Christos Dantis

Christos Dantis Χρήστος Δάντης
Christos Dantis performing in Athens, Greece in 2010.
Background information
Birth name	Christos Vlahakis
Born	September 26, 1966 (1966-09-26) (age 45) Athens, Greece
Origin	Kaisariani, Greece
Genres	Contemporary laikó, rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter,Producer
Years active	1986–present
Labels	BMG Greece Nitro Music Sony Music Greece
Website	http://www.christosdantis.com http://www.christosdantis.gr

Christos Dantis (Greek: Χρήστος Δάντης; born Christos Vlahakis, 26 September 1966), is a Greek singer, songwriter, and musician best known for his hits such as "To Palio Mou Palto" and "Ena Tragoudi Akoma" and later for composing and co-writing the song "My Number One" for Elena Paparizou, winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 for Greece.^[1]

Career

Early music career

Christos Dantis began playing music when he was 16, going through various bands and playing various music kinds such as rock, funk, metal etc. His first known appearance in a vinyl record is in a compilation named "Straight to the top" with the song "Tell me more" produced in 1986 in Ria Records. In 1987 his first 45rpm maxi single with Ria Records "Turn On" and one year later with his second named "Belly Dance". During the changing of record companies at the end of 1988 and before his first personal album he sings two Greek songs from Paschalis Arvanitidis named "Katerina Katerinaki" and "Paradosou loipon" in a 3 vinyl compilation named "OLA" as also another two in another compilation named "10 DEKARIA N.2" with 2 songs arranged with Greek lyrics "Poios eimai egw" (The logical song) and "Ti zitas" (Reach out I'll be there), which afterwards were included in the CD version of his first album that were not included in the original vinyl. At the same time he sang at the popular club TABOO with Dimitra Galani and George Hatzinasios, as also in advertising clips of the emerging private channeled TV of the late 80's in Greece.

1990-2000: Growing popularity

Dantis later released his first personal album called Dahtilika Apotypomata in 1990 with music and lyrics written by Gianni Karali which became platinum.

In 1991 he released the golden album Aman which was also released in 4 European countries with remixes. At the same time the video clips from the album were played on MTV and MCM accompanied by a TV special offering live performances and an interview with Steve Blame the presenter of MTV.

The first experimentations Christos Dantis did with folk songs was in 1993 with the album Ala. One year later Dantis released his most familiar pop-rock album to date, titled 4. The album became gold and the song "Kapoios S’ Agapaei" appeared on MTV once more. Dantis released another album a year later in 1995 called Tama. The album became gold and following his gold success, Dantis decided to release another album in 1996 called Foni Voodos and another in 1997 titled Ta Giousoufakia.

Not wanting to disappoint his growing fan base, Dantis released a double album titled Tournas – Dantis Live or known by some as Krifo Sholeio. The live recordings were taken from his concerts that year with Kostas Tournas. Striving for the best, Dantis began work on his next album immediately. It took just 11 months of preparations in studio for his next album To Palio Mou Palto which was released in 1999. The album immediately became gold.

2000-2004: Further success

A few months later, he redid the song "24000 Baci" by Adriano Celentano for the movie Safe Sex created by Repas and Papathanasiou which is included in the movie soundtrack. The song reached the top of the charts after just a couple of days of release. In 2001 he moved to the independent Greek record label Nitro Music and released the album To Domatio which soon became platinum and the songs "To Domatio", "Dos Mou Fotia" and his duet with Notis Sfakianakis "Himonas Einai" became hits.

After a 2 year break, Dantis returned in May 2003 by signing with Sony Music Greece and with the album Ena Tragoudi Akoma composed entirely by Giorgos Theofanous. In 2004 he participated in the Greek talent show Fame Story as a member of the committee and in May, he released one of his most successful albums to date Maya Maya. Besides himself, music and lyrics were written by Vangelis Konstantinidis, Vassilis Giannopoulos, Sofie Pappa, Natalia Germanou, Manos Psaltakis, Christoforos Germenis, Konstantinos Pantzis, Giannis Liondos, and Antonis Skokos. In the winter of 2004-05 he appeared at club Fix with Christos Pazis.

