Greek born Eurovision singer Jimmy Makulis has died.He was the first Greek singer on the Eurovision stage when in 1961 he entered for Austria in 1961 with the song Sehnsucht (Desire). That song is one of the rare missing songs in anyone's Eurovision record collection, as it's one of the unfound records of which no release is confirmed.
Even though Makulis enjoyed popularity in Greece his biggest successes were in Germany in the late 50's and early 60's. In 1966 he tried to break America which resulted in working with Duke Ellington and appearing on the Ed Sullivan show and playing Las Vegas. It resulted in one minor US radio hit Happy Heart (written by James Last). In the 90's Makulis toured Germany again and appeared in many TV shows.Jimmy Makulis recorded two Eurocovers, both released in 1971.
Love is blue (L'amour est bleu, in English) can be found on the 1971 LP With Love (Hippo Records).
He also recorded a Greek version of Severine's 1971 winner for Monaco, Un Banc, Un Arbre, Une Rue : Μια καρδιά χτυπά (Mia kardia ktipa). I don't have any details on the original release but the song was issued on CD Τα Ερωτικά του '60 & '70 in 1996 and το ελληνικο τραγουδι in 2006.
