Career
His repertoire included both "traditional" (δημοτικά) and "popular" songs (λαϊκά). Most notable is his contribution to the subgenre of rebetiko (ρεμπέτικο). Roukounas is generally known as a singer, however he was also a songwriter.
Roukounas came from a poor family and thus had to start working from the age of eight, initially at a cigarette manufacturing business and later as a carpenter.
He began his artistic career in the mid-1920s as a singer at a taverna. Shortly thereafter he moved to Athens (in 1927 or 1928).
There he sang professionally on various festive occasions until he was discovered by Panagiotis Tountas, a leading composer and recording industry executive. Tountas got Roukounas to make his first recordings on 78 rpm records.
With his versatile voice he excelled in virtually all subgenres of traditional and rembetic music
Deserving particular mention are his renditions of the most demanding technically and semi-improvisational manedes. Roukounas collaborated with many composers throughout his long career, particularly Panagiotis Tountas, Spyros Peristeris, Kostas Skarvelis, and Grigoris Asikis. They lived together in a suburb of Athens until his death in 1984.