Artist Bio:
Born November 2, 1959, on the island of Crete, Notis Sfakianakis (pronounced No-tees Saf-kee-an-uh-kees) and his family moved to another Greek island, Kos, when he was seven, and it was there that Notis grew up. Irresistibly drawn to music, he became a disk jockey in his early 20s, supporting himself by working all manner of jobs, including electrician, plumber, waiter, and laborer.
But spinning records wasn't enough; Notis wanted to be the person singing them. So, in 1985, he formed a band that played clubs in Kos, covering the English hits of the day. It wasn't a success, and within a year Notis had moved back to Crete to fashion a solo singing career, turning to the Greek music that had surrounded him since birth. His talent quickly began to flower, and soon he was opening for national acts like Poly Panou. It was a good apprenticeship, with Notis learning about arranging, singing, and writing, as well as performing. By the time he met Costas Bourmas, the general manager of Sony in Greece, he was ready for bigger and brighter things. And they came very quickly. Bourmas signed Notis to the label, and rushed him into the studio to record his debut, First Time.
Both the album and its single made the Greek top ten. In one swift stroke, Notis had arrived on the music scene. He appeared on the same concert bills as the leading Greek stars, and readied himself for the climb to even greater heights. That came in 1992, when he followed his mentor, Bourmas, to EMI, and released You are a Gun. Rapidly going gold, Notis achieved an unprecedented coup when two tracks from the album, the title cut and "Opa Opa," both crashed into the Greek top ten at the same time. Now there could be no doubt that Notis was a major musical figure.
He consolidated his success a year later with Chapter and Verse, another gold disc, with two smash hits, "Ligo Ligo" (Little by Little) and "Ese Me Kes,"(I am Burning) and by headlining at the prestigious Bio Bio clubs. Regularly bringing in more than 3,000 people a night, no matter where he performed, Notis had become a star of Greek music in his own right. That was confirmed in 1994 with In the South East of the World, which went double platinum, selling over 150,000 copies in Greece alone.
Still his star had only begun to rise. In March 1996, 5th Step became the biggest-selling record in Greek history, with over 200,000 copies purchased. It was obvious that Greece was having a love affair with the music of Notis Sfakianakis. And it was hardly unrequited. Notis loved the country too, and showed it in Collector of Experiences, a very personal record of his favorite songs, both Greek and foreign, ranging from pieces by Elton John and Peter Green to Eleni Vitali. To show his concern for, as well as his thanks to, his homeland, he turned over his royalties from this disc (which had gone platinum) to fund a cultural center in Ormenio, a town on the Northeast Greek border.
More charity came from his sellout Australian tour later that year, the profits helping to renovate an elementary school in Kastellorizo. In addition to more performances in Greece, Notis was busy in the studio, preparing what would be his most ambitious record to date. One thing Notis had never attempted, surprisingly, was a Greek tour. But he remedied that later the same year, in "Notis and the Notes in a Stroll Around Greece." Beginning with five concerts in Cyprus, it became the procession of a king, a man whose intense performances were seen by hundreds of thousands of fans around the country.
In March 1999, he took his show on the road around Europe and, for the first time, to North America, where Greek emigrants packed venues to see a man who'd become a hero and symbol of their homeland. And the memories of his concerts became lasting with the release of Memento, a two-CD live album which contained not only Notis's own material, but his covers over other songs which had impacted his life. While all his previous work had sold incredibly well, this outshone them all, going seven times platinum, a remarkable feat for someone who'd already put out the biggest-ever selling Greek album, and now was breaking his own record.
— Courtesy Calabash Music
