In the Know
When I found out a Cyprus legend Stavros Flatley, aka Demitri Demitriou, was in Paphos and he was gonna do a show at Fat Mamas, one of my fav eateries, I couldn’t resist the chance to do an Inside Out interview with him. So when I called my good friend Savvas Fikardos at Kaso Bay with the news, would you believe it? he said, ”when did he land?” I said ‘I don’t know, why’? he replied, ”well he couldn’t have landed yet coz he’d be down here!” … Friends of old, it’s who you know, ha! don’t you just love Cyprus !!!
Awesome Show
So that night after one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen, I just laughed so much I couldn’t hold the camera still … like, after the first dance, Stavros almost dying of loss of
oxygen say’s ”we’ll just wait for my son to catch his breath” lmao! then, you should of checked out the faces in the crowd when he said ”we need some help, any fat bald blokes out there? … hahaha! … You’re not getting away! … Brilliant !!! … Next thing you know they were dancing shirtless, oppa’ing it here, and ella’ing it, there … Just awesome … Check out the video here …
Kaso Beach
Anyway, with a little ‘in the know’, aka ‘messo’ as we say in Cyprus, I dropped Savvas’ name and asked Stavros nicely, and he said yeah and the next day at Kaso Beach by Octopus Watersports, over a delicious Cappuccino amiably organised my my good mate Savvas, from a nearby café 😉 me and Demi had a chat …
Greek Islands
Coming outta Balham in South London, but moving up in the world to Enfield, like many other teenagers, he went off to Kos in the Greek Islands to work a summer season, 3 years on the trot, doing PR jobs, entertainment, basically getting paid to be crazy, saying ”it was awesome coz I sort of just had the knack to make people laugh”
Stavros Flavidopoulos
Demi grew up in the hospitality world, the family owning a restaurant opposite Middlesex
University in London, he explained ”it was a sort of event, come party venue, so we always
used to think of different ways to finish the night. One day I grabbed my wife’s jogging
suit with this idea I had buzzing around my head, and me and my son Lakis did the Stavros
Flavidopoulos thing, getting approval from the Mrs to wear her jogging suit, with my pot
belly popping out, she watched our first dance, and laughed out loud, so we often did it in
our restaurant at the end of a party and then Lakis somehow persuaded me to do it on
‘Britain’s got Talent’ on TV and we never expected to go through the first round, but we
made it to the finals and so Stavros Flatley was born!”
Inside Out
Q: How Long have you been in this biz?
A: Well dancing Flatley, 9 years, but I’ve been in the hospitality and entertainment business all my life , well on ‘n off!
Q: If you wasn’t doing this, what would you do?
A: I’d probably still be an electrician, we had a short adventure with an Electrical company you know, CCTV ‘n stuff, or maybe a barber but that’s another story, I was intrigued, but I let him off 😉
Q: What do you like best about your work ?
A: Honestly after winning Britain’s got Talent, the following 8 years, we did over
1,500 shows, travelled literally hundreds of thousands of miles on planes and boats but often in cars, up and down the UK, and what I got most out of it, was actually spending lots and lots of quality time with my teenage son Lakis!
Q: Who was your inspiration?
A: Michael Flatley, of course, the guys just a megastar but really its my son Lakis
who is just my kid, but the connection just keeps getting stronger!
Q: What’s your most embarrassing moment at work ?
A: We were doing a gig with some Morris Dancers, girls about age 18 to 22’ish, there
was 6 of them. They started the dance, and me and Lakis came dancing onto the stage and I clipped one of the girls as I went past her and dislocated her knee, and had to carry on dancing!
Q: What’s your most prized possession?
A: I’m not really materialistic, spose I should say the Mrs, but its not really
a possession haha … but doing the Royal Variety Performance, or Glastonbury, or to get an invite by the ‘Irish Association Ball’ is really very special to me. So I dug a bit deeper, he said my dads Omega watch, yeah I said, I missed out on that one …
Q: What makes you laff?
A: When you just gel with someone who has the same sense of humour, Lakis does, so we
laugh a lot !!!
Q: Why Cyprus?
A: Coz it’s home !
Q: Where will you be playing this year?
A: Well in Cyprus, just at Fat Mamas, coz I love Cathy and Alex loads, coz they did a
video take off of us just after Britain’s got Talent, and sent it to us, and we’ve been
really good friends ever since. We’ll also be doing a few weddings organised by a good
friend by Manda Holden a wedding coordinator. it’s usually a surprise for the bride and
groom by a member of the family. I think we’ll be back at The Basement in Limassol, Ammos in Larnaca, possibly 5 or 6 times to Cyprus this year and who knows maybe even the Royal variety Performance at The Palladium again ha ha !
Q: What’s your transport while you’re here?
A: I normally hire the shittiest car, dunno why, I just prefer them ?
Q: Will you be looking for a holiday romance?
A: nope, happily married 25 years !!!
Q: How did you come up with the name?
A: My names Demitri, but that didn’t work. I chose Stavros because its the only
Greek name that you can’t confuse with another Greek name … Hmm, I gladly accepted that answer coz I couldn’t be assed to think of another name, but next time ???
Q: Has The stardom effected your life ?
A: I think there’s two levels of stardom, one, being famous, like Brad Pitt, the
other is being well known, I think it’s a lovely kind of fame! but one of the things I
really like about it is being on stage with mega stars like Rod Stewart, MC Hammer, Michael Jackson just memories that outweigh any valuable possessions …
Q: Gimme 5 essentials you pack in your suitcase?
A: my wife packs it, but my wigs, I’m bald as a Coot, my shaver to keep it that way,
shirts not Tee Shirts, and my fake watches from China, I’ve got about 250 of them, I’m
hooked and can’t resist, once getting stopped by Chinese customs with 30 watches, oh and
cable ties, hmm the mind boggles 😉
More…
I have to say, that a Demi, aka Stavros Flatley came to stardom from humble beginnings, and it seems nothing has changed, without hesitation agreed to have a chat to me at short
notice, totally down to earth, from my part of the world, on the same level we had a laugh
that day, and I gotta give a big shout out to him, ‘n the littlun Lakis, joining the handful
of stars, or in my eyes legends, originating from this wonderful rock some call Cyprus, but
I call paradise!
Soooo Funny
Big thanks Demi, for the interview, but both of you, especially for a close up of one of the funniest live shows I’ve ever seen!!! … Cool memories!!!
Let Tap & Zorba live for Ever !!!
Inside out Interview with Demitri Demitriou, aka Stavros Flatley
By Tony Dynamou
16th June 2017
More …
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