Popular Musician Suffers Stroke While On Stage

Popular musician and one of Greece’s most famous singers, Marinella suffered a stroke while performing on stage.

According to report, she is presently in intensive care after suffering a stroke mid-performance in Athens’ ancient Odeon Theatre, beneath the Acropolis.

The singer was also reported to be 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 hometown.

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 the Greek publication Lifo in June.

Videos shot from the stands showed folk singer Marinella, 86, collapsing on stage during Wednesday’s tribute concert at the Roman-era Odeon of Herodes Atticus.

The hospital said on Thursday she had suffered a “serious vascular stroke” and was in intensive care.

Marinella’s career has spanned over six decades.

She represented Greece in the 1974 Eurovision song contest which ABBA won with ‘Waterloo’.