The Spin

Sarbel was born and raised in London, England, to a Greek Cypriot father, Elias, himself a singer/bouzouki player famous in England for many years, and a Lebanese mother. Sarbel studied music (voice), drama, and performing arts at university. From the age of 5 to 16 he performed at the English National Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and has recorded Tosca in English for Chandos Recordings as the shepherd boy.

At 18, he moved to Crete, where he sang at the Heraklion Palladium.At the age of 21 years, he was signed up by Sony in Greece on a six year recording contract. By the next year, Sarbel had hit the Greek, Cypriot, and Arabic music scene and gained a popular status as a singer but also a sex symbol, particularly amongst young female fans.

He shot into the limelight in 2004, when he recorded the oriental hit Se Pira Sovara, featuring popular Greek songstress Irini Merkouri, which first introduced the young singer to fans in Greece, but also across the Middle East (especially Cyprus and Lebanon). The song is based on an Arabic song called Sidi Mansour. In 2005, he released his first solo album, entitled Paraxeno Synesthima. This album went Gold and was re-released with the Wella-sponsored song Thelo na Petaxo and a bonus track of Boro Boro, which he made famous during his MAD Award Ceremony appearance. The songs Se Pira Sovara, Sokolata, and Thelo Na Petakso became hits and later turned into video clips.

In July 2006, he released his second album, Sahara. That same year he recorded a duet with Greek singer Natassa Theodoridou called Na' Soun Thalassa which was also included as a bonus song on the album. The tracks Taxe Mou and Saharah instantly became a hit. Other singles from the song included Sahara and Enas Apo Mas which were all later turned into video clips too. In the same year, he once again performed at the Mad Music awards taking his popularity to a new height. This time he performed the song Thriller showcasing his English language talent.

Seeing his growing popularity, Greek television ERT asked Sarbel to compeate for a ticket to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki. Sarbel had to compete against established singer Christos Dantis and fellow new comer singer Tamta. Sarbel enlisted the help of popular Greek-Swedish composers Alex Papacostantinou, Marcus Englof, and Mack to write his song. They are responsible for many hits of Greek singer Elena Paparizou. They wrote the song Yassou Maria. The song is performed in English with only the word "Yassou" being in Greek. There is also a Greeklish version recorded. Although the performance had some sound problems, it won the majority vote by both the public and jury leading him to win. Sarbel got a total of 39.69% of the votes combined.
Sarbel has also recorded a duet with Swedish singer Cameron called Mi Chica. The song is recorded in Greek and English. It will be released shortly.