At the age of 95, Panagiota Giannelou, known by her nickname, passed away Yota Gianna. The sad news was revealed by singer Penny Xenakis, in a post she made on her personal Instagram account.

Who was Iota Gianna?

Iota Gianna was a Greek singer and master of the harmonica.

He was born in 1928 in Athens, in Ampelokipi, where he has lived until today. Her father was originally from Trikala, Thessaly. Her mother was Asia Minor and died at a young age, and Gianna grew up with her father, who was a motorist. One of her two brothers, Dimitris, was killed in 1974 during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.

She used to travel mainly by bicycle, but also by public transport, while she did not eat meat, only salads, butter and cheese.
Iota Gianna was present in the Greek music scene for more than sixty years.

He had sung in the centers of Athens performing pieces made famous by other great Greek singers, such as Marinella, Poulopoulos, Dalaras, Doukissa, Voskopoulos. He had collaborated with great artists such as Sofia Vembo, Vassilis Tsitsanis, Apostolos Kaldara, Rita Sakellariou, Anna Vissi, Kaiti Grey, Iota Lydia, Bemba Blanch and many others.

She has been described as “the Greek Janis Joplin”, “the Passionaria of the Popular Track” (according to Manos Hadjidakis and not of the “National Road” as it has been incorrectly written), a performer who “grabs the song from hair and makes it her own” (according to Lena Platonos).

He started playing the harmonica next to Sofia Vembo, accompanying her in the famous song “My man” at the Kyvelis theater.
She had a rich discography, as she recorded many 45 rpm records in the 1960s, but she became well known, mainly to the Athenian public, and from her appearances in nightclubs in Plaka and the National Road.

The poet Giorgos Chronas mentions her as one of the most important personalities of the artistic field. In fact, he made her one of his seven heroines in the book “The one-act play of Seva Hanum”, giving her own chapter the title “The velvet basement of Iota Gianna”. Her album “The eyes of Yotas Gianna” was released in 2013.

From 2017, he started appearing at the Apanemia boutique, on a weekly basis. In 2019, he collaborated with Anna Vissi on a song as well as on the singer’s summer tour. In 2020, she continued her appearances in Apanemia.