Giannis Poulopoulos


Giannis Poulopoulos is a Greek singer-songwriter, who had several hits in Greece during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. In terms of total album sales, he is the fourth biggest-selling Greek singer of all time.

Life

Shortly after his birth, his parents, originally from Messenia, moved to the Saint Ierotheos region of Peristeri, near Athens. Poulopoulos liked singing from an early age. Prompted by friends, he unsuccessfully sought an audition with Columbia Records, while also working as a builder, playing football in Saint Ierotheos for the Courageous team, and producing oil paintings.
Aged 19, Poulopoulos secured auditions with Mikis Theodorakis, Apostolos Kaldaras, Vassilis Tsitsanis, and Giannis Papaioannou, and sang two songs, Mana mou kai panagia and Parapono.
Poulopoulos impressed Theodorakis at his first audition, and Theodorakis arranged for Poulopoulos 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 that Poulopoulos recorded.
Poulopoulos sang regularly in a music hall in Plaka. He recorded four or five 45rpm disks for Columbia Records, which are now difficult to find as he soon agreed to record for Lyra, for whom he recorded three songs by Mikis Theodorakis. In 1965 he was the first performer of four songs written by Manos Loïzos. Around the same time he also had a successful hit with Mi mu thymonis matia mou composed by Stavros Koujioumtzis.
By 1966, his records were being distributed more widely, and his songs were featured in movies. In Oi Stigmatismenoi, which starred Giorgos Foundas and Maro Kodou, he sang "Very late" and "I love you" with Helen Kladi. In O Tetraperatos with Kostas Chatzichristos he sang "In Piraeus, in Piraeus" by Giorgos Katsaros, and in the romantic comedy Tzeni-Tzeni he and Tzeni Karezi performed a song by Giannis Markopoulos.