He was born in Agia Moni, a district of Trikala – from which his mother came – on April 2, 1948. He grew up without his father, whom he met at the age of 29. Until he was 16, he thought he had been killed in the Civil War when a letter came saying he was living in Romania. His father came from a village in Karditsa, Kappa.

From an early age he worked in the summers to help his family financially. First as a waiter in his uncle’s tavern and then in the wood cutting ribbons. After high school, in 1964, he went to Athens to live with his uncle on Acharnon Street. Before finishing high school, he started working as a singer. Characteristically, he was called a small Vlach, due to his origin from Thessaly.

At the same time, he organized in the Youth of Lambrakis, as he had already been politicized from an early age, even receiving threats that he would not be allowed to study due to his leftist background.

He was a KKE voter.

Career

At the same age, at the urging of Grigoris Bithikotsis, whom he met at a gathering of his uncle’s company, in which he sang, he visited “Columbia”. There, Takis Lambropoulos met George Zambetas, next to whom he will work in “Ximeromata”. Zambetas mentions him as his great teacher and second father. As he has stated, “Zambetas is the only person in the song who helped me without expecting anything. With all my other collaborators I took something and gave something “[citation needed]. In 1966 Mitropanos meets, by chance, for the first time with Mikis Theodorakis and performs, in place of another artist who was ill at the time, parts of “Romiosini” and “Axion Esti” in a series of concerts in Greece and Cyprus.

In 1967, Mitropanos recorded his first 45-year-old album, with the song “Thessaloniki”. It was preceded by the recording of the song “Lost Easter”, which, however, was censored by the junta and was never released. His collaboration with the record company MINOS-EMI was important, with which he had a second great career.

In the course he set out on the path of folk art, in 1972 there was an important milestone: the composer Dimos Moutsis and the poet-lyricist Manos Eleftheriou released “Agios February”, with singers Mitropanos and Petri Salpea, marking a milestone in Greek music. . In July 1999, Mitropanos and Moutsis will meet again on stage at the Herodeion with Dimitra Galani and soprano Julia Souglakou for two music nights as part of the Athens Festival. These concerts are recorded live and released on double CD two months later. Following are “The Road to Kythira” by George Katsaros and “The Synaxaria” by George Chatzinassiou, works of high quality but also of great impact on Greek society.

In his long career in Greek song, Dimitris Mitropanos collaborated with the greatest creators of folk and art song. George Zampetas, Mikis Theodorakis, Dimos Moutsis, Apostolos Kaldaras, Lakis Papadopoulos, Marios Tokas, Spyros Papavassiliou, Takis Mousafiris (“We the Two” etc.), Christos Nikolopoulos (“Take Decisions” in Patipos Giandos (“Mitropanos sings Spanos”) were the composers with whom he connected professionally, building a career intertwined with the Greek folk music tradition, until the end of the 1980s.

His participation in records by Lakis Papadopoulos (with the song “Ya Na S ‘Ekdikitho”) and Nikos Portokaloglou (“Kleino Ki Erchomai”) ​​highlight the wide range of his interpretation at that time and announce a shift in the way he performs, which will lead to a series of records that have greatly changed the meaning of good contemporary folk song. Collaborations with Mario Tokas and Filippo Grapsa (“Our National Loneliness” in 1992 and “A Company With a Sun” in 1994) combine popular texture and emotion with the deepest meaning of lyrics and the use of more sophisticated words. At the same time, the resonance of the songs in the society and the commercial success highlight these creations as tools but also symptoms of the evolution of the Greek society. From 1992 and after his collaboration with Mario Tokas, Mitropanos is established in the Pantheon of Greek singers.

The very important collaboration with Thanos Mikroutsikos in 1996, on the album “Sto Aionas Tin Paragka”, with lyrics by Alki Alkaiou, Costa Laha, Lina Nikolakopoulou and Giorgos Kakoulidis, is a turn of the singer in even more “artistic” journeys, maintaining again popular identity. After 1996 and his most successful collaboration in the Greek Discography, Mitropanos is recognized as the National Voice of Greece!

Mitropanos continues on the same paths, with songs by Mikroutsikos, Korakakis, Moukidis, Papadimitriou and others. in the second half of the 1990s and the beginning of 2000. Among the last works of the Thessalian singer, “Tell Me Your True” stands out, with music by Stefanos Korkolis and lyrics by Eleanas Vrachalis and Nikos Moraitis, but also the live recording “There is And To Zeybekiko “, from the program – ode to the national dance of Greece, together with Themis Adamantidis and Dimitris Bassis, as well as the album” Sti Diapason “, which contains 12 folk songs and a ballad. Among the songs on the album, the song “I Ekdromi” by Giannis Miliokas stands out, which was written for the return of the singer to the discography after a serious health problem.

Recent recordings of Dimitris Mitropanos, were the live recording of his concert at the Herodeion (September 2009), consisting of 2 CDs entitled “The Songs of My Life”, and the album “Here We Are” with songs by Stamatis Kraounakis of the same, Lina Nikolakopoulou, Manos Eleftheriou, Lakis Lazopoulos and a poem by Kostis Palamas.

In June 2012, the album-tribute to the composer Mario Tokas is released entitled “Sun Red”, in which Dimitris Mitropanos participates with three songs (“The Slaves of Solitude”, “Write Me Something”, “There Are Something Melodies” ). These songs in music by Tokas are the last ones recorded by Dimitris Mitropanos and in fact a few days before his death. His great, timeless successes were the songs “S ‘Anazito Sti Saloniki”, “Panda Gelastoi”, “Roza”, “Ta Ladadika”. He was a fan of OSFP, maintaining excellent relations with the fans of all teams.

In all the years of his great career in Greek song, the leading singer has made numerous tours in the USA, in Asian countries, in South Africa, Sweden, Germany, Russia and in many other countries, with great success.

Death

On April 17, 2012, Dimitris Mitropanos was taken to Hygeia Hospital with acute diarrheal syndrome and vomiting. There he developed pulmonary edema and was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit, where he breathed his last at 11:00 in the morning. The media, with extraordinary modifications of their programs, paid tribute, broadcasting songs and video recordings of his most successful performances, as well as statements by many who collaborated with him.

His funeral was held on April 19, 2012 in the First Cemetery of Athens, while his body was found early in the morning in the chapel of the cemetery (Agios Lazaros), where friends, relatives and thousands of ordinary people (45 thousand people) attended for a final farewell. ). He died at the age of 64. He was married to Venia Mitropanou, with whom he had two daughters.

All of the above information is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia