Lucas Sideras ( gr, Λουκάς Σιδεράς; 5 December 1944,

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

) is the former drummer of the Greek progressive rock band

Aphrodite's Child Aphrodite's Child was a Greek rock and pop band formed in 1967, by Vangelis Papathanassiou (keyboards, flutes), Demis Roussos (bass, acoustic and electric guitar, vocals), Loukas Sideras (drums and vocals), and Silver Koulouris (guitar). They i ...

Biography

Aphrodite's Child

He started playing drums at the age of 13. By the time he was 15 years old, he started playing drums with several bands in Athens. Later on he met

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...

and

Demis Roussos Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos ( ; el, Αρτέμιος "Ντέμης" Βεντούρης-Ρούσσος, ; 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015) was a Greek singer, songwriter and musician. As a band member he is best remembered for his work in ...

and they formed

. In 1967 they signed with

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

in France and they released three albums: '' End of the world'' (which includes the song "

Rain and Tears "Rain and Tears" is a song by the Greek band Aphrodite's Child. The song was included on the band's 1968 debut studio album '' End of the World'', and was released as a single in July 1968 on Mercury. It became a major hit across Europe, reaching ...

"), '' It's Five O'Clock'' and ''

666 666 may refer to: * 666 (number) * 666 BC, a year * AD 666, a year * The number of the beast, a reference in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament Places * 666 Desdemona, a minor planet in the asteroid belt * U.S. Route 666, an America ...

'', the latter of which sold 20 million copies worldwide.

Going solo

After Aphrodite's Child split up in 1972, Lucas began to compose his own music and released his first

solo album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

, ''One Day'' with Polydor-France, selling 28,000 copies. In 1974 Lucas released another solo album, ''Pax Spray'', which sold 45,000 copies.

Producer

Sideras was also active as a producer. In 1975 he produced the album ''Alba'' for

Riccardo Cocciante Riccardo Cocciante (; born 20 February 1946), also known in French-speaking countries and the U.S. as Richard Cocciante (), is an Italian singer, composer, theatre man and musician. He acquired French citizenship. Personal life Cocciante was b ...

which hit #1 in Italy's charts. He also did a lot of producing for

Sigma Fay Sigma (; uppercase Σ, lowercase σ, lowercase in word-final position ς; grc-gre, σίγμα) is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 200. In general mathematics, uppercase Σ is used as ...

, starting in 1979 with the album ''Love's Fool'' and selling 75,000 copies, and then in 1981 with the album ''Dead Line,'' which sold 52,000 copies. In 1983 he produced the single "You're the Drug in My Life" for Sigma Fay and sold 34,000 copies.

Other projects

In 1977 Sideras formed the group Ypsilon with Lakis Vlavianos and Dimitris Katakouzinos. They released the album ''Metro Music Man'', which sold 75,000 copies. In 1984 he produced Sigma Fay's single ''Alien Child'', which sold 60,000 copies. In 1987 he formed the blues-rock band Diesel (not to be confused with the Dutch band of the same name) with Sigma Fay and Yanis Drolapas. The band was together for ten years and appeared regularly as a live act and in jamming sessions, but their sole release was the 1995 album ''Diesel''. While with the band, Sideras also composed music for several documentaries and advertisements in his studio. In 2000 he formed the blues-rock power trio LST (Lucas Sideras Trio) with Simos Kokavesis and Nikos Giannatos. Lucas Sideras Trio keep on playing live shows till now. In 2005 he formed the blues-rock band Los-Tres with Simos Kokavesis and Bary Zeally, and they have appeared live numerous times. In 2008 Sideras released a solo album ''Stay With Me'' which he composed, arranged and produced in his studio. The album was strongly influenced by world music.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sideras, Loukas 1944 births Living people Musicians from Athens Greek drummers