Stratos Payoumtzis
Born in Ayvali, Asia Minor, in 1904 and living in Greece from around 1918, a few years before the Asia Minor Disaster of 1922, Stratos Payoumtzis sang until his death, in 1971, in New York City. He was so impoverished at the time of his death, that a collection had to be taken up by the Greek-American community to send his remains back to Greece.
He was a close friend of Markos Vamvakaris and also a member of the famed Tetras (Τετράς, η ξακουστή του Πειραιώς), which many afficionados recognize as the Prototype Rebetiko Super Group that founded the Piraeus School of Rebetiko . Rebetiko composers loved his vocal style and enthusiastically went about composing for him . These included such luminaries as Giorgos Batis, Anestos Delias, Tsitsanis, Papaioannou , Tountas and Papazoglou .