/ D /Demis Roussos / The saga of Demis Roussos(xxxx)

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Artemios (Demis) Ventouris Roussos was born in Alexandria, Egypt on
June 15, 1946. His father, George, had been a successful Greek
architect, but the family, including mother, Olga, and brother,
Costas, was forced to flee as penniless immigrants. They left behind
their possessions during the Suez crisis and returned to their native
Greece. Demis, forced to support his family, began work as a cabaret
musician having learned guitar, trumpet and piano in school.

In Athens in the mid sixties a musical style was flourishing, mainly
that of pop-English and pop-European "cover" songs. Demis joined this
scene with The Idols and We Five. Other bands of prominence included
The Charms, The Sounds and perhaps more importantly a band led by
Vangelis Papathanassiou, The Forminx. In We Five, Demis was soon able
to lend his distinctive voice to the cover songs "House of the Rising
Sun", "When a Man Loves A Woman" and "Black is Black".

While performing, Demis met Vangelis. Along with Loukas Sideras and
Agyrilos Koulouris, the two formed Aphrodite's Child, a soon to be
chart topping progressive pop/art rock outfit whose ultimate
achievement "666" managed to gain the band notoriety due to the vocal
performance of fellow Greek actress Irene Papas.

"666" would sadly signal the end of Demis' full time involvement with
Aphrodite's Child and Vangelis, although any signs of acrimony are not
found as the two appear to enjoy the occasional collaboration.

One such collaboration between Vangelis and Demis that occurred even
before the breakup of Aphrodite's Child would be on Vangelis'
notoriously rare 1970 soundtrack "Sex Power". A careful and quite
pleasurable examination of the "oohs" and "aahs" which permeate
Vangelis' lilting music reveal our favourite golden throated singer.
That BR Music, in one of their earlier Aphrodite's Child compilations,
lists "Sex Power" as being in the Aphrodite's Child canon further
fuels speculation that "Sex Power" was recorded during the later
Aphrodite's Child era.

As Vangelis went on to explore the super-sonic capabilities of
traditional and found percussion and the brand new synthesizers of the
seventies, Demis continued on in the style of Aphrodite's Child. That
is to say, soulful, exotic, Mediterranean-tinged European pop
highlighted by Demis' oftentimes heart stirring vocal performances.

His first solo outing was "On the Greek Side of My Mind", also called
"Fire and Ice" on the French release. Featuring Loukas and "Silver"
Koulouris of   A. Child, Michel Ripoche (a Vangelis collaborator),
lyrics by Boris Bergman and distinctive arrangements by the then Demis
collaborator Harris Chalkitis, "On the Greek.." is a brilliant album.
Some Demis fans would argue that this album remains artistically one
of Demis' greatest achievements.

More hits and records followed throughout the seventies. Demis finally
settled on the formulaic success of such European "smashes" as "This
Time it isn't Au revoir", "Happy to Be On an Island in the Sun", "My
Reason" and "Goodbye My Love, Goodbye". All these tracks featured
Demis' by now trademark "warbling" and the splendid but perhaps
repetitive arrangements of studio professionals like Chalkitis.

Fortunately, Demis' much maligned music of the seventies was not
without its "diamonds in the rough". 1976's "Happy to Be..." provided
some earthly reprieves from the continuous onslaught of Demis-itis.
Songs like "Mary Was An Only Child", "Funny Man" and "Lovely Love De
Paris" (written and arranged by the French composer Francis Lai and
fellow arranger Jean Musy) proved that Demis could still soar.

1977 saw Demis and Vangelis hooking up for the "Magic" l.p., perhaps a
disappointment to Vangelis fans as the arrangements were less than
subtle. There were still some wonderful moments. Demis and Vangelis'
arrangement of "My Face in the Rain" had a more traditional gospel
approach than Vangelis' own version from "Earth", much befitting Demis
penchant for spiritual solitude. Available only on vinyl for what
seemed an eternity, "Magic" was finally released on CD in 1998 by BR
Music. Two new Vangelis/Constandinos tunes from the orginal sessions
finally made the light of day: "The Promise" and "Song for You".
Complementing the release is "Reasons Unknown (When You're Gone") a
heart-breaker if ever there was one.

