He was also famous for his vocal adaptation of the score from the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, which had been composed by Vangelis. Roussos’ love for kaftans saw him named “the Kaftan King” and he often wore them for his performances. Other solo hits include My Friend the Wind, My Reason, Someday Somewhere and Happy To Be On An Island In The Sun.
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Roussos was also well known for his off-screen role in Mike Leigh’s 1977 TV play Abigail’s Party, having provided the party’s soundtrack. Roussos was best known for his solo hits in the 1970s and 80s, including Forever and Ever, Goodbye and Quand je t’aime.
His parents lost their possessions during the Suez Crisis and consequently moved to Greece. His formative years in the ancient port city’s cosmopolitan atmosphere were influenced by jazz but also traditional Arab and Greek Orthodox music. His father George (Yorgos Roussos) was a classical guitarist and an engineer and his mother Olga was a singer her family also originally came from Greece.Īs a child, he studied music and joined the Greek Church Byzantine choir in Alexandria. Roussos was born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt in a Greek family. The Greek singer 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. “Even if I die tomorrow, Demis Roussos left a card, a trademark, something that cannot be forgotten.Artemios “Demis” Ventouris-Roussos was born June 15, 1946, and passed away on Januaged 68. Nobody can deny that my name left a mark into the century’s music. But you see, that means I left my mark into the century. Roussos also expressed pride at his immortalisation in Abigail’s Party: “It was fun, this woman mentioning my name. It did surprise me, but when someone is at the top of the limelight of success, it is normal.” I love women, I always liked women – no secret about that. Because I never consider myself a sex god. He did, however, concede surprise at his former status as a sex symbol: “Yes. In the 1999 Guardian interview Roussos dismissed as “bollocks” reports that he sang for the hijackers. Roussos was among eight Greek nationals freed after their government released a Hizbullah member. In 1985 the singer was on a TWA flight from Cairo to the US that was hijacked by armed men seeking the release of Arab prisoners from Israeli jails. He later lost much of this and co-authored a diet book, A Question of Weight. When the group split following the recording of 666, Roussos began a solo career, having immediate success in 1971 with the single We Shall Dance.ĭuring much of his peak era Roussos cut a sometimes improbable figure in popular music with his significant girth, which reportedly peaked near 150kg. In Athens, Roussos played guitar and sang with the group, the Idols, later meeting Vangelis, who had a major influence on his career.Īs part of Aphrodite’s Child, Roussos had planned to base himself in London but work permit problems meant the group ended up in Paris, and it was France where they became most successful. Roussos studied music and sang in the city’s Greek church until, as a teenager, his parents were forced to move to Greece, penniless, following the Suez crisis. Roussos was born Artemios Ventouris Roussos in Alexandria, Egypt, to Greek-origin parents who had also been born in Egypt. Photograph: George Wilkes Archive/Getty Images The band’s final release, 666 – a double album based on the Book of Revelation – is viewed as one of rock’s first concept albums.ĭemis Roussos in one of his famous kaftans. Also in the group was Vangelis, who later composed the film scores for Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner. Roussos started in the late 60s in Aphrodite’s Child, a pioneering Greek trio seen as one of the originators of progressive rock. In a 1999 interview with the Guardian, Roussos recalled a moment in the mid-70s when he had five albums in the UK top 10 at the same time.
Nonetheless, while the peak of his success was brief, it was considerable. Roussos, who also had notable solo hits with Goodbye and Quand Je T’Aime, was viewed as something of a kitsch figure during his heyday, an image cemented by Mike Leigh’s 1977 BBC TV play Abigail’s Party, in which Alison Steadman’s social-climbing party host tries to impress her guests with her fondness for the singer. He had been receiving treatment for some time for an undisclosed illness, the BBC said. The death of Roussos, who had a No 1 UK single in 1976 with Forever and Ever, was confirmed by the Hygeia hospital in Athens, the BBC reported. Demis Roussos, the Greek pop and rock singer who became an unlikely international star in the 70s and 80s, famed for his soaring, high-pitched voice and voluminous kaftans, has died aged 68.
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