Athena Andreadis, going by the mononym Athena, is an Anglo-Greek musician, singer and songwriter born in London to Greek parents. In 2008, she was featured in a British television documentary called Athena: My Music.
Early life and education
Athena and her family moved back to Greece when she was three, she grew up in Thessaloniki and moved back to the UK when she was 18. Her passion for music and singing from an early as well as writing and acting won her awards at school for both poetry and prose, acting and singing in bands, but was urged by her family to study business with a view to joining the family business and helping her father in tourism. She studied at the University of Bath, where she earned a degree in Business Administration. During an internship in New York for the advertising agency Young & Rubicam, she met her first singing teacher and mentor Joyce Suskind through the Juilliard School of Music, and with her encouragement went on to be accepted and graduate from London’s Trinity College of Music with two post-graduate master's degrees in classical singing and jazz voice.
Career
In 2006, she released an EP called Snapshot. She performed at music festivals including Womad, performed on live radio including BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour. Her music has appeared on compilations and it has been on radio playlists. In 2007, she released her debut albumBreathe With Me. She was featured in an hour-long documentary aired on Channel 5 in April 2008. She has collaborated, recorded, performed and written songs with several artists and songwriters including Eric Appapoulay, Richard Causon, Geoff Martyn, Chaz Jankel, Marti Pellow, David Saw, Adam Levy, Mike Rowe, Ben Trigg, Darren Berry, Chesney Hawkes, Richard Cassell, Ethan Allen, Miles Zuniga, Tobias Froberg, Leslie Satcher and Rebecca Martin. Athena co-wrote "You're Older" for Rebecca Martin's album, The Growing Season, for which they won the Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter Album at the Independent Music Awards. Athena's songs have been released either on her own records, or on other artists' records in the UK, US and internationally, including Fastball's Little White Lies, Adam Levy's Washing Day, and her co-write with Eoghan Colgan "You Give Me Hope" made it on several US TV series including Mike & Molly, Smash and Chicago Fire as well an English film, Love/Loss. She was a featured vocalist on Leonard Cohen's final record You Want It Darker. She contributed backing vocals for the song "Traveling Light." She currently lives in Los Angeles.
Discography
''Breathe With Me''
Breathe With Me is Athena's debut album, released in 2007 on Embraceable Records and produced by George Andreou and Joe Boyd. The BBC's Morag Reavley calls it "Intimate, thoughtful, original." Her songs aired on BBC Radio 2 and on BBC Radio 3 and on local stations in the United Kingdom. Her first UK tour was sponsored by the Arts Council of England and fRoots magazine. The track "Breathe Again" was used for a television advertisement campaign for the charity Concern Worldwide in the UK and Ireland. In 2008 a bonus track version of Breathe With Me was re-released with two extra songs to coincide with the airing of the hour-long documentary Athena: My Music in April 2008.
''Peeling Apples''
Peeling Apples her second album was produced by Swedes Magnus Frykberg and Tobias Froberg, and co-writers on the record include Richard Causon and Jamie Hartman features on a duet. Further to headlining London Bush Hall, her first single, "Finding England" featured on the cover album of Word magazine in May 2012, and was selected for the Visit England campaign to coincide with the London Olympics 2012. In Greece, the record was released by EMI and "Finding England" was play listed on six radio stations. Athena teamed up with Starbucks in Greece and Cyprus raising money for the charity, Kinoniko Pantopolio. One of the songs, "All Over Again", made it into the indie filmNomads.
''Giini Aggeli''
She also released her debut album with Sony in Greece, and her second record with EMI, and in 2014 she released a Greek-language record Giini Aggeli co-produced by Giorgos Andreou featuring Lina Nikolakopoulou with Universal EMI.
''Ready for the Sun''
Athena recorded her first U.S. album, Ready For The Sun, at The Village Studios in Los Angeles with producer Ethan Allen. Musicians on the record included Deron Johnson, Jimmy Paxson, Michael Ward and Jonathan Flaugher. Kevin Reagan was the artistic director. The record was released in February 2017, with Music Junkie Press calling it "a debut album that should take the US market by storm - there is simply no one like Athena and this album signals the entry of a new star in the American music firmament," and The Huffington Post calling her voice "both heartwarming and majestic." One of the songs from the record, "Stronger" has been placed at the end credits of the US movie Swing Away.
Starbucks
picked Athena to be their exclusive artist in 2014-2016 and her albums sold in all stores as well as raising awareness during in-store performances with Eric Appapoulay.
Yiannis Markopoulos
The classic Greek composer, Yiannis Markopoulos, chose Athena to sing on his new record also featuring George Dalaras.
Athena featured singing on the Save The Children television advertisement in the UK, with her version of "Silent Night" in winter 2012-2013 and again in 2014-2015, as well as on the TV commercial campaign in Germany during winter 2015-2016.
''Fuller House''
Athena's song "You Bring Me Luck", is sung by Stephanie during the Fuller House season 3 finale, aired in December 2017.
