| Chris Demetriou | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Christos |
| Also known as | Chris Dee |
| Genres | R&B / Main Stream Pop |
| Occupations | Entrepreneur / Record Producer / Songwriter & Musician / Pastor |
| Instruments | Keyboards / Piano / Guitar |
| Years active | Mid 1960s - present |
| Associated acts | John Kongos, Mike d'Abo, Cat Stevens, David Bowie |
| Website | [1] [2] [3] [4] |
Chris Demetriou born in Paphos, Cyprus, is a musician, songwriter, record producer and entrepreneur. He spent his informative years in South Africa, moving in 1969 to the United Kingdom, where he now lives with his wife and daughter.
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Demetriou began his professional music career in his teens playing keyboards for the Johannesburg R&B group John E Sharpe & the Squires. He appeared on the group's most successful singles, including covers of The Kinks' "Stop Your Sobbing" and Paul Simon's "I Am A Rock", as well as their Maybelline album.
Demetriou left South Africa for London with fellow musician John Kongos and the pair formed the psychodelic group Floribunda Rose. However, the band soon changed its name to Scrugg and recorded a number of singles on the Pye Label with producer John Schroder and new drummer Henry Spinetti. Scrugg enjoyed limited success, with their double A-side "One Way Street" and "Linda Loves Linda" receiving significant airplay but failing to perform well in the charts (ref. article / garagehangover.com). The songwriting partnership of Kongos/Demetriou proved to be more successful than the groups they were in - with two songs reaching the top five in the UK charts and another, sung by Bond girl Daliah Lavi, reaching number one in Germany and Switzerland. Some of their early work, including recordings by Floribunda Rose and Scrugg, were released on the compilation Lavender Popcorn in 2001.
Demetriou's most notable songwriting credit is for Step On, recorded by the Happy Mondays. It was listed at number 77 in "The Top 100 Greatest Singles Of All Time", published in the February 1999 edition of Q magazine. Daily Mail readers ranked it on their "500 Greatest Songs Ever". Under the original title, He’s Gonna Step On You Again, the song made it into the UK Singles Chart, where it remained for 14 weeks - reaching No. 4 in May 1971. Other than the recordings by Def Leppard and Happy Mondays, He's Gonna Step On You Again has been covered by numerous artists in many different music genres. These include The Party Boys in 1987, when it got to number 1 in Australia, the Chantoozies in 1989, and John Swan in 2007. The song was also featured on the Soundtrack of the 2006 video game Test Drive Unlimited. Demetriou collaborated with Kongos on his follow-up single, "Great White Lady" but it did not enter the UK top twenty chart.
In 1970 Demetriou started to work with Tony Defries at Gem Productions and then with MainMan on David Bowie's material. He was responsible for introducing Ken Scott to David Bowie - who went on to co-produce some of Bowie's most successful recordings. After establishing himself as a notable songwriter, Demetriou changed direction in 1972 and became a full-time record producer. One of his first recordings was a single with the group Milkwood. After quitting the New Seekers, Laurie Heath, Chris Barrington and Sally Graham formed Milkwood and they released three singles for Warner Bros, two of which Demetriou produced. Barry Krost signed the young record producer to BKN Management and Demetriou started working with Mike d'Abo formerly of Manfred Mann, producing "Down at Rachael's Place" and "Little MissUnderstood." As a result of being signed to the same management company, Demetriou collaborated with Cat Stevens in the recording of the album Buddha and the Chocolate Box. During these early years, Demetriou produced ten albums and over a dozen singles, including five albums for A&M Records (see Discography).
Top session musician, writer and producer Mo Foster who has played on over 350 recordings cites Demetriou as giving him his first break. Paul Travis also remembers doing countless sessions for Demetriou as a singer and as a guitarist. Demetriou was instrumental in getting Travis a job with Decca Records, and it was during this period that he discovered Judy Tzuke. Unfortunately Decca turned Judy Tzuke down, so she took the tapes Travis had produced to Rocket Records and got signed immediately. Travis also sang on the Mike D'Abo album, and thanks to Demetriou met Cat Stevens and his brother David Gordon. Gordon and Travis wrote a number of songs together, one of which was 'A Child for a Day' which was recorded by Cat Stevens on his album Izitso.
By the mid 70's Demetriou had become a roving A&R Manager / Record Producer for Decca Records. It was at this time that he signed and recorded Robert Campbell, who's album "Living In The Shadow" was put forward by Decca Records for a Grammy nomination. He also recorded the group Liar, who achieved cult status amonst the die-hard rock fraternity for sticking to their musical roots throughout the British punk period, helping to pave the way for the emergence of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal in 1980. In 1978 Demetriou formed CSS a sports promotion and public relations company based in Surrey, England. Some of his clients included John Francome (7 times Champion Jockey and best selling Author), Steve Parish (former motorcycle and truck racer; successful Yamaha factory racing team manager; and currently a leading British motorsport commentator) and Hiddi Jahan (world seeded Squash Court Champion). Under Demetriou's direction, John Francome was the first jockey in the United Kingdom to wear any form of advertising during a horse race. He wore the Adidas stripes on his riding breeches during the 1979 Grand National. Between the years 1984 and 1988, ACTS International (his South African record label distributed by MFP), released three top five singles and one top twenty album - all of which were produced by Demetriou.
Demetriou is currently the CEO/President of ShowRights Inc an entertainment exchange portal which he founded in 2006. He is a Director and Co-Owner of Emba Media Management International Limited, a Cyprus company that controls the fourth largest children's animation library in the world (formerly the BKN catalogue). In 2009 BKN International AG’s portfolio was valued by the independent consulting firm “Rinke Media Consult GmbH” at EUR 62.5 million. Demetriou is also a Director of Emba Media Associates Limited, a UK registered company that manages the exploitation of media properties. ACTS International Corp., his media brokerage business (established in 1987) continues to trade Rights in the entertainment industry. ACTS licenses rights in film & television, sound recordings and music publishing for distribution or transmission across multiple platforms around the world.
Demetriou is an ordained Christian minister and member of the International Federation of Christian Churches. He is founder and senior pastor of Cornerstone Ministries, a church and registered charity based in Surrey, which has 600 members. Cornerstonethechurch website has over 100,000 page requests a month with 1.1 million every year. He is author of the self-help book What Matters Most and his television program "Life Matters," which was broadcast on Sky TV is still available as a Podcast on iTunes and on the church website. Demetriou has just finished his second book titled "It's Your Life, It's Your Choice."
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