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Evi Hassapides Watson

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Evi Hassapides Watson
Background information
Birth nameBetty, No5
BornCorfu, Greece
InstrumentVocalist

Evi Hassapides Watson is a Greek musician, known primarily as a vocalist.

Born in Corfu, Greece, the illegitimate child of a local girl and a wood factory owner of Italian descent, she was kept in the local orphanage as "Betty" or "No 5", for about nine months until she was adopted by Costas and Katy Hassapides. Evi Hassapides Watson (stage name for Evdoxia Chasapidi - Legal name) is best known as "The Voice" [1] as lead vocalist for two iconic Greek underground bands, No Man's Land and Echo Tattoo. She Tames Chaos are her current, third band.

Watson, whom the specialist music press have named "Queen of the Greek Underground" and "Greece's leading female vocalist".[2] is considered to be "one of the most influential female performers in Greece"[3][4][5]

Watson was raised amongst Greek Americans, Americans, Brits and Canadian-Americans (one of the latter being her uncle Carl Maxwell Watson a.k.a. Hap, Director of Broadcast Standards for WNBC, NY, until his retirement in 1975 [6][7][8][9], former husband of Rosa Rio,[10]as well as husband of NBC's late Cami Taylor[11] prior to his last marriage to Anna Watson), and as such she embraced the American culture and the English language as her vessel in lyrics which examine multiple layers of the human psyche. A passionate equal rights supporter Watson writes about love, injustice and the human condition.

Childhood

Evi Hassapides Watson in Great Neck, NY.
Evi Hassapides Watson in Great Neck, NY, in the 70s.
Carl Maxwell Watson and Evi Hassapides Watson posing in front of the Greek Parliament, in the 70s
Carl Maxwell Watson and Evi Hassapides Watson posing in front of the Greek Parliament, in the 70s.

Watson grew up in Athens, Greece while visiting Great Neck, NY, where Anna and Carl Maxwell Watson, her aunt and uncle, resided.[12]

An early sign of talent was pointed out to Watson's mother by a Greek-American painter friend of the family, Ellie Tsoubris, when Watson was about one and a half years old and had drawn a bird on a piece of paper, using a single uninterrupted line.
Watson started singing as a toddler under the strict yet loving supervision of her father, Costas Hassapides. A talented singer himself and a deeply religious Church choir lead vocalist, her adoptive father played a crucial role in shaping her musical skills, guiding her every step of the way while firmly correcting even her slightest mistakes, exuberant at his child's incredible talent and ability at such a young age. During his long absences, on which he worked on the "Golden Odyssey", a cruise ship owned by the Royal Cruise Line[13], Watson's progress was spectacular and a means for the girl, in her own words "to bond with my father, whom I adored and missed terribly".[14]

Watson's first recordings were made on a Sony tape recorder at the age of three, by her father.
As she grew older, Watson's spirit and wild nature begun to clash with her mother Katy's sense of propriety leading to a turbulent teen-hood during which Watson was informed of her real origins through her "strategically misplaced" Adoption papers and lost her father Costas to his bad heart,[15] two of the most significant instances in Watson's early life.

Career

Watson first appears in Greek discography, as one of the two singers (Athanassiades being the other one) in No Man's Land's first album, Zalion, in 1988. The album and the band gained great popularity and critical praise much due to Watson's vocals and stage performances.[16] No Man's Land toured Greece, playing in various bars and stages, and represented Greece at the 1986 Biennale in Thessaloniki, side by side with other important Greek Bands of the time such as Libido Blume.[17]

In September 1989 she leaves No Man's Land to create Echo Tattoo with Panos Kourtsounis.[18] Echo Tattoo released three albums with four different Labels: Self-Titled Echo Tattoo -1992- Studio II, Room of toys -1997- FM Records, Mind your Step -2008- Recycled Recordings and a Vinyl re-issue of Mind Your Step with Labyrinth of thoughts in 2014. All the covers for the 200 copies of the vinyl re-issue of Mind your Step, were hand-painted by Watson herself.[19] As a multi-instrumentalist, Watson was able to record a multitude of additional vocal sounds and instrument riffs on Mind Your Step. She edited, mixed and produced a large portion of the album.

