Sofia Vembo was a leading Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 singer and actress active from the interwar period to the early postwar years and the 50s. She became best known for her performance of patriotic songs during the Greco-Italian War

Greco-Italian War

The Greco-Italian War was a conflict between Italy and Greece which lasted from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. It marked the beginning of the Balkans Campaign of World War II...

, when she was dubbed the "Songstress of Victory".

Her real name was Efi Bebo (Έφη Μπέμπο). She was born in Gallipoli, Eastern Thrace, in 1910, but after the Asia Minor Catastrophe her family moved to Tsaritsani

Tsaritsani

Tsaritsani is a village and a shortlived community in the Larissa regional unit, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Elassona, of which it is a municipal unit. It was created as a community in 2006, when it was separated from the municipality of...

 in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, where her father became a tobacco worker, and later to Volos

Volos

Volos is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about 326 km north of Athens and 215 km south of Thessaloniki...

.

She began her career in Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...

 in the early 1930s. In the winter of 1933 she was hired by the theater operator Fotis Samartzis of the Kentrikon theater for the revue "Parrot 1933". She then began to record romantic songs for the Columbia company, achieving fame because of her distinctly sonorous contralto

Contralto

Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...

 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. At the same time, she offered 2,000 gold pounds from her own fortune to the Hellenic Navy

Hellenic Navy

The Hellenic Navy is the naval force of Greece, part of the Greek Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy has its roots in the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence...

. Following the German invasion

Battle of Greece

The Battle of Greece is the common name for the invasion and conquest of Greece by Nazi Germany in April 1941. Greece was supported by British Commonwealth forces, while the Germans' Axis allies Italy and Bulgaria played secondary roles...

 and occupation of the country in April 1941, she was transported to the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

, where she continued to perform for the Greek troops in exile.

After the war, in 1949, she acquired her own theatre, the "Vembo Theatre", in the Metaxourgeio

Metaxourgeio

Metaxourgeio or Metaxourgio is a neighborhood of Athens, Greece. The neighborhood is located north of the historical center of Athens, between Kolonos to the east and Kerameikos to the west, and north of Gazi. Metaxourgeio is frequently described as a transition neighborhood...

 quarter of Athens. In 1957, she married her long-time lover Mimis Traïforos. During the 60s, she began to perform less and less, before finally retiring in the early 70s. She died on 11 March 1978.

Because of her role in the war and her efforts during the Axis occupation, she was awarded the rank of Major

Major

Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

 in the Greek Army.

Filmography

• The Prosfygopoula (1938) in the role of Sofia Nakos
• Stella
  Stella
  -People:*Stella , a feminine given name** Stella McCartney, English fashion designer** Stella , Singaporean-Taiwanese singer** Stella Maessen, Dutch singer, sometimes going under the singular name of Stella-Fictional characters:...
  
  (1955) in the role of Maria
• Stournara 288
  Stournara 288
  Stournara 288 was a drama by Dinos Dimopoulos with Orestis Makris, Smaroula Giouli, Sofia Vembo, Dionysis Papagiannopoulos. It was bitter and nostalgic eyes on its alienation on Athens' neighbourhoods....
  
  (1959) in the role of Jenny