Demis Roussos spent half a million dollars trying to break America
Demis Roussos sold 30 million albums in Europe in the mid-70s, rivaling The Beatles in several countries.
His success earned him a mansion outside Paris, a private jet and an estate in the south of France.
But Demis Roussos wanted something more: to break the US.
In 1978, Demis Roussos bank-rolled a promotional trip to the US and Canada to the tune of $500,000 ($1.8 million in 2014 terms).
With a billboard on Sunset Boulevard and an exhausting run of TV appearances, Deemis Roussos set about his conquest.
The famous Greek singer told Canada’s Courier and Mail: “If I succeed, it will be as a pioneer of the European invasion, breaking a few barriers and not appealing only to Greeks or the French or the Italians in America.
“I am not like any other singer in America – I am a new creation.”
America, however, remained largely unmoved.
His album, That Once In A Lifetime, spent 11 weeks on the Billboard chart, but never climbed higher than 47.
Demis Roussos died on January 25 in an Athens hospital. He was 68. A cause of death was not made public.
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