Dimitris Mitropanos[/B] was born in Agia Moni, a district outside Trikala -from which his mother came- on 2 April 1948. After the third grade of high school, in 1964, he moved to Athens to live with his uncle on Acharnon Street. Before finishing high school, he started working as a singer.
At the same age, at the encouragement of Grigoris Bithikotsis, whom he met at a meeting of his uncle's company, at which he sang, he visited Columbia. There, Takis Lambropoulos introduced him to George Zampeta, whom he would work with on Ximeroma.
In 1967, Mitropanos recorded his first 45 album, with the song Thessaloniki. This was preceded by the recording of the song Lost Lilac, which was censored by the Junta and never released.
In the path that he carved on the road of popular art, 1972 is an important milestone: the composer Demos Moutsis and the poet-lyricist Manos Eleftheriou release Agios Februaryios, performed by Mitropanos and Petri Salpea, marking a milestone in Greek music.
In July 1999, Mitropanos and Moutsis will be back on stage at the Herodeion with Dimitra Galani and soprano Julia Souglakou for two musical evenings as part of the Athens Festival. These concerts are recorded live and released on a double CD two months later. They are followed by The Road to Kythera by Giorgos Katsaros and The Synaxaria by Giorgos Hadjinasiou, works of high quality and of great resonance in Greek society.
In his long career in Greek singing, Dimitris Mitropanos has collaborated with the greatest creators of popular and art song. George Zambetas, Mikis Theodorakis, Dimos Moutsis, Apostolos Kaldaras, Takis Mousafiris (We are two, etc.).), Christos Nikolopoulos (Pare Apofasis with lyrics by Lefteris Papadopoulos), Yannis Spanos (Mitropanos sings Spanos) were the composers with whom he was professionally associated, building a career intertwined with the Greek folk music tradition until the end of the 80s.
The very important collaboration with Thanos Mikroutsikos with the album Stou Aiona tis Paranga, with lyrics by Alkis Alkaios, Kostas Lachas, Linas Nikolakopoulou and Giorgos Kakoulidis, is a turn of the performer to even more artistic paths, again maintaining his folk identity.
On 10 September 2009 he gave his first personal concert at the Herodou Atticus Conservatory, with a programme - a retrospective of 40 years of his artistic career. A historic concert, recorded and released on a double album by Minos - Emi entitled "The songs of my life". His last album was released in the summer of 2011, entitled "Here we are", with music by Stamatis Kraounakis.
Dimitris Mitropanos passed away on 17 April 2012, at the age of 64.
Source: SanSimera.gr
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