Everlasting Princess

The beginning
    Ms. Kalomira is, without doubt, one of the brightest stars of Greek Stardom. She was born in January 1985 in West Hempstead, New York, United States as Maria Kalomira Sarantis. Her parents Nikollas and Eleni Sarantis are Greeks and was a restaurant owners. She has also one sister named Georgia.
    From her childhood Kalomira wanted to be a pop star. She studied viola, her favorite instrument, for nine years; she participated for years in many extracurricular activities at school including drama productions and musicals. The big chance for her to be famous came through the auditions for Antenna's (Greek Channel) reality singing competition Fame Story 2, which was a licensed variant of the Star Academy franchise, in New York. She was one of two selected from over 200 auditions, and that was only the beginning. She won the Talent Show, she gained 200,000 € and a recording contract with Heaven Music.

International recognition
    After two very successful albums, “Kalomira” and “Paizeis? (You Playing?)”, Heaven Music chose Kalomira to be their contestant in the 2008 National Final to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. Kalomira sung an R&B style upbeat song with a Greek feel, written by Konstantinos Pantzis (composer) and Poseidonas Giannopoulos (Lyrics) with the brilliant title "Secret Combination". The song won the final selection and Kalomira represented Greece at the 53rd annual edition of Eurovision Song Contest.

Eurovision Family
    After the victory of Marija Šerifović in Helsinki with the song “Molitva” Eurovision Song Contest traveled to the beautiful city of Belgrade, Serbia. It was the first year that the contest was separated in three TV Shows, First Semi-Final, Second Semi-Final and Grand Final. Kalomira was in the First Semi-Final on 20th of May, she was performed last, 19th, but she came first in her Semi-Final with 156 points while Dima Bilan came second with 135 points.
   That was the golden ticket for the Grand Final. Kalomira was one the most favorite artists that year, she was flirting victory with Ani Lorak, and Dima Bilan. After four days, 24th of May, in the Grand Final; Kalomira ended 3rd, after Dima Bilan who was the winner and Ani Lorak who came 2nd. It was the 3rd time that Greece gained the 3rd place in the Final; the first was in 2001 with Antique, the second in 2004 with Sakis Rouvas and the third with Kalomira.

The Historical Slogan
    Kalomira is a Greek name and means good fortune. During Eurovision Song Contest 2008; Greek people made a slogan for her “Ήρθες και μας άλλαξες την μοίρα” (Irthes ke mas alakses ti mira) in English mean “You came and change our fortune”. And she really Changed it!

Working Girl
    After winning Fame Story 2, Kalomira mapped out a long path in the artistic life of Greece. She counts six albums, one of which went Gold; three singles; and merchandise including accessories, make-up, and karaoke machines, etc; the 3rd place in Eurovision Song Contest 2008 for Greece; and she has worked with and endorsed many franchises and clothing companies. Some include Dominos Pizza, JLo, and Everest (Greek fast food chain). She has acted on the classic Greek soap opera, Lampsi; has hosted the hit show Big in Japan; and co-hosted the shows Pio Poly Tin Kyriaki and Proinos Cafes.
   She has had her own radio segment on Rythmos 94,9 and has won numerous awards including, "Woman of the Year," "Entertainer of the Year," and "Best New Artist." In America, Kalomira has appeared on shows like NBC's Today Show andAccessHollywood. She was chosen to perform for FOX's Greek Independence Day Parade where she was interviewed by FOX News and appeared in theWashington Post, New York Times, and Newsday. She is deeply involved in many charities including Elipida, Hamogelo tou Paidiou, St. Judes, Lucky Girls, and many more.

The Myth!
    The hardest thing in our days is to find a true inspiration, someone to admire and love without asking something in return. Kalomira is maybe the most Brilliant Example of all this things together. She makes us happy only with her smile, she makes us proud of just being herself, she brings out the best of us and she is the most astonishing mother. She is the Princess of fairytales that turned out to be true.

Inspiration
    The one person who taught Kalomira the most about life was her uncle, Chris Sarantis. He gave her the will power to fight for her dreams and to never give up! This very special and unique man, who we all love and miss greatly, was one of the biggest inspirations in her life. In Kalomira's words, Theo Chris was "my best friend, my mentor, and the best uncle a girl could ever have."

P.S. We Love you
    Kalomira won her life by herself, she became famous and Pop Idol due to her hardworking spirit and will. She is the incarnation of beauty, love and innocence; and all of these because she is always herself and love what she do… and we love what she do!!!