Vissi producer dies

GREG LADANYI, Anna Vissi’s Grammy Award-winning international producer, was pronounced clinically dead yesterday after sustaining a severe head trauma last Friday night.

The 57-year-old Group President of Maple Jam Music suffered multiple fractures to the ribs and chest, serious head injuries and fractures to the skull after falling five metres down a gap between the stands and the pitch at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia, just before the start of Cypriot-born Vissi’s concert.

He was immediately rushed to Nicosia General Hospital, where he remained in critical condition over the weekend.

Ladanyi’s family has decided to honour his wish to donate his organs. A family representative said: “It was Greg’s wish to donate his organs to help other people.”

A hospital spokesman said yesterday that a decision on which organs can be transplanted will be taken after establishing what medication the victim might have been taking prior to his fall.

Friday’s concert went ahead on Friday night after Vissi visited the producer at Nicosia hospital. The artist is now said to be experiencing an emotional breakdown, as she was extremely close to him and was in the process of finalising her English-language album with him.

Vissi said: “On Friday night, I lived through one of the strangest nights of my life – the worst and most tragic of nights. Within a few seconds, my great joy and excitement at the prospect of performing for the first time in around four years in front of my compatriots was transformed into an unbearable drama.”

Strovolos police are continuing their investigation into the circumstances of Ladanyi’s fall.

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