Parents
I was born to immigrant parents we lived in the middle of the East End of London. My father a Greek Cypriot was a carpenter. Although he started life as an actor and performer in Cyprus. He was responsible for starting a national theatre movement that brought culture and performing arts into the rural communities of Cyprus in the 1950s.
He was also a well-known writer of short stories and poems these have been published in Cyprus and are even now required reading in schools and colleges. My mother was very different, her upbringing was extremely tough. She began work when she was 10 as a domestic and met my father when she was 16. During those years there was much political upheaval in Cyprus. Many people that had been involved in anything that could be construed as connected to the government became a target. My father who was by that time being offered work on national radio saw himself as a potential target so he moved to the relative safety of England in the late 1950s to escape what he felt was political persecution.
Leaving his creative roots behind him found work as a carpenter. But he was a much better writer than he was a carpenter! After a mild angina attack in the late Sixties he stopped working. From that point on my father concentrated on writing.
My mother also Greek-Cypriot spent most of her life on a sewing machine working for a pittance. At the time Greek-Cypriot factory owners employed many outworkers. They would supply a sewing machine and then provide cut garments to be stitched together. She would generally work 15 hours a day seven days a week and this is primarily what fed my family. Our house was a fairly large seven-bedroom townhouse in the centre of Hackney. And we used to take in lodgers to pay the mortgage.
Childhood
I was the youngest of four I had two elder brothers and an elder sister.
I have always felt different to other kids. I have very vivid memories of being in the school playground at the age of 6 analysing what the other kids were doing and why. That said I had an extraordinary amount of freedom. Despite the potential danger of living in the East end of London. I spent considerable time riding my bike all round London and exploring.
Both my brothers have fairly damaged upbringings. One lodger in particular was responsible for bringing drugs into the household. And they both became addicted to heroin. I have vivid memories as a child of peering into open doorways and seeing them with their arms belted and a syringe pushed into their veins. My eldest brother descended into alcoholism and my next brother down became addicted to LSD to the point where one night he thought he could fly and proceeded to jump out his bedroom window. This of course proved that he couldn't fly as he came crashing down and broke most of the bones in his body. Two suicide attempts later he wound up in a psychiatric hospital. So I guess my parents didn't have much time for me as they attempted to assimilate themselves into their new culture at the same time as trying to understand where they had gone wrong in bringing up their children.
Music
Music, writing and performing became my escape. From about the age of 12 I started performing and recording my music. By 16 I was an accomplished performer. Got signed to three record companies over the years. But was never happy with the environment, so I made my own way (as I always have)
Went through a period when I wanted to become a priest. Did loads of training and felt quite close. But I just wasn’t the right shape. I wanted freedom they wanted rules. I wanted spiritual expression, they wanted conformity. I wanted to radicalise they wanted comfortable slippers. I just couldn’t reconcile the statement of love people were making with the reality of the actions they weren't taking.
Spiritual Journey
I became a born again Christian at the age of 16. But I have had a profound sense of God in my life for as long as I can remember. In the 25 years or so since I have been involved with most aspects of the Christian community.
I’ve worked with (and for !!) most denominations from Baptist to Anglican and most shapes in between. The most profound thing I discovered was that we had so much in common, but yet seemed so far apart.
I, like most people have had some big up’s and down’s. I have been profoundly hurt by those proclaiming to be “in his service” and I have been profoundly blessed and inspired by the quiet strength and deep faith of others. I have been let down and trampled on and I’m ashamed to have trampled on others in my journey.
The only true constant, is knowing his deep, un faltering love. I have been so grateful for God’s ability to restore and heal and the miracle of forgiveness. I am always shocked that he would or could love someone like me !! I don’t feel I deserve or could ever earn his attention.
Each day, I look up and in, and follow the road in front of me.
Now
Just at the place of being uncomfortably comfortable !! Waiting for the next deluge !!!
I was born to immigrant parents we lived in the middle of the East End of London. My father a Greek Cypriot was a carpenter. Although he started life as an actor and performer in Cyprus. He was responsible for starting a national theatre movement that brought culture and performing arts into the rural communities of Cyprus in the 1950s.
He was also a well-
Leaving his creative roots behind him found work as a carpenter. But he was a much better writer than he was a carpenter! After a mild angina attack in the late Sixties he stopped working. From that point on my father concentrated on writing.
My mother also Greek-
Childhood
I was the youngest of four I had two elder brothers and an elder sister.
I have always felt different to other kids. I have very vivid memories of being in the school playground at the age of 6 analysing what the other kids were doing and why. That said I had an extraordinary amount of freedom. Despite the potential danger of living in the East end of London. I spent considerable time riding my bike all round London and exploring.
Both my brothers have fairly damaged upbringings. One lodger in particular was responsible for bringing drugs into the household. And they both became addicted to heroin. I have vivid memories as a child of peering into open doorways and seeing them with their arms belted and a syringe pushed into their veins. My eldest brother descended into alcoholism and my next brother down became addicted to LSD to the point where one night he thought he could fly and proceeded to jump out his bedroom window. This of course proved that he couldn't fly as he came crashing down and broke most of the bones in his body. Two suicide attempts later he wound up in a psychiatric hospital. So I guess my parents didn't have much time for me as they attempted to assimilate themselves into their new culture at the same time as trying to understand where they had gone wrong in bringing up their children.
Music
Music, writing and performing became my escape. From about the age of 12 I started performing and recording my music. By 16 I was an accomplished performer. Got signed to three record companies over the years. But was never happy with the environment, so I made my own way (as I always have)
Went through a period when I wanted to become a priest. Did loads of training and felt quite close. But I just wasn’t the right shape. I wanted freedom they wanted rules. I wanted spiritual expression, they wanted conformity. I wanted to radicalise they wanted comfortable slippers. I just couldn’t reconcile the statement of love people were making with the reality of the actions they weren't taking.
Spiritual Journey
I became a born again Christian at the age of 16. But I have had a profound sense of God in my life for as long as I can remember. In the 25 years or so since I have been involved with most aspects of the Christian community.
I’ve worked with (and for !!) most denominations from Baptist to Anglican and most shapes in between. The most profound thing I discovered was that we had so much in common, but yet seemed so far apart.
I, like most people have had some big up’s and down’s. I have been profoundly hurt by those proclaiming to be “in his service” and I have been profoundly blessed and inspired by the quiet strength and deep faith of others. I have been let down and trampled on and I’m ashamed to have trampled on others in my journey.
The only true constant, is knowing his deep, un faltering love. I have been so grateful for God’s ability to restore and heal and the miracle of forgiveness. I am always shocked that he would or could love someone like me !! I don’t feel I deserve or could ever earn his attention.
Each day, I look up and in, and follow the road in front of me.
Now
Just at the place of being uncomfortably comfortable !! Waiting for the next deluge !!!