The composer Gerasimos Lavranos, best known for penning the “Hully Gully” song that was performed by Aliki Vougiouklaki in 1964, passed away on Thursday, at the age of 80 years old.
Lavranos was born in Kerkyra in 1935 and received formal training in music early on in his life. He began by playing the horn at age 11 and focused on classical music, but later in his life he discovered works by George Gershwin and Cole Porter and became fascinated by jazz.
He released his first record in 1959 to huge acclaim and was greatly popular until the late 1960s. He worked with many important performers of the time, such as Nana Mouskouri, Marinella, Tzeni Vanou, Sotos Panagopoulos, Tzimis Makoulis, Yannis Vogiatzis and more.
Lavranos composed music for about 25 films, the last being in 1979. In 2007 the Jazz & Jazz magazine included him in its list of top exotica mood musicians.
