Demis Roussos

In the light of intellectual European civilization, Artemios Roussos was born on June 15, 1946 in the city of Alexandria, Egypt. As George and Olga’s first son, he was of Greek extraction. Three years later, his younger brother Costandinos, was born. Throughout his childhood he was influenced by the different cultures that were harmonically living together in Egypt. The sound of Arabic music entered into his life at that time and stayed up until today, one of his biggest influences. At the age of ten, he was intrigued by Jazz and learnt to play the trumpet. The young boy also attended the choir of the Greek Byzantine church of Alexandria and sang for five years as a soloist. But when Artemios reached the age of fifteen, his life changed for ever. During the Suez Canal crisis, his family left Egypt and immigrated to their homeland, Greece. Artemios then had to work to support his family. During the day, he attended school and at night, he played the trumpet in various clubs in Athens. Two years later, his first band was formed known as « The Idols ». The band had a singer and Artemios played the Bass Guitar and sang backing vocals as well. One day, something happened that was about to change his life story. As the singer needed to rest, he asked Artemios to replace him for a few songs. That night, when Artemios started singing the « House Of The Rising Sun » and « When A Man Loves A Woman », the audience was amazed. From then on every night, Artemios was asked to sing again and again. In Greece, Artemios was beginning to make a quality reputation when he met a man, who would later become one of his most successful composer, Lakis Vlavianos. A new band was born, the « We Five ». And Artemios was now, the official leading singer. In 1968, Artemios’s journey crossed the road of two other top Greek musicians, Vangelis Papatanassiou and Loukas Sideras. Their work association was about to become one of the biggest musical events of the seventies the « Aphrodite’s Child ». The ambitious music band, decided to join the United Kingdom for a better commercial chance and career and Artemios (whose name, they now shortened to Demis) would be the singer and the bass player, Vangelis the main composer as well as the keyboard player and Loukas would play the drums. As the city of Paris was going through the May 68 revolution, the Aphrodite’s Child arrived and ended up staying there, after being rejected from the United Kingdom for lack of working permit. After a few concerts in some of the trendy Parisian clubs, a major company proposed the band, to record a song, inspired from classical piece « the pachelbel‘s canon » called « Rain And Tears ». The first album of the Aphrodite’s Child, sold over a million copies, considering France only. Nine months later, as Demis first child daughter, Emily was born, « Rain And Tears » was a top single all over Europe and a top 20 single in the United Kingdom. The band went thru a huge success for three years and after following the release of their legendary last album “666”, for various reasons, decided to split-up. It was then extremely important for Demis, what decisions he would make, regarding his career. Since he was one of the main elements of the band, the record company decided to give him a chance and so was recorded his first solo artist single, «We Shall Dance ». Came along with an album called « On the Greek Side of My Mind ». Immediately, the album and the single jumped into the top five of all the national hit parades of Europe, starting from Italy to Spain, France, Holland, Germany and Scandinavia. And so, in the year 1971, Demis Roussos was. A couple of months later, Demis met with his old friend of the « We Five », Lakis Vlavianos. Lakis was then going thru an inspiring period of his life and wrote many songs which Demis recorded and made a string of number one hits all over the world: « Forever And Ever », « My Friend the Wind », « Velvet Morning » etc, etc… As his second child was born in 1975, Cyril, Demis toured the globe with his second wife and child for eight years. In Brazil, he packed a stadium of 150 000 people. An event that was achieved in that particular stadium twice only. Once by Franck Sinatra and once by Demis Roussos. Demis sold enough records to gain a name in the Guinness Book of records among the personalities of show business in the 70’s and the eighties. He was awarded more than a hundred golden, platinum, and diamond albums and cassettes. His unique dressing style was often considered eccentric but Demis was following his instinct which told him that the music he was performing should match with the combination of looks between the glorious Byzantine Empire and the Arabic Caftan. In 1978 his instinct told him again that he should retire for a wile, thinking of new things concerning his career and life. And so he took his family to an area of the world, where he was unknown, Malibu Beach, California. There, Demis lost 120 pounds in weight and visited parts of the world he had never known before. At that point, Demis went to a new phase of his life where human beings and all their weaknesses, vanities and worries began to occupy his mind. He returned to Europe and lived a quieter life between England and Greece, alone with his son Cyril. On June 14 1985, wile he was travelling from Athens to Rome, an event occured that put a decisive turning point on his life and career and emphasized his feelings and thoughts about man-kind. That day, Demis’ TWA airplane was hijacked by terrorists and Demis and many other victims were held hostage. After two days in that plane praying, Demis was held three days in the prison of Beyrouth with his third wife and went like many other survivors, through the shock of a traumatic experience. After that tragedy, Demis said he never understood so well the importance of the nations living in peace and how precious life is when you see death so close. He felt more than ever, that his contribution for a better tomorrow could be via music and so decided to return to the recording and performance scene. He recorded twenty other songs and compiled an album called « The story of Demis Roussos » With this album, Demis started to world tour again and found a nostalgic audience who had missed his magic voice. In 1986 Demis toured the USSR for three weeks and was invited to join important scientists, writers and artists at the forum for peace and disarmament which took place in the Kremlin, in Moscow, in February 1987. During a tight TV schedule in Chili, Demis insisted on fitting in a visit to the Earth summit in Rio, in order to get a clearer picture of the environmental problems, which are a main concern for Demis. Demis Roussos Christmas album, recorded in 1987, is considered to be one of the most saleable classic album ever recorded and by special request Demis toured the major cathedrals of France during the holiday season. From then on, Demis was a regular visitor of the charts again in the world with singles, such as « Quand je t’aime » and « On écrit sur les murs », and albums, such as « Voice and Vision » and « Immortel ». In 2008, Demis lives in Greece by the sea. After being one of the most talented singer of his century, Demis is still working on more magic to offer, with the blessing of music and GOD... The legendary Greek singer. A summary of his greatest hits: -We shall dance, No way out, My reason, Auntie, Forever and ever -Auntie -Forever and ever -Goodbye my love goodbye -My friend the wind -Schönes Mädchen aus Arcadia -Someday somewhere -My only fascination -Auf wiedersehen (sweetheart) -With you -Perdoname -Life in the city -Lost in love -Race to the end -Je t'aime mon amour -Follow me -Island of love -Summerwine -Summer in her eyes -Tropicana bay -Rain and tears -Time Demis Roussos & The National Orchestra of Nowheristan (a.k.a. The Oriental Roots Orchestra), have preformed the legend's biggest hits as rearranged by Michel Eleftériades.