I am somebody who believes that every political direction is valid, as with every religion. The basis of Christianity is perfect, just like the basis of Islam. But then the leaders change the direction, and lose the quality.Collection: Religion
Musicians are like a preacher, a teacher, an actor. You are the mediator who can transfer the energy of beautiful music to the others.Collection: Teacher
One day I had an instinct to put on a kaftan and go out and sing. People liked it out of the blue. An artist should be instinctive.
It is not every day that a pop superstar gets involved with terrorism as a victim, so the press takes advantage of that to say things they think are funny.
My music came right on time. It was romantic Mediterranean music addressed to all the people who wanted to go on holiday.
The reason for my big success in England was the Brits - they started wanting to go on holidays, like Spain and Greece.
Sleep is the secret of life! I must have a comfortable bed, a room at exactly 60 degrees, and complete darkness like a tomb to sleep. If I don't get 10 hours, then I'm miserable and I make everyone around me miserable.
Everything that happens in the life of a human being, especially artists, who are supposed to be more sensitive, yes, it can affect you. In Lebanon I saw 10- and 12-year-old kids walking around with guns, and I understood how much human actions affect people.
I started as a jazz musician, not a singer, then I became a rock 'n' roll artist with Aphrodite's Child.
The human race is getting into a spiritual way of thinking, even if they don't know about it, because this is the natural need of the human being.
Back in '75 I had five albums in the top 10. Simultaneously. And among them the number one album and the number one single. And my name was mentioned twice or three times in the Guinness Book of Records.
I consider all my songs as my children and I don't think any father gets tired of his children, otherwise he's not a good father.
I'm obsessed with 666 because the best way to fight your enemy is to know him, and of course my enemy is the devil, as it should be every sensible man's enemy.
When I went to England the first time, everyone asked the same question - how come you're so big in Europe and nothing in England. And I told them that all the continents, they're coming, one by one.
The only thing I could do was play music, because I'd studied classical guitar, trumpet and piano at the American School in Alexandria. So I started out with two other boys in little clubs in Athens. I became a singer by default when our lead vocalist was late one night. Someone had to sing.
I want America to see me as a combination of the Rev. Sun Moon and a singing star. That's the image I want them to have.
I am basically a folk singer because I'm coming from a part of the earth where folklore means a lot. The Mediterranean is a very old part of the world, and the more a place is old, the more there is folklore.
In the countries where they don't know me, which is only America, wherever I go, the hotel, the restaurant, the airport, people go, 'Oh, my! What's that?' That's good. That's good, because there is a curiosity there, which is great.
In this life, you have three kinds of persons the winners, the losers, and the third ones, they're the ones who don't even know why they're born. I'm a winner.
In Europe they love me. I travel so much, I change my passport twice a year because there aren't enough pages for all the places I go. Foreign countries invite me to come without a visa.
It's true that a song or an entertainer isn't really a hit unless he's a hit in America as well as Europe.