Demetrio Stratos

Demetrio Stratos ( Efstratios actually Dimitriou, Greek Ευστράτιος Δημητρίου, born April 22, 1945 in Alexandria, † June 13, 1979 in New York City ) was a Greek poet, multi-instrumentalist, musician, co-founder and lead singer of the Italian band Area - International POPular Group. He became famous for his playful and experimental approach to the human voice.

Efstratios Dimitriou is born to Greek parents and raised in Alexandria, Egypt. He learned piano and accordion at the National Conservatoire. In 1957 he went to Nicosia, Cyprus and in 1962 he moved to Milan, Italy, to attend the Politecnico di Milano, where he formed his first band. Demetrio Stratos participated in 1967 at the Italian beat band I Ribelli and founded in 1972, the progressive rock band Area.

Stratos played a lot of records and appeared as a soloist, but also with area and other artists at festivals in Italy, France, Portugal, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Cuba and the United States. He has collaborated with artists such as Lucio Battisti, Giovanni Hidalgo, Walter Marchetti, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Grete Sultan, Paul Zukofsky, Nanni Balestrini, Claude Royet - Journoud and Antonio Porta.

Stratos died at the Memorial Hospital in New York City on June 13, 1979 at the age of 34 from the effects of aplastic anemia.

• Musician
• Italian
• Greek
• Born in 1945
• Died in 1979
• Man