Keti Chomata

Chomata was born in Athens in 1946; her family's origin was from the island of Naxos. She lived in the Plaka district of Athens and studied classical dance. According to Chomata, she became a singer by a chance event: after she got expelled at school, at the age of 16, she was discovered by Alekos Patsiphas (or according to a different account by Giorgos Papastephanou); Patsiphas met her at the Giorgos Oikonomides' radio show which dealt with searching for people of talent; Papastephanou then introduced her to composer Giannis Spanos. After this, Chomata became one of the leading representatives of the Greek New Wave genre and one of the favourite performers of Spanos' compositions; she performed with great success in the Athens boîte scene.

Composers with whom she has worked include Manos Hatzidakis, Mikis Theodorakis and Stavros Xarchakos. A famous hit song of Chomata is Mia agape gia to kalokairi (Greek: Μια αγάπη για το καλοκαίρι, "A love for the summer") released in her debut 7' EP in 1964. The song was later used for the Vasilis Mavromatis' 1969 film Skies sten ammo (Greek: Σκιές στην άμμο, "Shadows on the sand"); a film in which she also had the leading role and the only one in which she ever played in her life despite the fact that there is a misconception that she had also played in other films.

Chomata was married twice having two daughters and four grandchildren. Her first husband, with whom she had her children, was actor and director Vasilis Mavromatis. Her second husband was Giannis Lianos, a great admirer of her.

Chomata had been fighting cancer from a young age for thirty years when in 2010, at the age of 64 and on the day of her birthday, she died in the NIMITS hospital in Athens, after a car accident.

Chomata published 18 albums, having sung over 200 songs.