Two years later, Paparizou had decided she wanted to be a singer and began to study Greek music. By the age of fourteen, Paparizou had formed her first group, "Soul Funkomatic" with three Hispanic teenagers. They played hip hop music while saving money to record songs; they disbanded two years later. On 29 October 1998, thirteen of Paparizou's close friends died in the Gothenburg nightclub fire during a hip hop party, when sixty-three people died and more than two hundred were injured. She had begged her mother to let her go to the party, but was not allowed to attend. After losing her friends, Paparizou decided to abandon singing. She started classes at the Art Performing School where she studied theater, acting, television and directing. In 1999, some DJ friends of Paparizou's brother asked Paparizou to make a demo of the Notis Sfakianakis hit "Opa Opa", but because the lyrics are written from a male point of view, Paparizou wanted to sing with her childhood friend Nikos Panagiotidis. Some record producers, who were interested in signing a male/female duo to sing covers of traditional Greek songs, contacted Paparizou, who suggested Panagiotidis. The pair formed Antique, and signed to the independent label Bonnier Music. They called themselves "Antique" because it gave the impression of being "classical" and "timeless", and connoted Paparizou's association of Greek music with the idea of it being distant, old-fashioned, and something of an acquired taste. Their debut single "Opa Opa" became a hit in Sweden and Norway, eventually entering the top ten in both countries, making "Antique" the first act to reach the Swedish top five with a song sung in Greek. Their later singles "Dinata Dinata", "Follow Me" and "Moro Mou" also charted in Sweden. During the Antique and My Number One era,she had also a great reputation in Italy. Although relatively unknown in Greece in 2001, the duo entered the Greek national final of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "(I Would) Die for You", composed by Nikos Terzis with lyrics by Antonis Pappas. They won joint first place, but as "Antique" had also won the public vote were declared the overall winners and went to the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen.