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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Popular Greek singer Marinella was in stable but critical condition in an Athens hospital Thursday, the hospital said in a statement, a day after she collapsed on stage during a concert in the ancient Herod Atticus theater.
Marinella, 86, suffered a stroke and was being treated in the intensive care unit for extensive brain bleeding, Hygeia hospital said in a statement. The singer was on her third song during Wednesday night’s concert in the ancient Roman theater at the foot of the Acropolis when she appeared to lose her balance and then staggered and collapsed. The rest of the concert, which was also to have featured Greek singer Antonis Remos, was canceled.
A household name for generations of Greeks, Marinella has continued to have a commanding stage presence well into her 80s in a career that has spanned more than six decades. Born Kyriaki Papadopoulou in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki in May 1938, she adopted her stage name early in her career, which began in earnest in the mid-1950s in her home town.
The youngest of four children, it became clear from an early age that she was destined for the stage. Her first public performance came at the age of around four or five when she sang a song by Austrian composer Franz Schubert on a children’s radio program, she recounted in an interview published in Greek publication Lifo in June.
As a teenager, she began acting in a musical theater troupe that would travel the Greek countryside, and got her first break as a singer substituting for one of the troupe’s singers who had fallen ill during a tour.
Marinella was the first singer to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest, in 1974 when it was held in Brighton, England and was won by ABBA singing “Waterloo.” Early in her career, she broke with the traditional model of Greek folk singers who would perform while seated. Instead, she adopted a flamboyant performance style, incorporating hand movements as she strutted across the stage. Her songs, popular through the generations, speak mainly of love, but also of loss.