On This Day in 2017: Greek ‘New Wave’ singer Arleta passes away

Arleta, whose real name was Ariadne Nicoleta Tsapra, was born in Athens on March 3, 1945. She studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts but switched to music soon after, eventually building a career that spanned from the 1960s to the present.

The singer was quickly associated with the Greek ‘new wave’ and released her first album “A hat with songs” in 1960.

Her first great successes came with songs whose music was written by Lakis Papadopoulos and lyrics by Marianina Kriezi.

She worked with many well-known Greek composers such as Giannis Spanos, Manos Hatzidakis and Mikis Theodorakis and produced hits such as 'Serenata', 'Tsai Yasemiou', 'Bar to Navagio' and ‘To Tragoudi tis Erimou’.

Apart from singing and songwriting, Arleta also designed the covers of music albums and books, and held two personal painting exhibitions in Tzia and Athens.