Kostas Lazarides
| Kostas | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Kostas Lazarides |
| Born | April 14, 1949 |
| Origin | Billings, Montana, U.S.A. |
| Genres | Country |
| Occupation(s) | Songwriter |
| Years active | 1989-mid 2000s |
| Labels | Liberty |
| Associated acts |
Patty Loveless The Mavericks Dixie Chicks Dwight Yoakam Raul Malo George Strait |
Kostas Lazarides (Greek: Κώστας Λαζαρίδης; born April 14, 1949) is a Greek-born American country music songwriter, known professionally as Kostas. He has written for several country music artists, including Dwight Yoakam, Patty Loveless, George Strait, and Travis Tritt, and has won eleven awards from Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI). In addition, he recorded one album, entitled XS in Moderation, on Liberty Records in 1994.
Kostas Lazarides was born in Thessaloniki, Greece. While he was seven years old, he and his family moved to the United States, taking up residence in Billings, Montana. Lazarides eventually began identifying himself by the singular name Kostas.
Kostas was divorced from his wife Hope Evangeline in 2001. They have a daughter named Sofia, who was aged 8 at the time of the divorce. Custody of Sofia was awarded to Kostas. Sofia disappeared on August 25, 2003, while visiting her mother in Nashville, prompting an FBI hunt for her that lasted 6 years. Hope was arrested by FBI agents in Dallas, Texas, on February 24, 2009. She was returned to Tennessee where she was charged with custodial interference and appeared before General Sessions Judge Gale Robinson on March 11, 2009.
Kostas currently lives in Belgrade, Montana.
He continued to perform in Montana as a singer and songwriter throughout the 1980s. Eventually, he was discovered by record producer Tony Brown, who was searching for new material for country singer Patty Loveless. Kostas's first cut as a songwriter, "Timber, I'm Falling in Love", was recorded by Loveless; released as a single in 1989, it went to Number One on the Billboard country charts, becoming Loveless's first Number One hit. She would also release three more of his songs as singles: "The Lonely Side of Love" (1989), "On Down the Line" (1990), and "Blame It On Your Heart" (1994). "Blame It on Your Heart" also earned BMI's Robert J. Burton award for being the most performed single of 1994.
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