Greek singer Rita Sakellariou died at age 64 on August 6, 1999, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Her death shocked the public because the severity of her illness had become known only a few weeks earlier.
Sakellariou built a four-decade career in Greek laiko music that reflected both the evolution of the genre and the broader changes in Greek society. Behind her public image as the queen of the night was a life marked by poverty, hard labor, personal challenges, and major musical successes.
Early life and factory labor
Born Margarita Sakellariou on October 22, 1934, in Sitia, Crete, her parents had met on the island of Kalymnos, where her mother's family had fled as refugees from Smyrna. When she was about ten years old, her family settled in the Tampouria neighborhood of Keratsini.
Her father, a shoemaker and communist, was targeted by authorities during the Greek Civil War and was killed by a stray bullet. The family fell into deep poverty, forcing Sakellariou to marry at age 14. She had two children before the marriage quickly ended. To survive, she worked at the Papastratos tobacco factory, the Fertilizers plant in Drapetsona, and the Schisto landfill.
Musical discovery and initial hits
While working manual jobs, Sakellariou began performing in local folk venues. Blind conductor Stelios Chrysinis discovered her voice at the Mylos venue in Perama, helped her contact record labels, and introduced her to the Falirikon venue in Tzitzifies. There, she sang backing vocals alongside prominent figures of post-war laiko music, including Vasilis Tsitsanis and Giannis Papaioannou.
Her first major solo success arrived in 1970 with the song Every Sunset, composed by Giorgos Manisalis with lyrics by Kostas Psychogios, which became the title track of her debut album. Three years later, in 1973, her song My History My Sin became her signature hit across Greece. Patrons in nightclubs began greeting her using the song's title even before its official album release.
The track My History My Sin was also featured in director William Friedkin's horror film The Exorcist during a scene set in the home of Father Karras's Greek family. Around the same time, Sakellariou appeared in Greek cinematic films, performing songs alongside actors Nikos Xanthopoulos and Martha Vourtsi.
The Queen Ann venue and political ties
In 1970, Sakellariou married wrestler Stefanos Sidiropoulos, known as the White Angel, who was 13 years younger than her. The couple had three sons and established the Queen Ann nightclub along the National Road. The venue attracted prominent artists and politicians, including Melina Mercouri and PASOK founder Andreas Papandreou.
Papandreou particularly favored her song This Man and, according to contemporary accounts, invited her to perform it at his home in Kastri for his name day celebration. Her association with Papandreou and other PASOK officials became a frequent subject of press reporting, linking her public image to the expansion of nightlife and consumer culture in the 1980s. Her marriage to Sidiropoulos lasted seven years, after which she experienced a difficult period before launching a career comeback.
Later repertoire and final tour
Sakellariou collaborated closely with composer Takis Mousafiris on hits including I Pay All My Life, A Man Cries, Tell Me One More Song, and This Man. Mousafiris reportedly told her that when she stepped onto the stage she was forty women combined, describing her stage presence and dynamism.
In the mid-1980s, songwriter Nikos Karvelas wrote Save Me for her album Areso, which also featured the title song and The Short Man with the Tie is Crafty. Sakellariou embraced a repertoire characterized by humor, provocative titles, and accessible refrains, treating her stage persona with self-sarcasm.
In 1993, she released I Am Not Going to Megaro, I Will Stay with the Handsome Young Man, composed by Nikos Terzis with lyrics by Giorgos Pavrianos, which humorously contrasted the Athens Concert Hall with popular nightlife. Her final completed studio albums were And In Love Again in 1995 and Let Us Keep in Touch in 1997.
In August 1998, Sakellariou sought medical care for persistent back pain initially attributed to a muscle chill. Tests revealed pancreatic cancer, and she began chemotherapy treatments.
Despite worsening health and hair loss, she wore a wig and embarked on a tour of Australia in early 1999. Colleagues recalled that she lacked the energy to join them after performances and returned directly to her hotel.
Upon returning to Greece, she was hospitalized as the cancer metastasized, leading to her death on August 6, 1999. Her catalog also included hits such as All I Understand, Cat, and Forties Equal Two Twenties.
Historical events on August 6
August 6 marks several significant historical milestones across different centuries. In 1826, the Battle of Haidari began as Greek forces led by Georgios Karaiskakis and Charles Fabvier repelled an assault by Kioutachis's troops, with fighting continuing through August 8. In 1890, convicted murderer William Kemmler became the first person executed in the electric chair at Auburn Prison in New York, a procedure that failed initially and caused a public spectacle.
In 1926, 19-year-old American swimmer Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim across the English Channel, completing the route from France to England in about 14.5 hours and breaking the male record. That same year, the film Don Juan starring John Barrymore premiered in New York as the first feature film with synchronized music and sound effects using the Vitaphone system, though without recorded dialogue.
On August 6, 1945, the American bomber Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare on Hiroshima, killing tens of thousands immediately and an estimated 140,000 by the end of 1945. In 1961, opera singer Maria Callas performed Luigi Cherubini's Medea at the ancient theater of Epidaurus, in a production directed by Alexis Minotis with sets and costumes by Giannis Tsarouchis.
In 1976, the Turkish research vessel Hora conducted seismic surveys in an Aegean region claimed by Greece as part of its continental shelf, triggering a diplomatic crisis that prompted the government of Constantine Karamanlis to appeal to the United Nations Security Council and the International Court of Justice in The Hague. On August 6, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee publicly announced the World Wide Web project through CERN and made the first website, info.cern.ch, broadly accessible.
In 1992, track athlete Voula Patoulidou won the gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles at the Barcelona Olympic Games with a time of 12.64 seconds, uttering her spontaneous phrase for Greece, damn it, which remained famous in Greek sports history. In 2012, Pavlos Kontides secured a silver medal in Laser sailing at the London Olympic Games, marking the first Olympic medal in the history of the Republic of Cyprus. On August 6, 2020, Greece and Egypt signed an agreement in Cairo for the partial demarcation of their Exclusive Economic Zone in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Births and deaths on August 6
Notable births on August 6 include Scottish physician, biologist, and pharmacologist Alexander Fleming in 1881, who discovered lysozyme and accidentally discovered penicillin in 1928, founding modern pharmacology and winning the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine alongside Howard Florey and Ernst Chain. American pop art artist Andy Warhol was born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh in 1928, creating works such as Campbell's Soup Cans and Marilyn Diptych at his studio, The Factory, and coining the phrase 15 minutes of fame. Greek fashion designer and businessman Lakis Gavalas was born in 1952, establishing the LAK company to introduce luxury brands including Moschino, Dolce and Gabbana, and Burberry to Greece before facing later legal troubles.
August 6 also marks the death of Greek screenwriter, director, and author Nikos Tsiforos in 1970, who gained fame with his 1944 play The Gallery of Fools and wrote over 80 screenplays and 40 plays, frequently collaborating with Polyvios Vasileiadis. Name days celebrated on August 6 include Sotiris, Sotiria, Evmorfia, and Morfoula.
