MEET THE BAND 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 couldn’t 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 Andy’s 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. Elizabeth’s 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 he’ll 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 Guildford’s 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 don’t wanna miss a thing is truly a hair-raising experience. 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.