In 2005 he composed the song "My Number One". The music was written by himself and lyrics by Natalia Germanou. It was chosen as Greece’s official participation in the Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev, Ukraine and sung by Elena Paparizou on May 21, 2005. The song won the contest and Greece won the contest for the first time. The song became very popular with Elena Paparizou and Dantis reaching highs in their careers.

2005-Present

In May 2005 Christos Dantis wrote the album Eho Sta Matia Ourano for Katy Garbi along with the songs "Akouse Agori Mou", "To Narkotiko Mou", and his duet "Spaciba Baby". In June of the same year he signed the music of Flora Theodorou's first single titled "Giatre Mou!!!". The CD single includes 3 songs, music by Christos Dantis and lyrics by Vassilis Giannopoulos and Natalia Germanou. He cooperated with NOVA's satellite platform and wrote the song "Ola Super" with lyrics by Vangelis Konstantinidis which will be the musical pattern for 9 sports channels.

In September 2005 he went to Thessaloniki with Katy Garbi for a number of appearances. Following that, he released a CD single titled "Prodosia" in October 2005. The songs "Beautiful", "Ola another CD Single titled "Gia Senane Bora". It was accompanied by a full length album in the fall of 2006 called "Min Peis Pote". In January 2007, ERT asked Dantis to take part in a National Selection as a singer to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. His song "No Madonna" hit the charts but didn't make it to the competition.

In September 2007 after his collaboration with the Mad Music Channel under the "Mad Secret Concert" events, he released the album "DANTIS - ROCK AND LIVE" with many popular cover songs of artists such as The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Nek, and great other like James Brown and Stevie Wonder. In 2008 Dantis' released the album Ektos Trochias which featured a more urban sound. In April 2009 Christos Dantis participated in Takis Bougas' album "Apopse ola tha sta po" along with Dimitris Mitropanos, Eleni Dimou and others singing "Exomologisi", "Apopse ola tha sta po" and "Esi gimni".

In late 2009, Dantis released the single "Pame Gia Refrain". In February 2010, Dantis released his fifteenth studio album titled Skotono (I Kill). The title track was released as the second single when Dantis performed it live on The X Factor along with "Pame Gia Refrain" in December 2009.

In April 2011 he released his new album "Ta dika mas Tragoudia" with Dimitris Mitropanos and Paschalis Terzis featuring 2 tracks. Music belongs to him and lyrics to lawer Vasilis Kapernaros. It is a soft - rock album dealing with social matters such as drug use and political corruption. It is considered to be one of his best albums. "Me pire i nichta angalia" is the first single, while "Ta dika mas tragoudia" follows.

Personal life

Christos Dantis has a son with singer Katerina Topazi, who was 11 years old as of 2011.^[2] On January 17, 2011, Dantis' girlfriend Jenny gave birth to a baby girl named Marizeta.^[2]

Discography

Albums 1990: Dahtilika Apotipomata 1992: Aman 1993: Ala 1994: 4 1995: Tama 1996: Foni Voontos 1997: Ta Giousoufakia 1998: Tournas – Dantis Live (Krifo Sholeio) 1999: To Palio Mou Palto 2001: To Domatio 2003: Ena Tragoudi Akoma 2004: Maya Maya 2005: Kata Vathos 2006: Min Peis Pote 2007: Rock + Live 2008: Ektos Trohias 2010: Skotono 2011: Ta dika mas tragoudia

CD Singles 1987: "Turn On - 45RPM Vinyl Maxi Single" 1988: "Belly Dance - Vinyl" 1999: "Kommatia - Limited Edition CD Extra Single" 1999: "To palio mou palto" 1999: "ZW" 2005: "Prodosia" 2006: "Gia Senane Boro" 2007: "No Madonna" Digital Download Singles 2008: "Ektos Trohias"

References

1. ^ "Eurovision 2005 : Greece Helena Paparizou - My Number One". Eurovisioncontest.com. http://www.eurovision-contest.com/2005/Greece/. Retrieved 1 September 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Staff (18 January 2011). "Μπαμπάς για δεύτερη φορά έγινε ο Χρήστος Δάντης" (in Greek). Star Channel. http://www.star.gr/life_style/76677. Retrieved 18 January 2011. 

External links

• Official Website
• Personal Website
• [1] Personal Website

Preceded by Ruslana

Eurovision Song Contest winning composers 2005

Succeeded by Mr. Lordi

Persondata
Name	Dantis, Christos
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1966-09-26
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Date of death
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