Dionysis Savvopoulos

Savvopoulos was born in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece (December 1944) in a middle-class family. He passed his university entrance exams and enrolled in the Aristotle University to study law, but after his first year of his studies, his passion for music and politics led to an argument with his father and he dropped out in 1963. Savvopoulos then hitchhiked on a truck to Athens and took various odd jobs, including working as a nude model for students in the Athens School for Fine Arts and as a journalist in a newspaper. In Athens, he began singing and playing guitar in various night clubs and became closely associated with the so-called Greek New Wave. Although Savvopoulos was not famed for his voice, his talent in songwriting impressed Alekos Patsifas, the director of LYRA record company in Greece which was specializing in artists of the Greek New Wave, who signed him. Savvopoulos remained with this label until 1983.

Savvopoulos debut album To Fortigho ("The truck" alluding to his hitchhiking experience) came out in 1966. Although critically well-received, it failed to chart, allegedly selling only 3,000 copies. Despite this, he was kept on the label's roster and continued with a string of highly successful albums, with self-penned songs combining arrangements reminiscent of early Frank Zappa and politically incisive lyrics in the style of Bob Dylan, with folk tunes from Macedonia, Thrace, and Rebetiko music. Savvopoulos had been noted for being politically active throughout his career in music. In 1967, Savvopoulos was briefly imprisoned and beaten for his political convictions by the Greek military junta of 1967-1974, led by the dictator George Papadopoulos.

Most of his songs were written by himself (both lyrics and music). Until his death, he was singing but no longer composing (since his last studio album as a songwriter, O chronopios). Throughout his career, he sang Greek rock, Laïko (Greek folk music) and Rebetika.

Savvopoulos died from a heart attack in Athens, on 21 October 2025, at the age of 80. At the time of his death, he had also been suffering from cancer.

Source: Article "Dionysis Savvopoulos" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.