Vassilis Tsitsanis was born in 1915 in Trikala, Thessaly, Kingdom of Greece. He began playing instruments at a young age, learning the violin, mandola, and mandolin, and made his first recording in 1937 after moving to Athens in 1936 to study law. Tsitsanis later relocated to Thessaloniki in 1938, where he completed his military service and stayed during the German occupation, writing many of his best songs. He recorded about 100 of his own compositions by 1941. After returning to Athens in 1946, he began recording compositions that made singers such as Sotiria Bellou and Marika Ninou famous. Tsitsanis developed the "westernization" of rebetiko music, setting the bases for future laiko music. He died in 1984 at Royal Brompton Hospital in London following a lung operation.
