Athanasia Gizili (Greek: Αθανασία Γκιζίλη; born 14 May 1924), better known professionally as Kaiti Grey, is a Greek singer and actress.
Life and career
Grey was born in the village of Mytilinioi in Samos and has three siblings. She was adopted by the Kalaitzis family and grew up in Piraeus. Initially, she became an actress in Rita Tsakona's bands and later sang songs with Yiannis Vellas as well as other artists of the genre. Her role model was Tzimis Makoulis. Her first song, To Marazi, was recorded in 1952 and was the creation of Giorgos Mitsakis. After the success she achieved, she managed to become the first name in the biggest centers of the time and also to sing with all the great composers of her time.[1]
In the 60s she was the highest paid singer with a daily salary that even exceeded 8,000 drachmas.[5] This was also recognized by the Greek Courts in a legal battle that existed with a nightclub owner at the time. She recorded more than 1,500 songs, until 1996, when she retired from recording and nightclubs. In 1995, Kostas Ferris signed a contract with ANT1 to bring her legendary life to the small screen. However, this was not to be fully achieved as the budget cost did not reach the 26 episodes the contract had been signed for. Filming took place in Greece, Turkey and Egypt, while the title song I defeated life performed by Yiannis Parios was never released on the discography.[6] In 2006, her autobiography was published, As I experienced them. She acted in 19 films as an actress and singer.[7][8]
Personal life
Grey was engaged for five years to Stelios Kazantzidis, and then to Andreas Barkoulis. She was married twice, first to Nikos Iliadis with whom she had two sons, one of them who died in 2021, and to Michalis Papanastasopoulos.[9] She is the grandmother of Greek singer Aggeliki Iliadi. She lives permanently in Nea Smyrni and in recent years she has been suffering from serious health problems.[10]
