Themis Adamantidis is a Greek singer of the folk repertoire.
He was born in Kaisariani, September 28 1957, but spent part of his childhood in Johannesburg, South Africa, where his family immigrated in 1964, only to return in 1972. In the same year and before he turned 15, Themis began to appear in shops in Plaka, with the first stop being the “Oi rebetes” center, where he appeared alongside well-known rebetes, such as Anna Chrysafi and Spyros Xanthopoulos. Later he found himself at the “Minore” center in the area of Kareas, where he exclusively performed songs by Stelios Kazantzidis.
He immigrated for three years to Sweden (1977-1980), where he sang about the diaspora in a Greek entertainment center. While on vacation in Greece, he took part – after his grandmother had secretly declared him – in the show of highlighting new talents “Na i Efkairia” of ERT, where he sang “Tha me thymithis” (lyricist Pythagoras, composer Yiannis Spanos) and won the first prize. Proposals for a record deal soon followed, leading him to return home for good.
Professionally, the first appearance after his repatriation was at the “little Diogenes” on Syngrou Avenue, while collaborations with renowned artists such as Vicky Moscholiou, Giorgos Zambetas and Stamatis Kokotas followed. At the same time, that year (1980) his first album entitled “Agapise me” was released, which immediately received a positive reception.
Themis Adamantidis sang with old rebetes, but also performers of folk songs, such as Spyros Kalfopoulos, Roza Eskenazi, Anna Chrysafi, Dimitris Mitropanos and Dimitris Bassis, while he collaborated with notable composers, such as Marios Tokas and Christos Nikolopoulos. He became beloved by the general public and a trademark folk voice of the 80’s.