Demis Roussos

On January 15th, World Composer Day was celebrated, and I couldn't not mention the great Greek composer and musician, Demis Roussos.

Born in Egypt in 1946, Artemios Ventouris Roussos, the son of parents of Greek origin, moved to Athens at the age of 15.

🎹 At age 19, he joined the band Beatniks, and some bands later, through the musician Lucas Sideras, he meets Vangelis Papathanassiou, a Greek musician who won the Oscar in 1981, with the film Chariots of Fire, the soundtrack of the classic Blade Runner and the movie 1492: Conquest of Paradise,

The three musicians decide to head to England where they intended to create their own music combining pop music with Greek style and instruments, however due to a setback at customs, they headed to France, where they ended a contract with a Phonogram producer and the band would be baptised as Aphrodite's Child .

Aphrodite's Child was considered one of the greatest progressive rock bands.

🎶 After great successes, the trio would eventually split up in 1971, because they wanted to follow different directions, before the release of the last album, which did not have the expected return. Roussos would then embark on a solo career with enormous success.

In Brazil, he sold out the Maracanã stadium, with a capacity for 150,000 people. Before him only Frank Sinatra. Mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records as a prominent personality in the world of musical entertainment in the 70s and 80s and awarded more than 100 gold, platinum and diamond records.

In 1981, he decided to take a break from being an artist, returning in 1985; A near-death experience - when the plane he was travelling on was hijacked - led him to reflect on the value of life and how he could contribute to a better world, eventually returning to the stage and at the same time taking part in events focused on humanitarian problems.

He died in Athens, 8 years ago today, due to health complications and his funeral was held in the First Cemetery of Athens and his grave can be visited.