys that I met on the music scene. I came across him regularly in the 80’s and he was so polite and gentle, always making the effort to come and say Hi. I’m proud to have made his acquaintance and equally proud that he was a fellow Greek Cypriot. Another great person taken from us with still, so much to offer. RIP George”.

One of our listeners actor Jimmy Andreas speaking on London Greek Radio recollected a personal story at Michael’s dad’s restaurant, during the heyday of his fame in the 1980’s Wham! He said a young Cypriot girl, a huge fan, she was absolutely delighted to see George Michael in the restaurant, ‘This is my son!’ his dad Jack proudly asserted.

Known as Yogo to his friends was inspiring others particularly Cypriots in the creativity industry, such as actress Eve Polycarpou. She was one-half of comedy duo Donna and Kebab alongside Martha Lewis in the 80’s, she felt empowered and inspired in ‘so many ways’ by his successes, in the 1980’s. Seeing British Cypriots excelling in the performing arts, breaking through was a totally big thing she pointed out on her Facebook page.

Pop star Peter Andre said that George Michael was ‘an incredible talent’ and that his is ‘an incredible loss’; while the distinguished maternal fetal medicine specialist Professor Kypros Nicolaides said he was shocked by news of the singer’s death and that he felt proud to share Cyprus with him as their fatherland.

The well-known psychologist and author Dr Linda Papadopoulos said that a George Michael poster used to be the biggest one in her teenage room wall. ”I was a fan of George, in every way, throughout my life and I’m truly devastated that he left this world so early – he brought so much happiness to so many. My thoughts go out to his family at this very difficult time. Rest in Peace, amazing George; not sure how this world is ever going to dance again without you here,” Dr Papadopoulos.

UK Cypriot entrepreneur Theo Paphitis tweeted that George Michael was an ‘unbelievable legend’ and singer-songwriter Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens (born Steven Demetre Georgiou) tweeted that he was very sad to hear of his ‘Cypriot brother’ passing away.

The late pop icon will reportedly be laid to rest at Highgate Cemetery, next to his beloved mum in the family’s private plot.

Full details of the funeral are yet to be announced but it’s believed there may be two ceremonies – one for the family and another for fans.

R.I.P George, rest with the angels. Legend… You will live on forever.

Article written by lgr.co.uk