Sakis Rouvas

Who is Sakis Rouvas?

Anastasios "Sakis" Rouvas II, often referred to mononymously as Sakis, is a Greek singer, model recording, film and television artist, actor, entertainer, businessman, and former pole vaulter who is the most commercially successful entertainer of all time in Greece and Cyprus and also one of the most influential. Born in Corfu, he began his career as a member of the national athletics team in the 1980s, where he won national medals, and then commenced a musical career in 1991, becoming one of Greece's first pop performers and popularizing several western music genres and trends. Rooted in pop and rock music among a wide array of styles adorned with powerful tenor vocals, he incorporated complex choreography, costumes, and technological advancements and has been credited for transforming music videos and live performance into an art form. Widely recognized as the genres' primary representative to this day, Rouvas is renowned for retaining a standard of autonomy from domestic styles and conventions and gaining unprecedented success for a non-laïko or éntekhno artist and for breaking cultural, social, artistic, and generational barriers in Greece and Cyprus.