In 1957, Stelios Kazantzidis invited Georgia Joy (real last name Kouloukaki) to go on tour with him to Thessaloniki. She had to turn down the chance to perform live with one of the rising stars of the day. She was still a minor and her father refused to give his permission.
Two years earlier, Joy recorded for the first time. On the first, I’m alone, she sang second voice to Yiannis Giannopoulos. On the second, For you, yes, my boy, she was lead (backed by Stratos Attalidis). In the YouTube video (linked below), you hear an astonishingly assured and mature voice. But she was a mere 16 years old.
Joy, born in Piraeus in 1939, was already performing folk and rebetiko songs in public by the age of 14. Stelios Chrysinis, the composer and artistic director at Columbia Records, heard her and gave her those first two songs to record. She followed those first two recordings with two more, singing alongside stars Yiota Lydia and Stelios Kazantzidis.
Through the late 1950s, Joy recorded almost a dozen sides. And then she put her career on hold. She married, had a daughter and spent six years away from music.
Joy returned to recording and performing in 1963 and enjoyed a successful career. She is credited with more than 50 recordings, many of them with her brother Yiannis, a laika star. (Joy introduced her brother to Chrysalis, launching his career.)
For you, yes, my boy perfectly bridges the sound of classic era rebetiko and the newer world of bouzouki-driven laiko. And that voice! A wonderful performance.
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