Marika Ninou

Marika Ninou (Greek: Μαρίκα Νίνου; born Evangelia Atamian [Ευαγγελία Αταμιάν]; 1922 – 23 February 1957) was an Armenian-Greek[1][2] rebetiko singer.

She was born in 1922 on the ship "Evangelistria" that brought her mother, her two sisters and her eight-year-old brother, Barkev Atamian, from Smyrna (present day İzmir) to Piraeus.

However, she survived and immediately the captain of the Evangelistria baptized her, that is how she was named Evangelia (meaning "she of the Gospel, she of the good news" in Greek).

Nonetheless, her cancer spread rapidly in the US and she returned to Greece where she worked under great pain for a short while before succumbing to her illness at 35 years of age.

Ninou possessed a high-pitched voice of substantial body and volume and impeccable tonality, and sang with emotional intensity.