Sarbel Michael (born 14 May 1983) known professionally as Sarbel, is a Greek Cypriot pop singer of partial Cypriot and Lebanese ancestry. He is well known in Cyprus, Greece and parts of the Arab world for his debut single, "Se pira sovara", and his subsequent albums Parakseno sinesthima, Sahara and Kati san esena. Ηe represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with "Yassou Maria" which peaked at number one in Cyprus and Greece, and appeared on the UK Singles Chart.
He was named after the Maronite Saint Charbel and his name is correctly pronounced "Sharbel", but since standard Greek lacks a "sh" sound, it is pronounced "Sarbel" according to the Greek transliteration.
Sarbel sang yearly at St Ignatius and other talent shows.
At the age of 18 Sarbel went to Crete, where he sang at the Heraklion Palladium. At the age of 21, still living on the Greek island of Crete, he was signed on by Sony BMG (Greece) on a six-year recording contract.
He shot into the limelight in 2004, when he recorded the oriental hit "Se pira sovara" featuring Greek singerIrini Merkouri, which first introduced the young singer to fans in Greece, but also across the Middle East (especially Cyprus and Lebanon)[citation needed]. The song is based on an Arabic song called "Sidi Mansour" by Saber Rebaï. On the same CD (a CD single) he released a second duet with Merkouri called "Agapi Mou Esi". In 2005, he released his first solo album, entitled Parakseno sinesthima (in Greek Παράξενο συναίσθημα). This album went Gold and was re-released with the Wella-sponsored song "Thelo na Petaxo" and a bonus track of "Boro Boro", which he made famous during his MAD Award Ceremony appearance. The songs "Se Pira Sovara", "Sokolata", and "Thelo Na Petakso" are some of his notable songs.
In July 2006, he released his second album, Sahara. That same year he recorded a duet with Greek singer Natassa Theodoridou called Na' Soun Thalassa which was also included as a bonus song on the album. Some of his notable songs are Taxe Mou, Sahara and Enas Apo Mas.
Seeing his growing popularity, Greek television ERT asked Sarbel to compete for a ticket to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki, Finland. Sarbel had to compete against established singer Christos Dantis and fellow newcomer singer Tamta. Sarbel enlisted the help of popular Greek-Swedish composers Alex Papacostantinou, Marcus Englof, and Mack to write his song, who are responsible for many of popular Greek singer Elena Paparizou's hits. They wrote the song Yassou Maria, which is performed in English with only the word 'ya sou' (and the name 'Maria') being Greek. There is also a version released in a mix of Greek and English.
To promote his new album amongst his fellow Londoners, he performed at the two day Cyprus Wine Festival of London in 2008. Sarbel felt that "My performance at the Cyprus Wine Festival (in London) is my chance to give something back to my community." And both performances brought tears to his friend's and family's eyes that still live in London.
In July 2009, Sarbel released a two track CD-single titled "Mou Pai" under his new signing with E.DI.EL record label. The second track on the CD called "So Perfect" is a song written by Sarbel.
Sarbel has announced the beginning of his winter tour with three concerts performing alongside Giorgos Mazonakis in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide in Australia. He will also be performing two more solo concerts in Australia on New Year's Eve and New Years Day. In October 2010 he toured Egypt and plans to stay in Athens for Christmas and New Year after which he has a concert in Vietnam.
He is also currently working in the studio recording songs for a new CD album to be released in the Spring of 2011. The first single from this CD Album was released in March 2011 entitled Kafto Kalokairi and Sarbel sang the single for the first time live at the Pavilion on the 18th March 2011 in front of a packed house.
Following the worldwide success of the new single, in early May Sarbel released the official Video Clip for the song which was filmed with the sponsorship of Louis Cruises. Some of the filming actually took place in the engine room of the popular Cruise Ship Cristall!
Sarbel has been booked to sing with the famous Greek Folk Singer Glykeria for this year's Cyprus Wine Festival at Alexander Palace on 25 and 26 June 2011. Both singers are being brought back by popular demand and the event is expected to be a complete sell out.
ON THE 11.11.11 Sarbel released his new single Pou Na Girnas penned by the famous Greek composer Alexis Serkos. The video clip was released in conjunction with single to launch Sarbel's winter tour of Canada the U.S and Saudi Arabia.
