Elected Oct. 23 as one of 41 members of the Athens city council, she isn't likely to get lost in the crowd. "I like it that everybody knows me," says Jarvis, a longtime TV personality who trills, "Hello, love," in Greek to fans on the street. Known to her adopted countrymen as "the black Aphrodite," she hopes to foster greater acceptance for immigrants in this nation of 11 million. Pundits give her a fighting chance: "Whether you want to or not, you like her," one wrote recently. "She persuades."
And perseveres. Jarvis grew up poor but managed to snag a scholarship to Boston University, graduating magna cum laude with a psychology degree in 1979. Three years later she said no to Harvard Law School and yes to love, following her future first husband, a Greek basketball player she met in a disco, back to his homeland. "Not much gets in my way," she says. Including culture shock: When she got to Athens, she recalls, "there were sheep running in the street."
A talented hoopster herself, Jarvis became a star on a national women's team. Next she turned to modeling, then landed a gig as a TV talk show host. In 1987 she bought a blond wig and morphed into a torch singer. Her husband disapproved, so she divorced him, went on tour and in 1995 wed expatriate American lyricist John Muller, 51, with whom she has a son, John Jacob, 7.
Jarvis says she'll continue to multitask, juggling city biz with singing gigs: "I intend to stir things up." Judging from her record, that's one campaign promise Athenians can count on.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