File:Evi Hassapides Watson @ PROVA Studios.jpg
Evi Hassapides Watson, rehearsing with She Tames Chaos @ PROVA Studios

Echo Tattoo are one of the most significant bands of the Athenian Underground Scene but have not always been active, as band members changed often, a fact which led to periods of inactivity followed by periods of new members' training. The band toured Greece numerous times, supported U2 in their POP MART tour stop in Greece and won the 1996 SCYPE (Song Competition of Youth Programs in Europe) Competition[20] which was held in Copenhagen on March 24, 1996 and was broadcast by the Official Radio Stations of all European Union Country Members, during which the listeners voted in favor of Echo Tattoo's recording of their original song "Over",[21] which was mainly composed by Watson.[22]

Her current bands are She Tames Chaos with whom she writes, sings and produces [23] and Robert Sin and the Huckleberries, with whom she plays the bass and sings backing vocals.

Watson earns a living as an English tutor and has been known to work in various Artistic fields as well as Advertising and Film: Painter (her murals and paintings decorated some notable Athenian and Spartan pubs and bars), Ad Script Writer, Translator, Sub-titlist, Voice Over Talent, Actress, Vocalist, Composer.

Personal life

One of her notable relationships has been to Echo Tattoo's Panos Kourtsounis, who has been her life partner for four years during Echo Tattoo's early period and a close friend since. An Atheist and a Feminist, Watson has never been married thus far, and is the mother of Orionas (Orion),[24] whose father is the man behind "Recycled Recordings", Nikos Pantouvakis.[25]

Discography

Associated acts Albums
No Man's Land - Zalion - Pegasus Records - Vinyl LP - 1988
Echo Tattoo - Echo Tattoo - Studio II - Vinyl LP - 1992
Echo Tattoo - Room of Toys - FM Records - CD Album -1997
Echo Tattoo - Mind Your Step - Recycled Recordings - CD Album -2008
Echo Tattoo - Mind Your Step - Labyrinth Of Thoughts - Vinyl LP - 2014
Robert Sin and the Huckleberries - ...And The Ghosts In Between - G.O.D. Records - CD Album - 2016

Guest Lead & Backing Vocals
1. Tr: Various - Purple Overdose - Exit #4 - Pegasus Records - Vinyl LP - 1988
2. Tr: The Sea - Yeah! - Yeah!- Ano Kato Records- Vinyl LP - 1988
3. Tr: Stilpni in'i nychta & 1 more - Symmoria - Nychtes - Ano Kato Records - Vinyl LP - 1989
4. Tr: Reptile Dance, Black Snow - Flowers Of Romance - Brilliant Mistakes - FM Records - CD Album -1996
5. Tr: Iparchi mono agapi - Markos Papasifakis - Pame ki erchomasste - Warehouse Records - CD Album - 1996
6. Tr: Various - Christos Vogiatzis - Se dyo kosmous - Warehouse Records - CD, Single - 1996
7. Tr: O Erastis tis fygis - Evnus - To kako oniro - Warehouse Records - CD Single - 1996
8. Tr: Innocent Lie - Matisse - Cheap As Art - Columbia - CD Album - 2005
9. Tr: What You Sing Is What You Get, Scream for I, Spanish Class, Sun Song, Seashell In My Drink, Evi's Lament
Blend (Mishkin) - Man Under Influence - Sirius - CD Album - 2005
10. Tr: Smoke, Jam Skit, Fuck The System/Use Your Imagination - Blend (Mishkin)-Misplaced - Cast-A-Blast 2006
11: Tr: Run To Your Mama - 7-Odds - People Wanna See - Front Yard - EP - 2015

Compilation Albums
1. Tr: No Man's Land -Blue Train - Various - Cicadas (An Electric Guide To The Greek Underground) LP-Comp - Pegasus Records 1987
2. Tr: Echo Tatoo: The Do it Story - Various - Studio II Collection - Studio II Records - LP-Comp - 1991
3. Tr: Echo Tattoo - Refugee, Bliss - Assemble the Temple - Various – In The Junkyard Volume Two - Spinalonga Records - CD Comp - 2005
[26]

