Demetrio Stratos was born as Efstratios Demetriou in Alexandria, Egypt on April 22, 1945, of Greek parents (Janis Demetriou and Athanassia Archondoyorghi). He spent his first 13 years in Alexandria where he studied piano and accordion at the prestigious "Conservatoire National d'Athènes" ("National Conservatoire of Athens"), and studied English at the British Boys School. As he later said, the fact that he was born in Alexandria made him feel like a special and privileged "porter" in an international hotel, destined to live the experience of peoples' passages and to assist in the true "traffic" of culture in the Mediterranean area, so full of various ethnic groups and intense musical practices. His family was of Greek Orthodox religion, so during his infancy he listened to religious Byzantine songs, traditional Arabic music and then the early beginnings of rock and roll. All of those sounds strongly influenced him for the rest of his life. In 1957, because of the political events that upset Egypt, he was sent to the Catholic College of the Holy Land in Nicosia, Cyprus where, two years later, his family joined him.