Yannis Ploutarchos is Greek singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most popular laïko singers of his time, and has been characterized with having a genuine laïko voice. To date, he has released 11 studio albums along with one greatest hits album. Ploutarchos was born Yannis Kakossaios on 18 December 1970 in the small village of Mavrogia, outside Orchomenos. Ploutarchos comes from a poor rural family, which long struggled to make ends meet. He first started singing at age six, while his whole family would sing while working to get through the day. His first musical influences came from Dimotiká and traditional Byzantine music. He lived there until age 16, at which point he decided to move to Athens to pursue his dream of becoming a singer. He had told his family he wanted to move the Athens to study hairdressing. Once in Athens, Ploutarchos began working during the day at a hair salon while singing at clubs at night. His first gig was at a small club in Korydallos. Disappointed by the prevailing conditions in the music business, he abandoned singing twice and pursued other occupations to support himself. Despite previous disappointments, Ploutarchos' love of music pushed him back into the business and just two years after his first performance, he started appearing at club Rodolfo, which was followed by appearances at bigger clubs such as Neraida, Fantasia, and Tonel where he collaborated with well-known laïka names such as Giannis Poulopoulos, Rita Sakellariou, Themis Adamantidis, as well as Contemporary aïka artists such as Stelios Rokkos and Giorgos Mazonakis. Around that time, he met Dimitris Kardatzis and Ilias Filippou who believed in his talent, and got him in touch with his first producer Girgos Makrakis, who is credited with inspiring his stage last name "Ploutarchos". As of 2011, Ploutarchos and his wife have been together for 23 years, and have five children together.
