Dimitrios "Mimis" Plessas (; 12 October 1924 – 5 October 2024) was a Greek musician, composer, conductor and pianist.
Life and career
Plessas was born in
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
. He attended the
Lycée Léonin school in the Athens suburb of
Nea Smyrni
Nea Smyrni (, ''Néa Smýrni'', "New Smyrna") is a municipality and a town in South Athens, Greece. At the 2021 Greek census, 2021 census, it had 72,853 inhabitants. It was named after the former Greek city Smyrna (today's İzmir in Turkey), whe ...
, and subsequently obtained a degree in chemistry at the
University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...
. He was then awarded a scholarship to attend
Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
in New York, where he obtained a PhD in chemistry on the protein
myelin
Myelin Sheath ( ) is a lipid-rich material that in most vertebrates surrounds the axons of neurons to insulate them and increase the rate at which electrical impulses (called action potentials) pass along the axon. The myelinated axon can be lik ...
.
He began his musical career in 1952 and wrote music for over 100 films, television and radio programs, and theatrical events. He worked with such notable Greek singers as
Nana Mouskouri
Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( ; born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer and politician. Over the span of her career, she has released an estimated 450 albums in at least thirteen languages, including Greek language, Greek, French language, French, ...
,
Vicky Leandros,
Giannis Poulopoulos,
Marinella,
Rena Koumioti and lyricist
Lefteris Papadopoulos.
Plessas combined the traditions of
entekhno and
laïkó with considerable success, notably making it his own style. His composition work ''O Dromos'' in 1969 (''The Street'') still remains the work with the most sales in the history of the Greek discography.
In 2001 he was honored with the Gold Cross of the
Order of the Phoenix.
Mimis Plessas died on 5 October 2024, one week before his 100th birthday.
References
Sources
Article about Mimis Plessas on Musicheaven.gr
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Plessas, Mimis
1924 births
2024 deaths
Greek male songwriters
Greek film score composers
Greek male film score composers
Gold Crosses of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece)
Male classical pianists
21st-century Greek conductors (music)
21st-century Greek classical pianists
21st-century Greek male musicians
Musicians from Athens
Cornell University alumni
20th-century Greek male musicians
20th-century Greek conductors (music)
20th-century classical pianists
20th-century Greek composers
21st-century composers