1979 saw the release of "Universum" an unspectacular album but
remarkable in that it was recorded and released in four languages
(French, German, Italian and Spanish).

Demis made a surprise, and at the time uncredited, appearance on
Vangelis' "Blade Runner" soundtrack, offering up some ethereal
Arabic-inspired vocals that are in actuality indecipherable. "Tales
from the Future" was finally released on the Vangelis-approved
soundtrack release, but unfortunately not all of Demis' contributions
to the soundtrack are available on disc. Most notably the ethnic synth
pop background music when Deckard visits the nightclub looking for the
snake-woman.

In 1982 Demis, with the help of Vangelis' then "life companion"
Veronique Skawinska, published "A Question of Weight", chronicling
Demis' miraculous transformation and rebirth from 320 lbs to a more
manageable 220 lbs in 1980. Biographical by nature and full of
anecdotes, "A Question of Weight" not only succeeds as a guide for
weight loss (as you can guess it was not an easy task for Demis), but
with its historical pictures of Demis (including a 13 year old Demis
as boy scout!), provides much insight in to Demis, the man.

Vangelis entered Demis life again in 1982, this time for the l.p.
"Demis". A surprise was "Race to the End", an appropriately stirring
vocal adaptation of Vangelis' "Chariots of Fire" arranged and
performed by Vangelis, lyrics by Jon Anderson, and singing by Demis.
Two more Jon Anderson penned songs graced the l.p.: "Lament" and "Song
For the Free". Though uncredited at the time, Vangelis arranged and
performed "Lament", another rousing number complete with Jon-style
acoustic guitar and Latin choir. The Vangelis-like instrumentation of
"Song For the Free" and the other unmistakable Vangelis flourishes on
the remaining songs continue to spark interest in the possibility that
Vangelis contributed wholly to the release. Whatever the case, "Demis"
stands as one of Demis' finer efforts.

Demis followed this thread of electronic instrumentation with 1982's
"Attitudes", a synthesizer outing with arrangements by Rainer Pietsch
of Tangerine Dream and synth master Kristian Schultz playing. A
stunning rendition of "House of the Rising Sun" brought Demis back
full circle to his Greek cabaret roots.

Speaking of full circle, Demis and Vangelis in 1984 again teamed up
for "Reflections", an entire l.p. of "cover" songs from the two Greek
friends' past. Not surprisingly "Marie Jolie" by A. Child was covered
alongside such landmark American pop standards like "Love Me Tender"
and "Stand By Me". All of these songs were given the Vangelis
treatment, meaning heavy on bass and drums, and most surprising of
all, in a reggae style!

With his girlfriend Pamela, Demis flew from Athens to Rome on July 14,
1985. Their plane was hijacked and Demis was kept hostage in Beirut
for five days. Although the English press at the time praised Demis
for "singing his way to freedom" (the hijackers actually celebrated
his birthday with him and let him free because he was indeed Demis),
it was quite apparent that the incident had left Demis shaken and a
new lease on life was forged.

The late eighties saw Demis release in quick succession "La Grec",
"Time" and "Voice and Vision". Each of these releases offered Demis
singing in either French, English or Italian. The instrumentation was
appropriately electronic with Demis, having lost much of his once
hearty 300 pound girth, singing with a range that one would suspect to
have gone away with the rigors of live performance over a 25-plus year
career.

It should also be noted that Demis has recorded two Christmas albums.
"Come All Ye Faithful" in 1987 and "Christmas with Demis Roussos" in
1992.


The nineties found Demis much active and entering a renaissance of
sorts. 1993's "Insight" was produced in France and featured a modern,
almost techno, version of the traditional/Cat Stevens tune "Morning
Has Broken". The Vangelis-connection was again made clear by the
inclusion of "Spleen", a rap tune arranged by Vangelis' ex-engineer
Raphael Preston with guest vocals by the former Vangelis collaborator,
Ronny. "Spleen" is, in fact, the title of a poem written by Charles
Baudelaire and is recited by Demis. The poem can be found in the
compilation "Les Fleurs Du Mal".

