Γιάννης Κότσιρας

Greek singer born October 5, 1969 in Athens. He started his career in 1990 singing live “rebetika” and “laika” at the historical live music place in plaka Athens: “Το Περιβόλι Τ' Ουρανού” He has worked with Haris Alexiou, Dimitris Mitropanos, Giorgos Dalaras, Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Vasilis Papakonstantinou, Lavrentis Machairitsas, Nikos Portokaloglou, Eleni Tsaligopoulou, Nikos Antypas, Dimitris Papadimitriou, Dimitris Basis, Kostas Makedonas and others. He wrote songs for Dimitris Mitropanos, Yiannis Koutras, Dimitris Mpasis, Rallia Christidou, Salina and Sofia Strati. He took part in concerts and Cds of Mikis Theodorakis, Yiannis Markopoulos, Thanos Mikroutsikos and Mimis Plessas. Since 2010 he started his collaboration with the world famous Yasmin Levi. In October 2003 he was honoured with the “Best Selling Greek Artist” award within the framework of the World Music Awards held every year in Monaco, a prize covering two years of top sales (2002 and 2003). In March 2004, just a few days after the Flame-Lighting Ceremony in Ancient Olympia, his CD single “Pass the flame”, containing the song of the Athens 2004 Torch Relay, was released globaly. The CD single contained three versions of the song (English lyrics, Greek lyrics, and instrumental). Yiannis Kotsiras performed the song in both languages. “Pass the flame” was written by Trevor Horn, a Grammy awarded composer and producer who has connected his name with great artists internationally (Paul Mc Cartney, Bryan Ferry, Pet Shop Boys, Art of Noise etc), in collaboration with Lol Creme. The Greek lyrics were written by Lina Nikolakopoulou. The CD was recorded in Sarmwest Studios, the studios Trevor Horn uses in London. The vocals are supported by famous singers from all over the world reflecting the global spirit of the torch relay. In June of 2007 he gave a great concert at Lycabettus Theater, celebrating his 10 years of live performing, with the participation of many friends. The result was a total success in a sold out night, with more than 7.500 people in the theater. In 2015 he wrote for a very first time theatrical music for the show “Penelope Delta” that took place for the period of 2014-2015 at the “Daily Theater”. Director: Andromachi Motzoli”. His latest CD has been released at November of 2016 under the title of “Pseftis Kairos” (Lying Times). Totally he has released 15 personal albums with more that 1,5 million sales and he has given more than 1000 concerts in Greece and all over the world.