Demis Roussos

Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos (Αρτέμιος "Ντέμης" Βεντούρης-Ρούσσος) is a Greek singer with an international career, especially in France. Actually, I know him since my childhood, from my mother.
His genre of music is the variety. He is recognizable by his warm tenor timbre and his power (which earned him the nickname "Pavarotti pop") and by the tremolos at the end of the notes.

He was born in 1946 and died in 2015. He was born and raised in Alexandria in Egypt, in a Greek family. As a child, he studied music and joined the Greek Church Byzantine choir in Alexandria.

After settling in Greece with his family, Demis Roussos participated in a series of musical groups from the time he was 17. During that period, he met Vangelis, another Greek musician, a composer, internationally known. The most famous of these groups is “Aphrodite's Child”. He formed this group in 1967 with 3 other Greek musicians, including Vangelis. Thanks to this group, he came to a higher audience, reaching commercial success in France and other parts of Europe from 1968 to 1972. 

After the end of the band “Aphrodite's Child”, Demis Roussos continued to work periodically with Vangelis. They especially recorded "Race to the End", a vocal adaptation of the well known musical theme from the movie “Chariots of Fire”.
Demis Roussos also began a solo career in 1971, with the song "We Shall Dance", which was a top ten hit in both the Netherlands and Belgium. From the mid 1970s until the 1980s, he was quite successful, with several hit albums. For example, his single "Forever and Ever" was on top in several countries in 1973. His other famous songs are : "My Friend the Wind", "My Reason", "Velvet Mornings", "Goodbye My Love, Goodbye", "Someday Somewhere", "Lovely Lady of Arcadia" and “Quand je t'aime” … Some of his albums reached the gold status in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, like his “Christmas Album” and “Greatest Hits”. Roussos sold over 60 million albums worldwide.

In 2016, after his death, two of his children opened the Demis Roussos Museum, in Nijkerk, in The Netherlands. This unique museum shows his private side and his life as a musician, singer and performer.

You can hear some of his famous songs here : 

 

I hope you will enjoy his wonderful songs and his unique voice. 

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