Yiannis Parios was born Ioannis Varthakouris (Ιωάννης Βαρθακούρης) on the island of Paros. He made his first appearance as a singer in 1969.Yannis Parios was the first Greek singer to perform Alain Barriere's song "Tu t'en vas" with Greek lyrics. Under its new title "Tora pia", the song was a hit, on an unprecedented scale for the time, and it marked the beginning of a new age in which many Greek singers adapted "foreign" melodies to Greek lyrics.