Xronia Polla to Mihalis Hatzigiannis who turns 40 today

Popular Cypriot singer and songwriter Mihalis Hatzigiannis was born in Nicosia, Cyprus on November 5, 1978.  He is a graduate of the Cyprus Music Academy (Royal College of London) with a degree in piano, guitar and music theory.

When he was 18, he participated in a song contest in Cyprus, "Afetiries" where he won the first prize. He later participated in the "Laiki Bank Song Contest" with the song 'I Diki Mou Istoria' written by Andreas Gerolemou and won the first prize. In 1995, he participated in the Cypriot National Final for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998 with two songs, "Filise Me" (written by Andreas Gerolemou) and "To Gramma" (written by Leonidas Malenis).

The first song came in 3rd place and the latter in second place. That year Alex Panagi won the preselection with the song "Sti Fotia". Michalis started his career in Cyprus with three records that all went platinum: "Senario", "O Mihalis Hatzigiannis Tragouda Doro Georgiadi" and "Epafi". He also participated in a musical production in Cyprus called "Pygmalion" in addition to also performing a number of concerts in major city tour in Cyprus titled "Mixalis Xatzigiannis, Andreas Gerolemou".

Hatzigiannis is one of the most successful artists of the decade in both Greece and Cyprus.

After a successful soundtrack collaboration, Hatzigiannis released his first full-length Greek album, quickly hitting the double-platinum mark and catapulting the singer into stardom and collaborations with major Greek vocal stars.

Winning both awards and popularity, Hatzigiannis also performed at the ceremony and on behalf of Greece at the 2004 Olympics and began successful tours in Australia and the United States where he is very popular amongst Greek communities there.

Releasing an album each year, Hatzigiannis continued to build a strong following, also branching into styles other than his original singer/songwriter format, hitting upon elements of dance and electronica.

Releasing a second live album (his tenth overall album) in late 2007, Hatzigiannis quickly captured platinum status and remained in the Greek Top Ten in album sales through the fall of 2008 on the strength of the album.

*Watch Hatzigiannis big hit "To Kalokairi Mou" here- 

Some of his most popular hits include “Heria Psila”, “To Kalokairi Mou”, “Mia Nixta Treli” and “Thalassa.”

Hatzigiannis is engaged to beautiful Greek model, actress, and television presenter Zeta Makrypoulia. The couple is quite private about their relationship and rarely make public appearances.