The voice of Giannis Poulopoulos marked the Greek music scene of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s before noting a revival in the 1990s.
He died at the age of 79, shortly after 11pm on Sunday, at a private clinic following chronic heart problems.
His voice was emblematic and marked Greece’s New Wave, and he is the fourth biggest-selling Greek singer of all time.
He interpreted songs of Mimis Plessas and Lefteris Papadopoulos in Dromo, the biggest selling Greek release of all time with more than 1.5 million sales – though some say the actual figure is twice that amount.
His songs are also widely featured in movies. He appeared in a number of movies, singing in I Stigmatismeni (The Stigmatized) which starred George Foundas and Maro Kondou, Tetraperatos (The Cunning) with Kostas Chatzichristos, Tzeni-Tzeni with Jenny Karezi and more.
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He loved singing from an early age, and moved from Messenia to Peristeri, near Athens. Unsuccessful in his first audition with Columbia Records, he also worked as a builder and played football.
Aged 19, he managed to get an audition with Mikis Theodorakis, Apostolos Kaldaras, Vassilis Tsitsanis and Giannis Papaoiannou – legends of the Greek music.
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Poulopoulos was impressive, and the great Mikis Theodorakis arranged for him to sing three songs in a theatrical production by Nikos Kourkoulos and Tzeni Karezi of Iakovos Kambanellis’s play, The Neighbourhood of Angels. Grigoris Bithikotsis later performed cover versions of the first three songs (“Set a table for two,” “Glory to God” and “Bread is on the Table”) that Poulopoulos recorded.
Poulopoulos sang regularly in a music hall in Plaka. His recordings for Columbia Records are now difficult to find, and he later went on to record for Lyra.