Stelios Pissis

Stelios Pissis was born on the 19 th of September 1976 in Limassol, Cyprus. It did not take long for the musician inside to bring out his passion, love and talent for music.

At the age of five he was already a self taught pianist when his life turned around after a sudden announcement. The doctors’ had sadly found out that he suffered from a very rare illness in his muscles. It is called “Duchenne” and it is a very serious type of Muscular Dystrophy condition which attacks the immune system while deteriorating the body’s muscles.

Despite the fact that soon he would find himself in a position where he would not be able to run and play; Stelios managed to find other pathways in life which kept him going on.

By the age of ten Stelios was already using a wheelchair but his devotion in music and his determination leaded him to have more music lessons with his private teacher. All this extra studying brought him closer to music and that was when life itself introduced him to his compositional talent.

From 1990 he started composing music and writing lyrics for his pieces and songs. In 1994 he got the first award in a Cypriot competition of composing a song of a style of your desire. His song is called “Einai stolidi t’ ouranou” if you translate it word by word is “It’s an ornament of the sky”; song which he himself performed.

A year later he was honoured by UNESCO during a programme called “Artists across the frontiers” for his song called “PSIFIDES”.

From 1996 he really got involved with modern music technology leading him to the extend use of the computer and the synthesizers in order to write down his inspirations and create lovely compositions.

The occupation of his own island did not leave him unmoved and apathetic; this can be clearly observed in his series of songs -which he himself performed- and have been dedicated to Cyprus. A cd, his first personal cd called “Psifides” was out in 1997 and enclosed these songs. The profits from the sales of this cd were given to charity.

In 1999, he cooperated with the Symphonic Orchestra of Kremlin and the maestro Pavel Ovjiannicov. In order to record his second personal cd with the title “Ypervasi” Stelios had to compose orchestral music; thing which he was delighted to do. Stelios was asked about his first reaction when he found out about this collaboration. His answer was: “I never dreamed that my pieces would be played by a Symphonic Orchestra and such a famous one as well. Honestly when I first found out that this teamwork was actually a breath away from coming true I felt that a dream had just come true.”

A celebration took place in March 2000 by “Telethon” for people with muscular dystrophy. There Stelios was honoured for his major contribution to the Institute of Neurology & Genetics in Cyprus and the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Cyprus. Both of his personal disks profits were given generously to the two organisations from Stelios and his family. Their main aim though was to give an example so that people who have been or will be in the same situation with Stelios will accept the situation and will exemplify similar strength while attempting great steps in life like him. Moreover the less not to give up!

All these years from the beginning of his occupation with music and singing saved up a lot of memories as he took part in numerous concerts and showed up in several TV channels.

The last years, his illness got worse and now he is been kept tied by it on a bed with a breathing mechanism in his nose which supplies oxygen to his body. But still, Stelios fights his condition and with lots of enthusiasm and hard work, never gives up, only moves on and composes note by note his own music on the computer. With the computer “mouse” as his best friend, the extra music-computer programmes and devices his family provided him with, Stelios has managed to overcome all difficulties with courage and pride while creating marvellous music which speaks directly to the listeners soul.

June 2005, a third disk arose with the title “Kastalias kai Seirinon”. It contains twelve songs which were composed during 1999-2005, lyrics written by Kleitos Pissis, Stelios Pissis father. While some other lyrics were written from some good friends and some are his own. The songs were sung and record by famous Cypriot singers and by the composer him himself. Once again all the profit and money from the sales of this disk where given to “The Doctors of the World” for a big lend of hand to the people who were hit by the Tsunami in South Asia in 2005.

In November 13 2006 Stelios cooperated with the Symphonic Orchestra of Cyprus and the maestro Spyros Pissinos to present his orchestra music during a concert dedicated to him, in Nicosia, (Cyprus).

In February 2007 the documentary titled “Stelios” created by Costas Kagogianis and Pambos Kouzalis, was released and showed during the 4 th Festival of Cyprus Short films. The documentary and presents Stelios Pissis as an artist and a person and was aawarded, during the festival with the music award. The music was composed by Stelios Pissis.

During the year 2007, Stelios Pissis cooperated with the script writer Giorgos Tsiakkas, composing the soundtrack of the Television Series titled “Mila mou” for which Stelios wrote also the lyrics and music of the series song, sang by Antonis Remos.