Yiannis Parios

Yiannis Parios (Greek: Γιάννης Πάριος) is a Greek singer-sonwriter.

Biography

Yiannis Parios was born Ioannis Varthakouris (Ιωάννης Βαρθακούρης) on the island of Paros. He made his first appearance as a singer in 1969. At that time no one could have imagined that his voice would one day become the most perfect expression of the word “love”.

Any attempt to analyse the “Parios Phenomenon”, his enormous appeal to the public and the millions of record sales (all his releases have won both gold and platinum discs), will show that his success is the result of his constant search for lyrics and music which contribute to his own growth as an artist, which promote his art and which will stand the test of time. Most of Yiannis Parios’ time is spent on his work, which he approaches with dedication and respect.

His great talent, then, in conjunction with these factors explains why Parios has managed to break new ground in the love song genre, to gain the recognition of the general public and to have his songs on everyone’s lips. His popularity is constantly increasing and Parios is one of the very few singers who does not need a constant string of hit recordings to maintain his fame.

“Whenever a song is born”, says Yannis Parios - and this is one of his most deep-seated beliefs - ”and wherever it is sung (in France, Italy, or anywhere else), it belongs to everyone. That, really, is the reason why music exists: so that it cannot be fenced in by frontiers”.

With that consideration in mind, Yannis Parios was the first Greek singer to perform Alain Barriere’s song “Tu t’en vas” with Greek lyrics. Under its new title “Tora pia”; the song was a gigantic hit, on an unprecedented scale for the time, and it marked the beginning of a new age in which many Greek singers adapted “foreign” melodies to Greek lyrics.

Yiannis Parios has worked with many of the leading Greek composers, including Greek composers, including Manos Loizos, Yorgos Hadzinasios, Stavros Xarchakos, Stamatis Spanoudakis, Yorgos Katsaros, Marios Tokas, Yannis Spanos, and, off course, Mikis Theodorakis.
He writes lyrics of his own, and often composes music, too. Quite a number of his songs have been translated and sung abroad.
One of his releases holds the record for Greek sales (one million and four hundred thousand units): this was the album “Nisiotika”, released in 1982 and consisting of a collection of songs of the Aegean islands which, as an islander himself, he learnt and first sang in childhood.

Yiannis Parios does not confine his appearances to Greece: He has also performed in Albert Hall, the Carnegie Hall and most of the major venues in Canada, Australia, the United States, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey and Israel.
Parios has four sons from two marriages. His oldest son, Harry Varthakouris, is an accomplished singer-songwriter himself.

Discography

• Yiannis Parios (1971)
• Ti theleis na kano (1972)
• Anthropina kai kathimerina (1973)
• Pou tha paei pou (1974)
• Erhontai stigmes (1975)
• Tora pia (1976)
• Mi fevgeis mi (1977)
• Na giati se agapisa (1978)
• Tha me thymitheis (1979)
• Se hreiazomai (1980)
• Ena gramma (1981)
• Ta nisiotika (1982)
• Otan vradiazi (1983)
• Pio kali i monaksia (1984)
• Ego kai esy (1985)
• Xarhakos-Parios (1986)
• Ola gia ton erota (1987)
• I megaliteres epityxies tou (1987)
• Pistos (1988)
• Ta erotika tou '50 (1988)
• I parastasi arxizi (1989)
• San trelo fortigo (1989)
• Ki ego mazi sou (1990)
• Epithesi agapis (1991)
• Epafi (1992)
• Ta nisiotika 2 (1992)
• Panta erotevmenos (1993)
• Vios erotikos (1994)
• Parea me ton Harry (1995)
• I monaksia mes ta matia mou (1996)
• Tipsis (1997)
• Tosa grammata (1998)
• Dose mou ligaki ourano (1999)
• Parios erotas (2000)
• O erotikos theodorakis (2001)
• Alli mia fora (2001)
• Mia varka na pas apenanti (2002)
• To kalo pou sou thelo (2003)
• Mia sinithismeni mera (2003)
• De gyrizo piso (2005)
• Ta dueta tou erota (2006)
• Pou pame meta (2008)
• Symperasma ena (2009)
• Ta kommatia ths psyxhs mou (2010)

External links

• Official web site (Greek)
  • Biography (English)
• Yiannis Parios at the Internet Movie Database