Kalomira

Maria Kalomira Sarantis Boosalis, known professionally as Kalomira, is a Greek-American singer and television personality. Born on January 31, 1985, in West Hempstead, Long Island, New York, she first came to prominence in Greece in 2004 after winning the television talent competition Fame Story. Over the course of her career, she has released four studio albums, achieved third place representing Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, and hosted several television programs.

Raised on Long Island by her parents, Nikos and Eleni Sarantis, who owned a Greek restaurant, Kalomira has family roots in Laconia, Peloponnese. She studied the viola for nine years and played in her high school orchestra. In 2003, she was named Miss West Hempstead at her high school and took second place in a music contest organized by WBLI Radio. Following the radio contest, she opened live shows for several American artists, including Jessica Simpson, LL Cool J, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Michelle Branch, and Nick Lachey.

While attending Adelphi University as a music major on a scholarship, Kalomira successfully auditioned in New York City for the Greek reality singing competition Fame Story 2. She moved to Greece and won the contest, securing a cash prize and a recording contract with Heaven Music. In September 2004, she released her self-titled debut studio album, which achieved gold certification in Greece and Cyprus and spawned the chart-topping single "Nomizeis". That same year, she received the Woman of the Year – Best Newcomer Award from Life and Style magazine and appeared in a 30-episode role on the long-running Greek TV drama series Lampsi.

Kalomira released her second studio album, Paizeis?, in 2005, followed by a cinematic concept album, I Kalomira Paei Cinema, in 2006. During this period, she co-hosted the television programs Proinos Cafes and Pio Poli Tin Kiriaki. In 2008, she represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest with the upbeat track "Secret Combination", finishing in third place overall. She subsequently released Secret Combination: The Album and hosted the Greek television game show Big in Japan, which earned Best Show and Best Reality Show honors at the 2009 European Festival.

In the following years, Kalomira pursued various international music projects, including the single "Please Don't Break My Heart" featuring American rapper Fatman Scoop, as well as digital releases such as "This Is The Time", "Other Side Tonight", "This Is Summer", and "Stohos". She also maintained a TV presence, serving as backstage hostess on Rising Star, a coach on Just the Two of Us, and co-presenter of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. In her personal life, she married real estate developer George Boosalis in 2010, and the couple has twin sons born in 2012 and a daughter born in 2016.