Stratos Dionysiou

Stratos Dionysiou
Grave of Dionysiou at the First Cemetery of Athens
Background information
Birth name	Stratos Dionysiou
Born	(1935-11-08)November 8, 1935 Nigrita, Serres, Greece
Died	May 11, 1990(1990-05-11) (aged 54) Athens, Greece
Genres	Laïko, rebetiko
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	1950s–1990

Stratos Dionysiou (Greek: Στράτος Διονυσίου; November 8, 1935 – May 11, 1990) was a Greek laika singer.

Early life

Dionysiou was born in Nigrita, Serres prefecture, to Asia Minor refugees Angelos and Anastasia Dionysiou. At age 13, he lost his father. These early childhood experiences had a deep impact on the style of Stratos' music and were a great influence on him.

Dionysiou went to work as a tailor and was married, at age 20, to Georgia Laveni. The couple had four children. While still working as a tailor, he also appeared in night clubs in Thessaloniki, where he had moved to.

Singing career

Dionysiou left Thessaloniki for Athens to further his singing career. He appeared in Nikaia nightclub "Asteras" with well-established singer Kaity Grey and in 1959 recorded his first song. The 24-year-old singer was signed by recording company "Columbia" and started singing songs by Babis Bakalis, Kostas Virvos, and others with some success. He next re-recorded older songs by laika masters such as Vassilis Tsitsanis, Yiannis Papaioannou, Giorgos Mitsakis and Manolis Chiotis. Success, however, did not come until the late 1960s, when he turned several Akis Panos songs into hits: "Και τι δεν κάνω" (What don't I do), "Γιατί καλέ γειτόνισσα" (Why, my good neighbour?), "Του κόσμου το περίγελο" (The laughing stock of the World), "Εγώ καλά σου τα 'λεγα" (I told you so), "Στο σταθμό του Μονάχου" (At Munich Station), "Ήταν ψεύτικα" (They were false) and many others.

Composer Mimis Plessas then came into the picture and gave him his hit "Βρέχει φωτιά στη στράτα μου" (Fire is raining down my path), a song whose lyrics were written by Lefteris Papadopoulos. Dionysiou toured the United States with great success. He was rising to stardom when his career was abruptly halted by his arrest due to a gun and cannabis possession. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment which he served in Nea Tiryntha, Argolis prefecture.

Dionysiou recorded even in prison and continued after his release in 1976. He successfully switched from laika to a more western "elafro laïko" ("elafro" meaning light) a lighter and brighter form of the laïko genre and enjoyed great popularity even with the younger crowd into the 1980s.

Death

Dionysiou died in Athens on May 11, 1990 as a result of abdominal aortic aneurysm at the age of 54.