References

  1. ^ Panagiotis Barlas on Popaganda,gr, Article: Vinyl Comeback for the legendary Echo Tattoo, May the 8th, 2014 http://popaganda.gr/viniliaki-epistrofi-ton-thrilikon-echo-tattoo/
  2. ^ Dinos Dimatatis, Get That Beat, Katsanos Publications,2001, pgs.100,174 http://www.dinosdimatatis.gr/en/%ce%b2%ce%b9%ce%b2%ce%bb%ce%af%ce%b1/
  3. ^ Mike Pougounas on his article "Hats off to the Lady", September 12, 2008, https://tribe4mian.wordpress.com/2008/09/12/hats-off-to-the-lady/
  4. ^ Archimidis Panagiotidis on his decription of the artist, on his Interview with Evi Hassapides Watson, 2014 http://www.exostispress.gr/article/rock-n-roll-circus--eii-xasapidou-watson-0
  5. ^ Dinos Dimatatis, Get that Beat, Katsanos Publictions,2001,pgs.100,174
  6. ^ Library Of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Washington, D.C. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/mbrs/eadmbrs/eadpdfmbrsrs/2000/rs000001.pdf
  7. ^ December 12, 1973 The Edwardsville Intelligencer from Edwardsville, Illinois·Page 4: "We're the original consumer activists," says Carl Watson, director of broadcast standards, who is in charge of passing on all commercials scheduled for NBC. Watson processes approximately 6,000 commercials per month. "Advertisers must be able to support their claims, often to a greater extent than demanded by the government and broadcast industry codes," Watson claims https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/26520758/
  8. ^ NBC ARCHIVES http://memory.loc.gov/service/music/eadxmlmusic/eadpdfmusic/rs000001.pdf
  9. ^ Carl Watson, NBC-TV's director of broadcast standards, agreed with Lewis that the series was fairly standard western fare. But he added that NBC had asked Revue to dilute some of the more violent episodes. Martin Grams on Old Time Radio Blog http://martingrams.blogspot.gr/2015/06/old-time-radio-newsblurbs.html
  10. ^ Louis (Lou) Pine, Music Historian, "Rosa and Carl met when they both were at NBC. ... Rosa was an American citizen, so when Carl married her, he could become a naturalized citizen of the US, which he did in May 1943. At that time, he and Rosa were living at 360 W 55th St in New York City."
  11. ^ This is not the first time that an inter-departmental romance has resulted in marriage. Other examples are Allan Kalmus and Jane Waring of Press, and Carl Watson and Cami Taylor of Station Relations https://archive.org/stream/nbcchimes1947nati/nbcchimes1947nati_djvu.txt
  12. ^ https://scontent.fath3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/246996_2031424221416_3181221_n.jpg?oh=f435bd9989bed185aba4217d111ae407&oe=5853397C
  13. ^ Golden Odyssey http://www.knudehansen.com/about-us/history/projects-of-historical-interest/cruise-of-historical-interest/golden-odyssey/
  14. ^ Evi Hassapides Watson's interview to Andread Kyrkos for Avopolis Music Network, May 7th ,2014 http://www.avopolis.gr/interviews/interviews-greek/48914-echo-tattoo-ap-labyrynt-sp
  15. ^ Kallithea Registry 140/ST/78
  16. ^ Dinos Dimatatis, 25 years of Greek Rock, Livanis Publications,1992, pg.110
  17. ^ BJCEM Biennale des jeunes créateurs de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée OFFICIAL site http://www.bjcem.org/biennali/ii-biennial-of-young-artists-from-mediterranean-europe-thessaloniki-1986/
  18. ^ Dinos Dimatatis, Get that Beat, Katsanos Publications, 2001, pg.174
  19. ^ Labyrinth of Thoughts, Official Release, 2014, http://labyrinthofthoughts.gr/?p=1617
  20. ^ Dinos Dimatatis, Get that Beat, Katsanos Publications, 2001, pg.174
  21. ^ Dinos Dimatatis, Get that Beat, Katsanos Publications, 2001, pg.174
  22. ^ Article on Rocktime.gr: Echo Tattoo: A Psychedelic journey of heaven sent performances, March 17, 2016 http://rocktime.gr/index.php?view=view_articles&option=greekbands&item=1458248991&lang=el
  23. ^ https://soundcloud.com/shetameschaos/albums
  24. ^ Amaroussion Registry, Act4,Vol20,2009
  25. ^ Amaroussion Registry, Act4,Vol20,2009
  26. ^ https://www.discogs.com/artist/578853-%CE%95%CF%8D%CE%B7-%CE%A7%CE%B1%CF%83%CE%B1%CF%80%CE%AF%CE%B4%CE%BF%CF%85
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