Sakellariou was born on 22 October 1934 in Chamezi, a village near Sitia on the Greek island of Crete.

[1] Sakellariou left school aged twelve and helped the family's finances by selling bread and lemons from a barrow in the streets of Piraeus.

Marriage at the age of fourteen provided her with an escape but the marriage did not last and she worked in factories to support her son and daughter.guard Musically untrained, but with a "inimitable voice endowed with emotion", she started singing in tavernes in Piraeus where Rebetiko music was performed.

[3] An introduction to the composer and bouzuki player Vassilis Tsitsanis led to an eight-year collaboration and established her as a singer in the Laïko tradition of urban folk music.

[1] Although she found it difficult to keep up with new musical trends in the 1980s and 1990s, she remained a popular figure and produced several albums.