TammyIntroduction

Tammy (real name Stamatina Ryssianou) was born in Athens in 1948. She started her career as a singer with the Greek band “The Sounds”, performing at the Mammoth-festival on the 17th of April 1966, which was organised by Nikos Mastorakis and also featured performances by The Forminx and Zoe Kouroukli. The Sounds played a mixture of covers of foreign hits, as well as their own songs, some for which Tammy wrote the lyrics based on her own poetry. In between she also recorded songs with other people, and in 1967 she covered the Percy Sledge songs ‘It Tears Me Up’ and ‘Heart Of A Child’ with the help of Vangelis and his orchestra, which at that time consisted of Demis Roussos, Lucas Sideras and Argyris Koulouris. Indeed, all members that a year later in France would become Aphrodite’s Child, and score a big hit with ‘Rain And Tears’... No doubt that song also impressed Tammy, as she chose to sing a cover of 'Rain And Tears' and release it on a single in Greece.

At the end of the 1960s Tammy decided to pursue a solo-career and released her first solo album in 1969, followed by a second album in 1973. In 1978 Tammy ended her music career to start a family with her husband Nikos Karachalios, also a musician. They have two daughters.

 

Tracklist and credits

  • ‘It Tears Me Up’
    Written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham.

  • ‘Heart Of A Child’
    Written by Bruce Gist and Marlin Greene.

Performed by Vangelis Papathanassiou and his orchestra.

 

ItTearsMeUpDiscography

7” single

This 7” single is rare and very difficult to find nowadays.

CD

 

Links