Loucas Yiorkas feat. Stereo Mike

Loucas Yiorkas feat. Stereo Mike is the representative for Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, with their entry Watch My Dance. They placed 7th with 120 points, but on the public televote they placed 3rd with 176 points. Loucas (or Loukas) was born and raised in Cyprus. He was naturally drawn to music and singing from an early age. Supported by his family, he began studying music while still at school. He obtained his first qualification in classical guitar and attended byzantine music lessons for five years. At the same time he grasped every possible opportunity to join various bands and orchestras in Cyprus while experimenting with other musical instruments. However, it was evident that singing was the strongest of his skills and always came first in his heart. His first official attempt as a singer gave him the first prize in the 12th Cyprus Song Composition Competition hosted by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (RIK). After graduating from high school, he went to Greece to study Biology at the University of Patras but his dream to become a singer led him to audition for X FACTOR 2008-2009, where he was the overall winner and received excellent reviews on his vocal abilities and his stage presentation. Following his victory, he released his first single titled Den Fantazesai (You cannot imagine) written by the successful composer George Theophanous, obtaining once again excellent reviews. Since 2009, he has been performing live with many famous Greek artists such as Elena Paparizou, Natasha Theodoridou, George Mazonakis, Dimitris Mitropanos and Peggy Zena. He has also formed his own band which performs in various music halls around Greece. On March 2nd, 2011 he was selected by the Greek audience to represent Greece in the 56th Eurovision Song Contest with the song Watch My Dance. Born in Piraeus, Mike Exarchos, known as Stereo Mike starts his musical journey as a kid. At the age of 18 he goes to England to study Music Technology and Audio Production. In four years he obtains both degrees. He composes soundtracks for short movies and begins sound-engineering at London's Vault Recording Studios with clients including the cream of the crop of UK hip-hop (Klashnekoff, Bury Crew, Skinnyman, Taskforce, Iceberg Slim, Mike GLC). His love for production leads him to AMG records, where he ends up signing his first record contract and releases his first personal album Satyroi Nomades (Satirical nomads). In 2006, he releases the first ever Greek hip-hop DualDisc. The video of the single I Polis (The city) receives a nomination for the best hip-hop video at the VMAs Awards, where Stereo Mike performs with Eleni Tsaligopoulou. Later that year he works with Haris Alexiou on a Greek television show. In 2007, he releases the first album from his trilogy XLI3H-ANELI3H-KATALH3H, featuring many internationally acclaimed Greek artists and in 2008, he wins the Best Greek Act and receives nomination for Europe's Favourite Act at the MTV European Music Awards. In 2009, he tours all over Greece and also receives a nomination for Best Male Artist of the year. In 2010, Stereo Mike accepts the position of Senior Lecturer in the Music Department of the University of Westminster in London. Stereo Mike enters 2011 having completed the second part of his album trilogy, ANELI3H. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.