Helena Paparizou place of birth Borås
Early life
Paparizou was born on 31 January 1982 in Borås, Västergötland, Sweden; she was the youngest child of Greek parents Georgios Paparizos (1948–2008) and Efrosynë "Froso" Paparizou. Paparizou's parents were from the Karditsa region in western Thessaly; she has a sister Aretë, known as Rita, and a brother Konstantinos, known as "Dinos." Paparizou's parents met and married in her mother's hometown and moved to Borås in 1970. In 1985, the family moved back to Greece to live in Volos with relatives because Paparizou had contracted asthma and her lungs could not cope with the cold Scandinavian climate. After two years, she was well enough for the family to return to live in Gothenburg, Sweden. As a result of the trip to Greece, Paparizou spoke Greek as a first language and did not make friends with many Swedish children, because she attended a Greek-language school. Paparizou continues to suffer from breathing problems and often carries an inhaler on-stage.Paparizou performed for the first time in front of a Greek audience when she was eleven, singing Christos Dantis' "Moro Mou". Two years later, Paparizou had decided she wanted to be a singer and began to study Greek music. By the age of fourteen, Paparizou had formed her first group, Soul Funkomatic with three Hispanic teenagers. They played hip hop music while saving money to record songs; they disbanded two years later. On 29 October 1998, thirteen of Paparizou's close friends died in the Gothenburg nightclub fire during a hip hop party, when sixty-three people died and more than two hundred were injured. She had begged her mother to let her go to the party, but was not allowed to attend. After losing her friends,  Paparizou decided to abandon singing. She started classes at the Art Performing School where she studied theater, acting, television and directing.
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