Greek pop star Giorgos Mazonakis, who also enjoyed a strong following among the Greek diaspora, has died of a heart attack after being rushed to a hospital in Athens. He was 54.

Mazonakis reportedly suffered cardiac arrest on Friday afternoon while at a clinic in Kolonaki for scheduled therapy.

Later on Friday, the doctor monitoring the singer was summoned to provide a statement to police about the events leading up to the cardiac arrest.

Police are working to establish the timeline from the moment Mazonakis arrived at the clinic to the onset of his severe discomfort and the subsequent call to the ambulance service.

Doctors at Athens’ Elpis Hospital attempted to resuscitate the singer, but he was pronounced dead less than an hour after being admitted.

Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis intervened Friday night, noting that the cardiac arrest occurred during a plasmapheresis procedure at a facility operating under a simple pathology clinic license.

He said the procedure is not permitted in such facilities, adding the exact cause of death is expected to be determined by the forensic investigation.

Mazonakis, who grew up in the Piraeus area and was of Cretan descent, began performing at a club in Patra, western Greece, in the early 1990s. His energetic stage presence soon caught the attention of Universal Music, then known as PolyGram, which signed him and released his debut album in 1993.

Influenced by leading Greek singers including Stratos Dionysiou, Giannis Parios, Marinella and Haris Alexiou, Mazonakis developed a commercial style that blended old-school Greek influences with contemporary pop.

Over the course of his career, he performed extensively across Greece and Cyprus, as well as for Greek communities in Germany, Australia and the United States, including New York, New Jersey, Atlantic City and Chicago.

Source: Ekathimerini.com