Kaftan-wearing crooner Roussos wooed the world

Chubby singer Demis Roussos will live forever and ever in the hearts of Australian fans.

OCTOBER 19, 1976 : Singer Demis Roussos, wearing kaftan, who was presented with silver ercords and a gold cassette for his British sales, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, 19/10/76. Pic Keystone. Roussos/Singer P/

He was hirsute, chubby, happiest in a kaftan and we loved him. Greek crooner Demis Roussos, who died this week, sold millions of records worldwide, winning over audiences with his unique sartorial style and impossibly high vocals. He will be mourned by millions of fans, not least in Australia where he was a frequent visitor.

Roussos began making his way on the music scene as European pop music chic rode a wave of popularity around the world in the 1960s and ’70s, turning singers who otherwise would have had only local appeal into global stars.

He was born Artemios Ventouris Roussos on June 15, 1946, in a “Greek colony” in Alexandria, Egypt. His parents came from families that arrived from Greece two generations before. Roussos grew up surrounded by a mixture of music including Greek and Egyptian folk. He joined an orthodox church choir as a child and later studied music.

The family moved back to Greece in 1961 as Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser’s radical policies took more disturbing directions.

In Greece Roussos joined a band with his cousins. In 1967 he formed the progressive rock group Aphrodite’s Child with keyboard prodigy Evangelos Papathanassiou, later better known as Vangelis.

Roussos provided haunting high vocals and some bass guitar in this Procol Harum-style psychedelic rock band. Clips of the band show a much thinner Roussos decked out in rich fabrics and chunky bling, atop high-heeled boots, with his trademark beard already in place singing with what became his familiar melancholic, intense look.

The band’s first album End Of The World was released in 1968. Their second album, It’s Five O’Clock, was recorded in England, but only after the band was held up in Paris by strikes and political strife. It was finally released in 1969 and not long after Vangelis left the band. A third album, a concept work called 666 based on the book of Revelation, was released in 1972 by which time the band had broken up. The song The Four Horsemen from the album was a minor hit.

While he continued to occasionally collaborate with former band member Vangelis, Roussos was already embarking on a solo career. In the early ’70s he had some minor hits across Europe including We Shall Dance and Goodbye My Love Goodbye, but in 1973 the success of his song For Ever And Ever turned the hairy kaftan wearer into a genuine star and took him to an audience beyond Europe. It topped the UK charts in 1976.

Compatriot Nana Mouskouri was already an established star and ABBA was breaking out of the European charts to have success outside the continent. Roussos made a fortune with his garish sense of style, spine-tingling vocals and his exotic folk-infused music.

As his fortune increased so did his girth, hidden beneath increasingly voluminous kaftans. While people often made fun of his scruffiness, fashion sense and weight he didn’t care, pressing on regardless to produce pop music consumed by a growing body of fans.

His first Australian concerts were in 1977 when few people here outside of the Australian Greek community had heard of him. But his appearances on Australian variety television helped make him an even bigger star. On one famous appearance on The Don Lane Show in 1980 Bert Newton did a comic impersonation of Roussos and the good-humoured Roussos strode out of his dressing room to confront Newton with mock anger.

As his weight reached worrying levels in the 1980s his career went into a decline. A much publicised diet helped him slim down but couldn’t boost his flagging career although it did lead to a successful book A Question Of Weight (1982).

He made world headlines in 1985 when he was on a flight from Athens to Rome hijacked by Lebanese militants. Fears were held for his safety but he later said the hijackers provided him a birthday cake and gave him a guitar encouraging him to sing. He was released unharmed after five days.

In the ’90s Roussos returned to touring, releasing best of albums and even recording new albums. As recently as 2009 he recorded an album of rock and soul songs, but health problems incapacitated him and ended his live tours.

Married and divorced three times, he is survived by children Emily and Cyril, both musicians.

Originally published as Kaftan-wearing crooner Roussos wooed the world