Greek American Zoe Behrakis Makes Singing Debut with “Grace”

A talented Greek-American woman by the name of Zoe Behrakis from Massachusetts released a song titled “Grace” on March 27 in a bid to bring hope and happiness to the world in these very strange and uncertain times.

There had been no plans to release the harmonic debut quite this soon, but the singer felt that the world needed to hear “Grace” sooner rather than later.

“I didn’t have a release date originally, but with everything that is going on I emailed my people in Nashville and suggested releasing it,” Behrakis tells Greek Reporter.

The release was supposed to be accompanied by a video as well, but with the current situation in the United States, this was simply not possible.

“This is a crazy time and I feel that this song could resonate with people who are stuck at home and confused the way I am. Thank God they were on board with it — otherwise it wouldn’t be released. It happened so fast, within a week,” Behrakis continues.

The song was co-written with Mike Piazza and Johnny Black. Behrakis freely admits that writing doesn’t come naturally to her and she enjoys the process of collaboration.

“I was asked to relate a personal experience or story to the team and it was from that that we created Grace. I wanted to release a song that I knew would resonate with people because I know I am not the only person that has experienced this, so I am not alone, and I wanted to share this strength with people,” Behrakis explains.

“I wanted to make sure we struck the right tone, I wanted the song to be empowering, not a sob story about how my life was bad for a moment. It’s about coming out on the other side, better, stronger, and knowing that you can get through anything,” Behrakis says with emotion.

This honesty is plainly reflected in the song’s lyrics, with Behrakis singing “I am not afraid to admit I’ve made mistakes, every wrong turn I have taken took me to the right place.”

Born and raised just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, Behrakis has a long Greek heritage. Both her parents are Greek, with her mother’s parents both from Greece, “hailing from a little town outside Thessaloniki,” as she says. On Behrakis’ father’s side, the family origin is from the Mani region of Greece.

Behrakis talks with fondness of attending the parades on Greek Independence Day when she was younger and she has visited Greece several times. She has Greek godparents as well, so they try to visit as much as possible.

Greek culture remains a very strong force in her family and the singer continues to speak Greek with her grandparents. Behrakis learned the language at Greek School, which she attended on Sundays until she was about ten years of age. Still, she admits that the tongue is not an easy language to master.

Behrakis is keen to avoid cliches but can’t help it when recounting how she first discovered the great gift of her voice. “I hate cliches, but I genuinely think I started when I was very young, about 2 or 3. I was always running around singing songs and I would always do little shows in my bedroom, pretending I was on stage singing live, so I think it has always been there.”

It was this desire to sing and perform which led her to meet her voice coach in middle school, where everything changed. “I didn’t properly explore my voice until middle school when I met my voice teacher, and it just progressed rapidly from there. I began learning techniques that helped me reach more notes,” Behrakis recounts for Greek Reporter.

It was through her voice teacher that she met representatives from the PCG Universal agency based in Nashville, and as a result, we now have the stunning debut single “Grace.”

“About a year ago my voice teacher invited some representatives from PCG to come up and conduct a workshop with us. We sang, and they gave advice and worked with us about how to move better on stage, live performance technique, etc. Afterward, they pulled me aside and said ‘hey, we would like you to come to join our full program’” Behrakis recalls breathlessly.

“The program involves visiting Nashville once a month for three or four days, working with various people who can help me develop into the artist I want to be. It has been a year now.

“When I first joined the program, I met a lot of writers, created a lot of demos and it was very exciting, very new, very surreal. I was in a studio writing songs with other talented musicians! This has been such a big dream for me, I have wanted this so long,” Behrakis says with clear emotion.

As we joke about what to do with your hands while one performs onstage, it is clear that Behrakis is enjoying every minute of her singing career, and after listening to Grace for the tenth time, it is clear to see why.

Behrakis’ debut song is available online now via the following outlets: Spotify, iTunes, Deezer, and Amazon Music.