ARTEMIOS VENTOURIS-ROUSSOS A.K.A. DEMIS ROUSSOS

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Demis Roussos, the Greek singer, songwriter and musician, who died on a day like today in 2015.

 

Artemios Demis Ventouris-Roussos, in Greek Αρτέμιος Ντέμης Βεντούρης-Ρούσσος (15 June 1946-25 January 2015) was a Greek singer, songwriter and musician. As a band member he is best remembered for his work in the progressive rock music act Aphrodite's Child, but as a vocal soloist, his repertoire included hit songs like Goodbye, My Love, Goodbye, From Souvenirs to Souvenirs and Forever and Ever.

Roussos sold over 60 million albums worldwide and became an unlikely kaftan-wearing sex symbol.

Roussos was born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, in a Greek family. His father George (Yorgos) Roussos was a classical guitarist and an engineer and his mother Olga participated with her husband in an amateur theatrical Greek group in Alexandria, her family originally came from Greece.

As a child, he studied music and joined the Greek Church Byzantine choir in Alexandria. His formative years in the ancient port city's cosmopolitan atmosphere were influenced by jazz, but also traditional Arab and Greek Orthodox music. His parents lost their possessions during the Suez Crisis and consequently decided to move to Greece.

After settling in Greece, Roussos participated in a series of musical groups beginning with the Idols when he was 17, where he met Evángelos Papathanassíou (later known as Vangelis) and Loukas Sideras, his future bandmates in Aphrodite's Child. After this, he joined the Athens-based band We Five, another cover band which had limited success in Greece.

Roussos came to a wider audience in 1967 when he joined progressive rock band Aphrodite's Child, with Vangelis and Sideras, initially as a singer but later also playing bass guitar, achieving commercial success in France and other parts of Europe from 1968 to 1972.

After Aphrodite's Child disbanded, Roussos continued to record sporadically with his former bandmate Vangelis. In 1970, the two released the film score album Sex Power (the album has also been credited to Aphrodite's Child), and later recorded the 1977 album Magic together.

Roussos also began a solo career with the song We Shall Dance in 1971, which was a top ten hit in both the Netherlands and Belgium. Initially unsuccessful, he toured around Europe and became a leading artist. His solo career peaked in the mid 1970s with several hit albums.

His single Forever and Ever topped the charts in several countries in 1973. It was No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1976 Other hits by Roussos included My Friend the Wind, My Reason, Velvet Mornings, Goodbye My Love, Goodbye, Someday Somewhere and Lovely Lady of Arcadia.

His first UK single to chart was in 1975: Happy to Be on an Island in the Sun, written by Northern Irishman David Lewis, with the record reaching No. 5 on the charts. His popularity in the rest of Europe, but not the UK, came to fascinate BBC TV producer John King who made a documentary titled The Roussos Phenomenon in 1976. Philips Records released a four-song record of the same name, which was the first extended play to top the UK singles chart. He was equally successful across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Japan.

Roussos' run of hits was maintained in the 1980s mainly in France with a number two Quand je t'aime in 1988 and On écrit sur les murs in 1989, along with golden records for the albums Le Grec and Voice and Vision.

Roussos died in the morning of 25 January 2015 while hospitalised at Ygeia Hospital in Athens, Greece.

More information: Rock's Back Pages Library

 I don't have any regrets.
I have made over 60 million people happy with my records.

Demis Roussos