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.
#YOUTUBE DEMIS ROUSSOS CONCERT TV#
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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