Career
Makulis became a successful singer in his native Greece before moving to Germany in the mid 1950s. In 1956 he scored a top 5 hit with "Auf Cuba sind die Mädchen braun". His biggest hit was "Gitarren klingen leise durch die Nacht", Number.4 in 1959, and he continued to place charting singles until 1964.
In 1961, Makulis was chosen internally by Austrian broadcaster ORF to represent the country with the song "Sehnsucht" ("Longing") in the sixth Song Contest, held on 18 March in Cannes, France.
This proved unsuccessful, as "Sehnsucht" picked up only one point, from the United Kingdom jury, and finished along with Belgium"s Bob Benny in joint last place of the 16 entries. "Sehnsucht" is one of very few entries never to have been recorded by the performer.
Makulis moved to the United States of America in 1965, and in following years lived and performed in Las Vegas. He moved back to his native Greece in 1985, and in 1990 took part in the selection for that year"s Greek entry, finishing fifth.
He returned to Germany in the early 1990s.
Makulis died following heart surgery in an Athens hospital on 28 October 2007, aged 72.