MEET THE BAND
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ANDY
Andy was born in Limassol, Cyprus in 1956. He was taught bouzouki
by the late Andreas Markides. From the age of four Andy always
had a passion for singing. He started performing professionally
in 1976 with various musicians in restaurants and clubs. His
exposure to the circuit quickly turned into demand for weddings,
engagements, Christenings dinner dances and private parties.
Working regular in a restaurant meant that he couldnt
work at functions on Saturdays so he decided to form a function
band and stop the restaurants. In 1981 Midas Touch was formed.
Andy is the bandleader and is considered by many to be the
finest and most versatile Greek male vocalist in the U.K.
Even though he sings in both Greek and English (and some Latin)
his real passion is Greek music. He sings in all styles but
his real forte is when he covers Kazantzides, Dionisiou ,Parios,
Dalaras, Terzis as well as the newer artists such as Remos,
Ploutarhos, Economopoulos, Vertis etc. Andy also plays the
violin for all the traditional dances of a Cypriot wedding. |
PETE
Pete
joined the band in 1983.He used to play with a band called
Bethnal in the late seventies and released some albums with
them and appeared on the then famous TV show the Old
grey whistle test. Even though Pete is English he has
taken to Greek music like a duck to water and is today regarded
to be one of the best Greek music drummers on the scene. (We
are sure he was Greek in some previous life not just because
he loves Greek music but also because he just loves loukanika
halloumi and avgolemoni). |
ELIZABETH
Elizabeth is Andys daughter and
has been singing with the band since 1998 from the tender
age of 15. She sings in both Greek and English. Elizabeth
is a singer/ songwriter with many levels of talent. Years
of piano lessons, singing, dancing and acting has led Elizabeth
to attain not only a BA in performing arts, but great achievements
such as reaching the final 50 in Pop Idol (2003), singing
backing vocals for big artists such as Mariah Carey, Razorlight
at the O2, Westlife on record of the year and Leona Lewis
on TOTP to name but a few. As well as teaching piano and singing
with Midas touch, Elizabeth is currently writing songs and
has already performed her original material at the Music
Box The Pigalle Club, Piccadilly and The original
songwriters at The Fym Fyg Bar. Writing credits to date
include Ihos fos kai horos from Inbetweeners the movie
2011. Elizabeths strength is not just her fantastic
voice but also her versatility in singing in many styles such
as soul, jazz, indie, rock, pop etc. |
MIKE
Mike has been a professional musician for many years and has
been the Keyboard player for Midas touch since 2001. He plays
several instruments like piano, accordion, bouzouki, drums,
guitar, violin, bass and vocals. In fact if you give him a
shoe hell probably be able to make music with it. He
has free-lanced with various bands and clubs. Mike graduated
in 2009 with BA honors in music for which he studied composing
for orchestras and TV and film. He was also a winner for a
competition for BT called groovesearch.com and had his winning
composition recorded at Abbey road studios by the philharmonic
orchestra. Mike has an unbelievable memory for songs and is
regarded as a walking song library. He truly is a fantastic
musician.
ALEX
Alex has twelve years of recorded and live performance experience
as both electric and acoustic guitarist and lead vocalist.
He came to the UK form Cyprus to study at Guildfords
prestigious Academy of Contemporary Music where he was the
recipient of the Outstanding guitarist of the year 2009
award on graduation. Alex joined Midas Touch in 2008. He is
competent in various styles such as pop, rock, blues, and
acoustic, Latin, jazz, with a specialty in rock vocals. His
version of I dont wanna miss a thing is truly a hair-raising
experience.
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SIMON
Simon is the most recent member of Midas Touch and joined
in 2011. He has incredible writing and vocal ability and has
to date achieved success in the music industry as an artist/songwriter.
Starting his singing career as a member of the Chapman
Brothers, Simon was the lead in a group featuring his
brothers who were the first and only unsigned act to perform
on the National Lottery Live along with other TV programs
such as SKY TV Awards and GMTV.
Successful writing credits to date include a co-write on the
largest ever-selling single in Spain Un hombre asi (a man
like me) and later other successful co-writes. Simon has worked
with an impressive roster of UK, European and US producers
including Biron James, world famous for his work with superstars
Usher and Brandy. Simon who is half
Greek loves singing with the band and he brings energy and
enhances the versatility of the band with his fantastic voice.
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