Thanassis was born on Santorini in 1912, and his family moved to Pireas in 1913. He enjoyed bouzouki music, which he learned by watching Batis, Vamvakaris and others. He made a name for himself as a player, and went to America for 23 years. He was a friend of Halikias and Kalivas. He made several recordings on small, independent labels. He also worked with Papaioannou, and made and repaired instruments. He went back to Greece in the 1970’s, settled in Aegina, and continued making instruments, and also taught people bouzouki. He died in 2004.
He was a major source of information about Rebetiko for Gail Holst’s book “Road to Rembetika”, as well as her teacher. When I met her on Hydra, she said quite a lot of what he had told her was “imaginative”.