Evi Hassapides Watson
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Evi Hassapides Watson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Betty, No5 Corfu, Greece |
| Instruments | Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Bass, Drums |
| Member of | She Tames Chaos, Robert Sin and the Huckleberries |
| Formerly of | No Man's Land, Echo Tattoo |
Evi Hassapides Watson is a Greek musician, known primarily as a vocalist.
Singer/Songwriter Evi Hassapides Watson (stage name for Evdoxia Chasapidi) is best known as "The Voice" [1] as lead vocalist for two iconic Greek underground bands, No Man's Land and Echo Tattoo. She Tames Chaos are her current, third band.
Watson, whom the specialist music press have named "Queen of the Greek Underground" and "Greece's leading female vocalist".[2] is considered to be "one of the most influential female performers in Greece"[3][4][5][6]
Watson was raised amongst Greek Americans, Americans, Brits and Canadian-Americans (one of the latter being her uncle Carl Maxwell Watson a.k.a. Hap, Director of Broadcast Standards for WNBC, NY, until his retirement in 1975).[7][8] As a result, she embraced the American culture and the English language as her vessel in lyrics that examine multiple layers of the human psyche. A passionate feminist and an equal rights supporter Watson writes about love, injustice and the human condition.
Watson's first recordings were made on a Sony tape recorder at the age of three, by her father.
Watson first appears in Greek discography, as one of the two singers (Athanassiades being the other one) in No Man's Land's first album, Zalion, in 1988. The album and the band gained great popularity and critical praise much due to Watson's vocals and stage performances.[9] No Man's Land toured Greece, playing in various bars and stages, and represented Greece at the 1986 Biennale in Thessaloniki, side by side with other important Greek Bands of the time such as Libido Blume.[10]
In September 1989 she leaves No Man's Land to create Echo Tattoo with Panos Kourtsounis.[11] Echo Tattoo released three albums with four different Labels: Self-Titled Echo Tattoo -1992- Studio II, Room of toys -1997- FM Records (on which the band worked with producer Bryan New, in Bath and London, UK), Mind your Step -2008- Recycled Recordings (on which Watson is the primary songwriter as well as the mixing engineer and producer) and a Vinyl re-issue of Mind Your Step with Labyrinth of thoughts in 2014. All the covers for the 200 copies of the vinyl re-issue of Mind your Step, were hand-painted by Watson herself.[12] As a multi-instrumentalist, Watson was able to record a multitude of additional vocal sounds and instrument riffs on Mind Your Step. She edited, mixed and produced a large portion of the album. Echo Tattoo are one of the most[citation needed] significant bands of the Athenian Underground Scene but have not always been active, as band members changed often, a fact which led to periods of inactivity followed by periods of new members' training.[citation needed] In 1993 they made the cover of Billboard magazine as Leaders of the Greek Rock Scene.[3] The band toured Greece numerous times, supported U2 in their POP MART tour stop in Greece and won the 1996 SCYPE (Song Competition of Youth Programs in Europe) Competition[11] which was held in Copenhagen on March 24, 1996, and was broadcast by the Official Radio Stations of all European Union Country Members, during which the listeners voted in favor of Echo Tattoo's recording of their original song "Over",[11] which was mainly composed by Watson.[13]
Her current bands are She Tames Chaos with whom she writes, sings and produces[citation needed] and Robert Sin and the Huckleberries, with whom she plays the bass and sings backing vocals.[citation needed]
Watson earns a living as a copy editor[citation needed] for Greek Business File,[citation needed] an English-spoken magazine that analyses the Greek Economy published by Economia Group, and an English tutor.[citation needed] She has been known to work in various Artistic fields as well as Advertising and Film: Painter (her murals and paintings decorated some notable Athenian and Spartan pubs and bars),[citation needed] Voice Over Talent, Actress, Vocalist, Composer, Ad Script Writer, Translator, Sub-titlist.[citation needed]