Sadness has spread throughout the artistic community of Greece following the news of Kaiti Grey‘s passing at the age of 100. According to reports, the esteemed singer passed away today at 10:00 in the morning. The beloved artist breathed her last at her home after facing significant health challenges in recent times.

Who Was Kaiti Grey?

Kaiti Grey, whose real name was Angeliki Kalaitzi, was born on May 14, 1924. The celebrated singer was born in the village of Mytilinioi on the island of Samos and had three siblings. She was adopted by the Kalaitzis family and grew up in Piraeus.

Initially, she became an actress in Rita Tsakona’s touring troupe and later sang light songs alongside Yiannis Vellas and other artists of the genre. Her inspiration was Jimmy Makoulis. She recorded her first song in 1952, “To Marazi” (The Heartache), composed by Giorgos Mitsakis. After its success, she rose to become the leading star at the most prominent music venues of the era and collaborated with all the great composers of her time.

She performed the first recordings of songs by legendary composers such as Markos Vamvakaris, Vassilis Tsitsanis, Yiannis Papaioannou, Giorgos Mitsakis, Christos Kolokotronis, Eftychia Papagiannopoulou, Kostas Virvos, Theodoros Derveniotis, Babis Bakalis, Giorgos Zampetas, and Panos Tzavellas.

Kaiti Grey collaborated with renowned artists including Rosa Eskenazi, Stratos Pagioumtzis, Stelios Kazantzidis, Grigoris Bithikotsis, Poly Panou, Mary Linda, Giota Lydia, Antonis Repanis, Stratos Dionysiou, Rita Sakellariou, Spyros Zagoraios, Panos Gavalas, Giorgos Dalaras, Eleni Vitali, Glykeria, Haroula Alexiou, Konstantina, Alkistis Protopsalti, Dimitra Galani, Antonis Vardis, Stefanos Korkolis, Christos Dantis, and the duo Ekeinos kai Ekeinos.

For a significant period, she performed in the most prestigious venues across the U.S., Australia, Canada, and Germany. During her international career, she met icons such as Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Rita Hayworth, Maria Callas, Stavros Niarchos, and Aristotle Onassis.

In the 1960s, Kaiti Grey became the highest-paid singer in Greece, with a daily fee exceeding 8,000 drachmas. This was even acknowledged in Greek courts during a legal dispute with a nightclub owner of the time. She recorded over 1,500 songs, continuing until her retirement from the music industry in 1996.

In 1995, Kostas Ferris signed a contract with the ANT1 network to adapt her legendary life into a TV series. However, the production faced challenges due to budget constraints, and the planned 26 episodes were never fully realized. Filming took place in Greece, Turkey, and Egypt. The title song, “Ego Se Nikisa Zoi” (I Defeated You, Life), performed by Yiannis Parios, was never released.

In 2006, she published her autobiography, titled “As I Lived It.” Kaiti Grey also appeared in 19 films, both as an actress and a singer, solidifying her multifaceted legacy in Greek entertainment history.

Personal Life

Kaiti Grey married and divorced at a young age. She was engaged for five years to Stelios Kazantzidis and later to Andreas Barkoulis. She was also romantically involved with shipping magnate Nikos Lemos and actor Kostas Karras.

She married twice: first to Nikos Iliadis, with whom she had two children, Philippos (born in 1947) and Vassilis (1950–2021), and later to jeweler Michalis Papanastasopoulos. Her granddaughter is the singer Angeliki Iliadi.

Kaiti Grey resided permanently in Nea Smyrni.