[1] Efi Bembou was born in Gallipoli, Eastern Thrace, Turkey and spent her childhood in Istanbul.

[2] She then began to record romantic songs for the Columbia company, achieving fame because of her distinctly sonorous contralto voice.

Her reputation, however, skyrocketed after the Italian attack on Greece on 28 October 1940, when her performance of patriotic and satirical songs became a major inspiration for the fighting soldiers as well as the people at large for whom she quickly became a folk heroine.

[1] Following the German invasion and occupation of the country in April 1941, she was transported to the Middle East, where she continued to perform for the Greek troops in exile.

In 1973, during the Athens Polytechnic uprising she gave shelter to students persecuted by the Military Junta security forces.