Kaiti Grey

Grey was born in the village of Mytilini in Samos and had 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 Giannis 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]

Grey performed the first performances of songs by composers such as: Markos Vamvakaris, Vassilis Tsitsanis, Yiannis Papaioannou, George Mitsakis, Christos Kolokotronis, Eftychia Papagiannopoulou, Kostas Virvos, Theodoros Derveniotis, Babis Bakalis, George Zambetas and Panos Tzavellas.^[2] She collaborated with well-known artists such as: Roza Eskenazi, Stratos Pagioumtzis, Stelios Kazantzidis, Grigoris Bithikotsis, Poly Panou, Mary Linda, Giota Lydia, Antonis Repanis, Stratos Dionysiou, Rita Sakellariou, Spyros Zagoraios, Panos Gavalas, George Dalaras, Eleni Vitali, Charis Alexiou, Alkistis Protopsalti, Dimitra Galani, Antonis Vardis, Stefanos Korkolis, Christos Dantis.^[3][4]

In the 1960s 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]

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 whom died in 2021, and to Michalis Papanastasopoulos.^[9] She was the grandmother of Greek singer Aggeliki Iliadi. She lived permanently in Nea Smyrni and in recent years she had been suffering from serious health problems.^[10]

Grey was hospitalised in February 2024 in critical condition, with atrial fibrillation and a respiratory tract infection, but she returned home in March, where she celebrated her 100th birthday on 14 May 2024.^[11][12] In October 2024, she suffered a stroke and was hospitalized, again, in critical condition but she returned to her home where she died on 19 January 2025, at the age of 100.^[13]

• The malaise
• The mountain
• I got the army and I'm coming
• In life the paths
• Open Open
• Good mom i can't
• I'm going to cry today
• Magic your two eyes
• Angel Loved
• Never make mother bitter
• I want it to be Sunday
• Foreign Hands
• You said it and you did it
• Lit the cigarette
• Only a woman knows
• Deep into the sea I will fall