Who is Annette Denise Stamatelatos?

Who is Annette Denise Stamatelatos? The entertainment world knows her as Annet Artani. She is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known for representing Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Why Angels Cry", as well as co-writing worldwide hit "Everytime" with Britney Spears.

Artani is currently signed to Ultra Records and is pursuing a career in the American music industry. Her debut single "Alive" was released in March 2009 and is a precursor to a full length studio album.

 Early life

Artani was born September 6 Annette Denise Stamatelatos in New York. Her family originates from the village of Karavados on the island of Kefalonia, Greece. She is named after her maternal grandmother, Anneta, and she chose to use her paternal grandmother’s first name, Artani, in her stage name, as a dedication to both of them for guiding and inspiring her both during their lives and after their deaths.Artani chose to use "Annet" rather than her original "Annette" because of the pronunciation problems that Greeks experienced when saying her name.
Artani and her older sister Diana, who also sings, formed a rock band named Nootropia (A state of mind), singing in Greek, and promoted on National Greek TV (NGTV) and Aktina FM, with a fast-growing New York following. The group sang Greek rock songs which were fused with classical elements.

 Musical career

 1994–2003: Beginnings

Artani expressed her interest and love for music at a young age, particularly in offerings of such greats as Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, and Madonna. After her early days singing with her sister, Artani decided that a solo career would suit her best. She received a scholarship from BMG for writing and performing her original song titled "Summer Days", and has also won several talent titles in America’s Favorite Pageants, the New York Star Pageant, the Ophelia Devoure Talent Connection, and has been featuring in both Pageantry and Billboard Magazine.
Over the years, Artani incorporated influences of singing in her college Gospel choir, as well as listening to R&B, pop and rock music. She started off her singing career as an opening act for Mando, a Greek pop star, and was featured in her own summer concert in 1995.

She collaborated with several accomplished writers in New York such as Jeff Franzel, who's written for NSYNC and played with Frank Sinatra, and Alex Forbes who has written for Taylor Dayne and Cyndi Lauper, among others. While singing as a singer-songwriter in clubs all over New York City, Artani received a phone call from a friend saying that she should audition to be a backing vocalist for Britney Spears. She was called back and informed that she would be on The Rosie O'Donnell Show with Spears would subsequently be a part of the Dream Within a Dream Tour. She then collaborated with Spears, co-writing the single Everytime which was released in 2004 and became an international top ten hit, as well as being on Spears' 2003 studio album In The Zone, her greatest hits compilations Greatest Hits: My Prerogative (2004) and The Singles Collection (2009), and her 2005 compilation of remixes entitled B In The Mix: The Remixes.

 2004–2006: Start of solo career and Eurovision 2006

In 2004, Artani entered the third edition of the Greek reality singing show Fame Story. She was brought in along with three others after the show had already started in order to increase ratings. A month into her participation, Artani "walked off the show" after refusing to sign a multi-year contract which she was being pressured into signing during her time on the show. She stated that her departure was a "huge scandal at the time in Greece". Although she didn't win, she had established a large fan base and signed a record deal with Virus Music, which led to the release of the single "Goodbye Amor", which quickly became popular.

In 2006, she was invited by Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation to take part in the Cypriot selection show for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. On February 22, the public selected its entry from 20 songs during the final round of a show entitled "A Song For Europe" where Artani won the majority of the votes for her ballad "Why Angels Cry", even though she was suffering from laryngitis. After the show, the song was tweaked a bit for Eurovision by adding the Russian philharmonic in its orchestration. She represented Cyprus in Athens at the Contest's semi-final. She later released her first studio album Mia Foni, which featured songs in both Greek and English; the album reached the top ten on the Greek Albums Chart.

 2007–present: "Alive" and new album

In December 2007, Artani was approached by Greece's Hellenic Radio and Television to be considered as one of the possible entrants to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. She wrote three candidate songs, however, she never submitted them after talking it over with the network and realizing the strings attached. She had already left her Greek record label Virus Music and had signed to a label in the United States, but by submitting the songs, she would have to be signed to a Greek label once again, which would have meant unsigning in the US. Artani felt that it would be better to be obligated to her US label instead as it could do more for her career.

Artani signed with Ultra Records in the United States, and is currently recording her first English language album. The first single is "Alive" which she performed at club Duvet on December 19 for her management company SWAP's holiday party. "Alive" was released as an eight-track digital download on March 31, 2009 through iTunes and was accompanied by a music video in the months succeeding. It was then licensed by Ultra Records worldwide and became available in all iTunes music stores.
In an interview with Radio International on November 18, 2009, Artani announced that she was working on her second single which was produced by Swedish producer Ishi Mughal and is a "sort of" remake of The Supremes 1966 hit "You Keep Me Hangin' On". During the interview, she played an exclusive clip of the unfinalized song as well as the previously unheard song "Nothing Lasts". She ended the interview by playing a new version of her song "Too Late" which was remixed by her friend Greg Christos.

 Discography

 Albums

• 2006: Mia Foni
• 2010: Upcoming English Album (US Release)

 Maxi singles

• 2005: "Goodbye Amor"
• 2006: "Why Angels Cry"
• 2009: "Alive"

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