- Album list
- Singer Intro
Artemios 'Demis' Ventouris-Roussos (/ˈruːsoʊs/; Greek: Αρτέμιος 'Ντέμης' Βεντούρης-Ρούσσος, Greek pronunciation: [arˌtemios ˌdemis venˌduris ˈrusos], 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015) was a Greek singer and performer who had international hit records as a solo performer in the 1970s after having been a member of Aphrodite's Child, a progressive rock group that also included Vangelis.
Roussos sold over 60 million albums worldwide and became 'an unlikely kaftan-wearing sex symbol'.
Early musical career
After settling in Greece, Roussos participated in a series of musical groups beginning with The Idols when he was 17, where he met Evangelos Papathanassiou (later known as Vangelis) and Loukas Sideras, his future bandmates in Aphrodite's Child. After this he joined the Athens 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 Loukas 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. They set off for London to break into the international music scene but were turned back at Dover due to visa problems. They retreated to Paris where they decided to stay, signing a record deal there with Philips Records. Their first recording sessions were delayed by the general strike of May 1968 but later the same year the song 'Rain and Tears' was issued across Europe. The song appeared on the album End of the World in October. Composed by Vangelis and the French lyricist Boris Bergman, the song featured Roussos’s unusual high tenor. The song was only a minor hit in Britain but was successful in many other countries. Roussos's operatic vocal style helped propel the band to international success, notably on their final album 666, based on passages from the Book of Revelation, which became a progressive rock cult classic.
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 also recorded the 1977 album Magic together. Their most successful collaboration was 'Race to the End' (also sung in Spanish as 'Tu Libertad'), a vocal adaptation of the musical theme from the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire, while Roussos also guested on the soundtrack to Blade Runner (1982), with a song entitled 'Tales of the Future'.
Discography
Main article: Demis Roussos discography
Among Demis Roussos's most famous songs are 'We Shall Dance' (released as a single in 1971), 'My Reason' (1972), 'Goodbye, My Love, Goodbye', 'Velvet Mornings', 'My Friend the Wind', 'Lovely Lady of Arcadia' (1973), 'Someday Somewhere' (1974), 'My Only Fascination' (1974), 'From Souvenirs to Souvenirs' (1975)
Studio albums
1971: On the Greek Side of My Mind (a.k.a. Fire and Ice)
1973: Forever and Ever
1974: My Only Fascination
1974: Auf Wiedersehn (in German)
1975: Souvenirs
1976: Happy to Be...
1976: Die Nacht und der Wein (in German)
1977: Kyrila – Insel der Träume (in German)
1977: The Demis Roussos Magic
1977: Ainsi soit-il (in French)
1977: Demis Roussos
1979: Universum
1980: Man of the World
1982: Demis
1982: Attitudes
1984: Reflection
1985: Senza tempo
1986: Greater Love
1987: The Story of Demis Roussos
1987: Come All Ye Faithful (Christmas album)
1988: Le Grec (in French)
1988: Time
1989: Voice and Vision
1991: Photo Fixe
1993: Insight (a.k.a. Morning has Broken or Adagio)
1995: Demis Roussos in Holland
1995: Immortel
1996: Serenade
1997: Mon île (in French)
2000: Auf meinen Wegen (in German)
2009: Demis
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