The great folk singer Vassilis Karras is dead

Vassilis Karras breathed his last breath, at the age of 70, on Christmas Eve, plunging his family, the art world and his fans into mourning.

The beloved singer passed away shortly after 5:00 this afternoon (24/12), while he was hospitalized at the Intervalaniko Hospital in Thessaloniki, where he was admitted two days ago with coronavirus, while he was also battling cancer.

Vassilis Karras has been fighting a long battle with cancer and in the past year he had managed to avoid the danger many times, having undergone surgical procedures.

Last October he broke his silence and spoke for the first time about his problem. Specifically, he intervened by phone on Fame Story and the excitement was great, causing excitement among all his fans.

On Friday, October 20, his new -and latest- album entitled “I am here” was released by Minos EMI.

Who was Vassilis Karras

He was born in Kokkinochori, Kavala, having two brothers, Damianos and Anastasia. When he was 10 years old he went with his family to Thessaloniki. In 1969, at the age of 16, he made his first musical appearance at the nightclub “Prosfygas” in Evosmos in Thessaloniki.

At the same time, he worked as a car mechanic. He had also worked in the engine room of the OSE in Thessaloniki, a fact that is reflected in his song “I love me, my love, I”. He started his professional career in Thessaloniki. His albums have gone gold and platinum, while his biggest commercial success was the album “M’ έχεις Kaneani Alitis”, which sold more than 180.000 copies, with lyrics and music by Michalis Rakintzis.

He had collaborated with composers and songwriters such as Dimitris Rakitzis Phoebus, Giorgos Theofanous, Alekos Chrysovergis and Spyros Yatras, Evi Drooutsa, Panos Falaras, Christos Dantis, Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Elias Filippou, Michalis Hatzigiannis, Christos Nikolopoulos and many others.

He has done successful duets with many singers such as Marianthi Kefala, Pyx Lax, Konstantina, Angela Demetriou, Tolis Voskopoulos, Nikos Zoidakis, Katie Garbi, Despina Vandi, Elli Kokkinou, Irini Mercouri, Paola, Pantelis Pantelidis and George Kakosaio.

With most of them he collaborated in live programmes.

In his personal life, Vassilis Karras had been married for more than 40 years to his wife, Christina, with whom he had a daughter whom they married in 2019.