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Annet Artani (Αννέτ Αρτάνι in Greek) (born Annette Stamatelatos), is a Greek singer/songwriter who represented Cyprus in the Eurovision 2006 contest in Athens, Greece and is currently pursuing a career in America. Annet was born to the Greek immigrants Ioulia & Gregoris Stamatelatos in New York City, NY. Her family originates from the village of Karavados on the island of Kefalonia, Greece. She is named after her maternal grandmother, Anneta, and she chose to use her paternal grandmother’s first name in her stage name, Artani, as a dedication to both of them for guiding and inspiring her both during their lives and after their deaths. She expressed her interest and love for music at a young age, particularly in offerings of such greats as Etta James, Aretha Franklin and Nana Mouskouri. In 1994, she received a scholarship from BMG for writing and performing an original song, called "Summer Days". She has also won several talent titles in America’s Favorite Pageants, the New York Star Pageant, the Ophelia Devoure Talent Connection, and has been featuring in both Pageantry and Billboard Magazine. Over the years, Annet incorporated influences of singing in her college Gospel choir, as well as listening to R&B, pop and rock music. She started off her singing career as an opening act for Mando, a Greek pop star, and has been featured in her own summer concert in 1995. She collaborated with several accomplished writers in New York such as Jeff Franzel, who’s written for NSYNC and played with Frank Sinatra, and Tom Lamendola, who has written for Jon Secada. She gained more experience by being a backup vocal for the Britney Spears's Dream Within a Dream tour. She also collaborated with Spears and helped co-wrote the chorus to the hit single Everytime, which became an international hit. She also participated in the third edition of the Greek show Fame Story. She left after a month because it turned out she was only there to introduce herself to Greece, not for the competition. Although she didn't win, she did establish a big fan base and went on to release a single called "Goodbye Amor" in 2005, which quickly became popular. Her work has her bouncing back and forth between New York and L.A.. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.