1995 saw two albums: "In Holland", a symphonic/pop album with some
quite nice arrangements and "Immortel". "Immortel" was a stunning
fusion of world-ethnic, synthesizer landscapes and popular french
"chansons" written by the likes of Trenet, Legrand and Piaf. Produced
and arranged by the BR Music team in Holland, Ed Starink and Bert van
Breda, with emotional flute/shakuhachi playing by Peter Weekers,
"Immortel" seemed to be Demis' 1990's version of "Attitudes". In other
words, perhaps his best effort of the decade. Demis followed up with
the highly original "Serenade" (1996), a collection of Western
classical opera pieces but, again, featuring the imaginative talents
of Ed Starink giving the music a contemporary edge.

Demis broke away from the BR Music collective in 1997 and returned to
the Mediterranean music of his homeland. The result was a pleasing
collection of pop tunes called "Mon Ile" ("My Island"). Though not
entirely as innovative as, say, "Immortel", it was nonetheless a bold
mixture of many world/ethnic styles and influences, with punchy
percussion and Demis' hearty vocals. "Dinata" and "Ohe" were
standouts.

Demis would not release any more newly recorded music until 2000, but
his star remained bright thru the late 90's thanks to the continued
efforts of BR Music. BR Music, in addition to being the producers of
the bulk of Demis' 1990's new music output, led the vanguard in
re-releasing and re-packaging Demis' material. "Souvenirs", "Happy to
Be...", "Man of the World", "Forever and Ever", and "Attitudes", among
others, all enjoyed the BR Music treatment. This meant plenty of
original album art, insightful liner notes and rare bonus tracks.

Not to be outdone by themselves, BR Music released in 1998 "The
Phenomenon", an exhaustive four CD box set spanning 30 years of Demis'
music.

Boasting an impressive 25 x 14 cm size with colour pictures and
comprehensive text, "The Phenomenon" merged Demis' popular Polygram
years with his more current 1990's material. The fourth CD was live,
rare and B-sides. Highlights on this eagerly anticipated platter were:
"Thousand Years of Wondering", a 13 minute progressive rock opus
sounding happily inspired by Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, "Ulysses", a
mini-rock opera complete with scary sound effects and great tablas
playing, and "Winter in America", wherein Demis wakes up to strangers
and declares that America is cold.

The new Millennium saw the Digital Video Disc (DVD) companion to "The
Phenomenon" be released. Produced, again, by BR Music and containing
20 videos, a photo gallery, discography, and an extensive interview,
the DVD gave fans an eagerly anticipated glimpse in to the Demis
world. There was Aphrodite's Child, in their finest 60's threads,
meandering down the streets of Paris. There was Demis singing at the
foot of the Acropolis, and with a single red rose, performing
"Because". There was Demis offering up a rather serious interpretation
of "Race to the End" and, in the DVD's most current clip, playing bass
on "On Ecrit Sur Les Murs". Disappointingly, there were no live
recordings and all of the songs were lip synched. Nonetheless, the DVD
made for an intriguing visual companion to some of Demis' more
memorable tunes.

Getting back to work after the "The Phenomenon", Demis put together a
CD, "Auf Meinen Wegen" in 2000, which was a combination of new songs
and reworkings of old classics. Recorded in Germany late '98 "Auf
Meinen Wegen" was seemingly targeted for Demis' German audience who
had been appreciative throughout his long career. Singing in German,
English and Italian, Demis deftly maintained the blend of styles that
his audience expected, but this time with a full band and less
reliance on keyboard programming. "Fiesta Fiesta Brazil" took on a
Latin groove with a complete horn section. "Cinderella" and "Hello"
were both charming reggae tunes. Of the reworkings, the big surprises
were "Goodbye My Love Goodbye" which was full tilt salsa and
"Amapola", in which Demis really belted it out in Italian.

The year 2001 has not seen any new Demis recordings, but, happily,
Demis continues to perform. Most recently he made an intriguing
appearance in Lebanon at Mediterraneo 2001, the Byblos International
Festival. August 30 thru September 1, 2001 saw Demis perform an
"avant-premiere" accompanied by the Oriental Roots Orchestra
(traditional Oriental instrumentation with qanun, nai, accordion,
mizmar, oriental violin, riq, mazhar, durbake and the like). Not only
were Demis' classic hits performed in a rearranged Oriental fashion,
but new songs composed by arranger Michel Elefteriades were performed
as well. Mention was made that Demis and Elefteriades had collaborated
on a forthcoming album which was to include "The Beast", a tune on the
concerts' set list.