Stelios Perpiniadis (; 14 May 1899 – 4 September 1977), better known as Stellakis (Greek: Στελλάκης), was a

Greek folk music Greek traditional music (, , 'traditional music'; also , , 'folk songs') includes a variety of Culture of Greece, Greek styles played by Greek people, ethnic Greeks in Greece, Cyprus, Australia, the United States and other parts of Europe. Apar ...

ian who wrote, sang, and played

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

in the ''

rebetiko Rebetiko (, ), plural rebetika ( ), occasionally transliterated as rembetiko or rebetico, is a term used to designate previously disparate kinds of urban Greek music which in the 1930s went through a process of musical syncretism and develope ...

'' style. He was the father of Greek folk musician, Vangelis Perpiniadis. Perpiniadis was born in

Tinos Tinos ( ) is a Greek island situated in the Aegean Sea. It forms part of the Cyclades archipelago. The closest islands are Andros, Delos, and Mykonos. It has a land area of and a 2021 census population of 8,934 inhabitants. Tinos is famous amo ...

, the youngest of eleven children, of whom only three survived. As a child his family moved to

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

in 1900 and then

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

in 1906. He served in the Greek army in 1919, which had landed in

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...

at the time. He and his family left for Greece as part of the

Asia Minor Catastrophe Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

in 1922. In 1923 he moved to

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

, where he came into contact with ''rebetiko'' musicians from

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. At the encouragement of musician Manolis Margaronis, he began performing in 1925. He worked together with other well-known rebetiko musicians such as

Vassilis Tsitsanis Vassilis Tsitsanis ( 18 January 1915 – 18 January 1984) was a Greek songwriter and bouzouki player. He became one of the leading Greek composers of his time and is widely regarded as one of the founders of modern Rebetiko and Laiko music. Tsi ...

, and recorded duets with well-known singers such as

Rosa Eskenazi Roza Eskenazi (mid-1890s – 2 December 1980, Greek: Ρόζα Εσκενάζυ) was a Jewish-Greek dancer and singer of ''rebetiko'', Greek folk music, Kanto and Turkish folk music born in Istanbul, whose recording and stage career extended from ...

Marika Ninou Marika Ninou (; born Evangelia Atamian []; 1922 – 23 February 1957) was an Armenian-Greek rebetiko singer. Biography She was born in 1922 on the ship "Evangelistria" that brought her mother, her two sisters and her eight-year-old brother, Ba ...

Ioanna Georgakopoulou Joanna is a feminine given name deriving from from . Variants in English include Joan, Joann, Joanne, and Johanna. Other forms of the name in English are Jan, Jane, Janet, Janice, Jean, and Jeanne. The earliest recorded occurrence of the ...

, and

Dimitris Perdikopoulos Dimitris (Δημήτρης) is the Modern Greek form of the older forms Demetrios, Dimitrios (Δημήτριος, usually Latinized as Demetrius) and may refer to: * Dimitris Arvanitis (born 1980), Greek professional football defender who plays for ...

. He died 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 ...

References

1899 births 1977 deaths People from Tinos Greek rebetiko singers 20th-century Greek male singers Greek guitarists 20th-century guitarists {{Greece-singer-stub