Just five years after the flight of his fellow traveler, Yannis Spathas and facing serious problems, Antonis Turkogiorgis, founding member of the great Socrates, also breathed his last.
The historical and founding member of Socrates Drunk the Conium had suffered a stroke in April 2010 and since then he has never really recovered. He had then undergone a special operation of intravascular embolization of a brain aneurysm and upon completion of the then operation the doctors expressed to his wife their optimism that he would live, but not in the way he was used to.
The talented musician who was the historical voice of Socrates has been an incomparably dynamic performer singer, composer and lyricist. A creator, an uncompromising artist who dedicated himself to rock music and who stamped with his presence entire generations. The sudden adventure of his health took him away from the stage and he was put through a great trial to be able to stand on his feet again. Since 2010 he has been stuck…
On October 10, 2018, his friends showed that they have not forgotten him and organized a big concert to raise money for his support to follow rehabilitation in a special treatment center.
Among others, Eleni Vitali, Vangelis Germanos, Glykeria, Christos Dantes, Eleonora and Yiannis Zouganelis, Christos Thivaios, Costas Bigalis, Vassilis Papakonstantinou and many more took part in the concert.
After the dissolution of Socrates, Antonis Turkogiorgis pursued a solo career making many successful collaborations. In 2007 he released his autobiographical book, entitled “The Band” in which he humorously and vividly records how a band is created based on his personal experience, while at the same time unfolding his musical path from his first steps in music until today. The pivotal point of the book is of course the adventurous and subversive musical journey of the great Socrates.
Antonis Turkogiorgis: The founding member of Socrates
Socrates or Socrates Drank the Conium was a Greek progressive rock band formed in 1969 in Piraeus by Yiannis Spathas (guitar), Antonis Turkogiorgis (bass, vocals) and Ilias Boukouvala (drums). They have released seven studio albums and are best known for songs such as ‘Starvation’ and ‘Mountains’. Their album ‘Phos’ was the best-selling Greek rock album of the 1970s, selling more than 200,000 copies.
Socrates first appeared in the clubs of Athens, and mainly in Kyttaros. Their repertoire included pieces from their discography as well as covers by artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, the Rolling Stones and others. They became known for combining the style of Greek traditional continental music and intense rock style with the two stable and founding members, Yiannis Spathas (guitar) and Antonis Turkogiorgis (bass, vocals) writing songs such as “Mountains” and “Starvation”. They have played at London’s Hammersmith Odeon as support on a UFO tour. For several years after 1986, the group did not perform live. However, in 1999 it reunited with a concert in Lycabettus, where the main members were together again (Tourkogiorgis-Spathas-Trantalidis) with the addition of new musicians (Dimitris Bellos – keyboards, Markella Panagiotou and Nikos Kouroupakis – backing vocals). Pianist Dimitris Polytimos collaborated with them.
After some appearances there were significant changes in the members and the group took a stable form from 2002 until 2010 with: Yannis Spatha, Antonis Turkogiorgis, Maki Ioulis, Asteris Papastamatakis and Markella Panagiotou. During this time, the group played big concerts all over Greece and in clubs in Athens including Rodon, Kyttaro, Rodeo and House Of Art.
In 2009, Yiannis Spathas, Antonis Turkogiorgis and Makis Youlis started recording new songs, however, during the recordings, a serious health problem of Antonis Turkogiorgis stopped the band’s progress. This material was saved and released in September 2023 with the title “Last Forever”.
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