Vicky
Our pick of the pops
Greek-born singer Vicky – later known as Vicky Leandros – settled in Germany as a child and became one of her adopted homeland’s biggest stars of the 1960s and 70s.
Vicky was born Vassiliki Papathanassiou on 23 August 1952 on the Greek island of Corfu. She moved to the German port of Hamburg with her family at the age of six.
Her father had just enjoyed his own chart success and his contacts helped her secure her first record deal. She enjoyed a top 20 chart hit in July 1965 with the very contemporary Messer, Gabel, Schere, Licht.
Follow-up singles Deine Rosen vom ersten Rendezvous (which included the even better Am Abend muss ich schlafen geh'n on the reverse) and the Seekers-esque Wenn du geh’n willst confirmed her popularity.
Perhaps surprisingly, Dich mit Andern teilen kann ich nicht, issued in 1966, failed to chart despite recapturing some of the energy of her debut hit.
For the most part she managed to avoid singing songs from the schlockier end of the market, at least in the early years, though some of her later material is distinctly Schlager.
She was approached to sing for Luxembourg
at the 1967 Eurovision song contest. Though
L’amour est bleu gave her another hit in
Germany, in its original French, her
disappointment at losing the competition to
Britain’s Sandie Shaw was compounded when
the song went on to top the US charts and
sell millions of copies, but not in any of the
seven different language versions she had
recorded, but instead as an instrumental by
Paul Mauriat and his Orchestra. (Her German
version of the song was known as Blau wie
das Meer.)
The experience almost sent the young singer
scuttling for the relative safety of a job in
interpreting, however she ended up opting to
keep singing. In fact, the contest opened up
a career for Vicky in neighbouring France,
where she enjoyed some success.
In Germany, she enjoyed a string of top 20 hits over the following years, including Grünes Licht and Morgen sehen wir uns wieder in 1967, Heut’ war Premiere and Bunter Luftballon
in 1968, and Karussell d’amour and Halt die Welt an in 1969.
Blau wie das Meer
1967
Messer, Gabel, Schere, Licht
1965
Wenn du geh'n willst
1966
Vicky on YouTube
Am Abend muss ich schlafen geh'n
1965
Grünes Licht
1967
Dich mit Andern teilen kann ich nicht
1966
L'amour est bleu
1967
Follow the links to hear other singers’ versions of Vicky songs
L'amour est bleu
Betina: Mi amor es azul
Sunshine Boy
The Angeliques: Sunshine boy
With the addition of a surname, Leandros, to signify her maturity, she went on to greater success in the 1970s, winning the Eurovision song contest in 1972 for Luxembourg with Après toi and enjoying dozens of hits.
In Germany she remains a household name to this day and has sold over 40 million records worldwide.
Cover cuts
Sunshine Boy
1967
Buy online now
Vicky Leandros
The singles +
Vicky online
