ATHENS – Renowned Greek composer Takis Mousafiris died on March 11 due to COVID-19, his friend and fellow composer Petros Vagiopoulos announced on social media.

He was best known for many hit songs he composed for famous singers including Stratos Dionysiou, Dimitris Mitropanos, Rita Sakellariou, Michalis Menidiatis, Giorgos Margaritis and Tolis Voskopoulos.

Mousafiris was born in Ioannina and from a young age was drawn to music. He started out as a folk singer and arrived in Athens in 1974 where he performed in taverns and the intimate nightclubs known as boites. Early in his career, he was known as Antonis Zannas.

By the 1980s, he was one of the greatest and most sought after composers and lyricists in laika, popular Greek music.

Singer Pitsa Papadopoulou told CNN Greece that “without Mousafiris, I would simply be a singer whom nobody had ever heard of.”

Among Mousafiris’ numerous hit songs, Ena Tragoudi Pes Mou Akoma (Tell Me One More Song) was a signature showstopper for Sakellariou. Other hits were O Taxitzis (The Taxi Driver), Ego o Xenos (I, the Stranger), Kane Kati Na Haso to Treno (Do Something to Make Me Miss the Train), and Pes Mou Pou Poulan Kardies (Tell Me Where They Sell Hearts).