Aphrodite's Child

Aphrodite's Child
Aphrodite's Child. Demis Roussos (at center), Harris Chalkitis (left) and Lakis Vlavianos (right), who joined the band after Vangelis and Loukas Sideras left.
Background information
Origin	Greece
Genres	Progressive rock, psychedelic rock, baroque pop
Years active	1967–1972
Labels	Mercury, Vertigo
Associated acts	Irene Papas
Past members	Vangelis Papathanassiou Demis Roussos Loukas Sideras Silver Koulouris

Aphrodite's Child was a Greek progressive rock band formed in 1967, by Vangelis Papathanassiou (keyboards), Demis Roussos (bass guitar and vocals), Loukas Sideras (drums and vocals), and Silver Koulouris (guitar).

Papathanassiou and Roussos had already been successful in Greece (playing in the bands Formynx and Idols respectively) when they got together with Sideras and Koulouris (born 26 January 1947, Piraeus, Greece) to form a new band. Their band's name was derived from the title of a track from another Mercury act, Dick Campbell, from his Sings Where It's At album.

Their first recording as a band was for George Romanos' album In Concert and in Studio where they played on four songs and were credited as "Vangelis and his Orchestra". In the same year they recorded a two-song demo and submitted it to Philips Records. It was probably Vangelis' idea that the still-anonymous band should be relocated to London, which would be a more suitable environment for their music, as their country had entered a right-wing dictatorship in 1967. This decision, however, was not problem-free. Koulouris had to stay in Greece to fulfill his military service, while the band, on their way to London, got stuck in Paris partly because they did not have the correct work permits and partly because of the strikes associated with the May 1968 events.

In Paris they signed to Mercury Records and were christened "Aphrodite's Child" by Lou Reizner, releasing their first single "Rain and Tears", a reworking of Pachelbel's Canon in D major. With this song the band became an overnight sensation in France and several other European countries in which the single charted well, despite the song being sung in English. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. In October of the same year, the band released their first album End of the World. The album contained equal amounts of psychedelic pop songs and ballads in the vein of Procol Harum or The Moody Blues.