Yiannis Parios


Yiannis Parios is a Greek vocalist, with a career spanning five decades.

Biography

Yiannis Parios was born Ioannis Varthakouris on the island of Paros. He made his first appearance as a singer in 1969.
He is quoted as saying “Whenever a song is born and wherever it is sung, it belongs to everyone. That, really, is the reason why music exists: so that it cannot be fenced in by frontiers”. This quote is thought to be the main inspiration for his songwriting and performances.
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 Manos Loizos, Yorgos Hadzinasios, Stavros Xarchakos, Stamatis Spanoudakis, Yorgos Katsaros, Marios Tokas, Yannis Spanos and Mikis Theodorakis.
He has written lyrics of his own, and often composed music. A number of his songs have been translated and sung abroad, including the mega hit ballad Aporo, which is considered one of the most popular Greek songs. One of his releases holds the record for Greek sales : 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 may have learnt and first sang in childhood.
Yiannis Parios has not confined appearances to Greece: He has also performed at Royal Albert Hall, 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