At around 1935, he came to Athens to study the violin, and met Stratos Payoumtzis, who hired him to play the bouzouki in his band at the venue ``Dasos" (``Woods") in Votanikos. In 1937, he recorded his first rebetiko ``To chrima den to logariazo" (``I am not counting the money"), which became an immediate success. Up to and, then, after the war he continued writing and composing songs. However, having realized that, using the classical bouzouki made it difficult to perform faster rhythms, he added a fourth string to the instrument, thus creating the 4-string bouzouki. The extra string widened the potential of the instrument, allowing for much faster playing as compared to the traditional bouzouki.

Meanwhile, in the 1950's he pioneered the use of amplification while playing a traditional instrument. Thus, the archontorebetiko period was initiated, during which the bouzouki entered the upper middle class entertainment venues. For this more affluent public Chiotis composed songs in latin American style, mainly based on the Mambo. This innovation strengthened further his reputation as a leader of a novel music tradition based on the rebetiko and the laiko. The press dubbed him the ``leader of the bouzouki in the salons".

The first venue that he himself founded after the war was the club ``Pigals", the first ``cosmopolitan club" in Athens. From the late 50's he started performing at the club ``Spilia" ("Cave") or ``Paraskeva's Cave" in Piraeus.

In 1960's Chiotis was listed in a special list by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the entertainment of foreign dignitaries visiting the country. He did perform for many Leaders and Heads of State and was even invited to perform at the White House for the Birthday of President Lyndon Johnson. At that visit, when Jimi Hendrix listened to a bouzouki solo of extraordinary speed and dexterity, he called Chiotis the ``greatest virtuoso of the bouzouki in the World".

To Chiotis are attributed more than 1500 songs. But he was also a soloist in the recording of songs by many other composers. Mikis Theodorakis trusted his virtuosity in his first official recording of ``Epitafios" by Yannis Ritsos, and their collaboration was continued with ``Lipotachtes", ``Archipelagos", etc. He also collaborated at around the same time with Manos Chatzidakis.

His greatest hits were recorded with Mary Linda, who was his second wife for a decade and with whom he made a cinematic appearance. He was married three times. His first wife was the, then, 14 years old Zoe Nachi. They had two children together. In 1958 he married Mary Linda. This marriage was full of successes in both of their careers, but ended unexpectedly in 1967-68. He finally married Beba Kyriakidou with whom he stayed until the end of his life.

Chiotis died suddenly of a heart ailment at the Hippocrates Hospital in Athens during the early mourning hours on his Birthday March 21, 1970. The news caused an outpouring of sorrow all over Greece. Public radio and TV stations broadcast special programs and all local daily newspapers praised his contributions to the Greek traditional music and cultural scene. 

Giannis Papaioannou (Greek: Γιάννης Παπαϊωάννου; January 18, 1913 – August 3, 1972) was a famous Greek musician and composer born in Kios, Turkey (now Gemlik). In English his name is sometimes romanized as Yannis, Ioannis or Yiannis. Most active in the 1940s, he wrote many songs, some of which are today considered classics of the rebetiko folk music style. These include: Pente Ellines Ston Adi, Kapetan Andreas Zeppo, Modistroula, Prin To Charama Monachos, and Fovamai Mi Se Chaso. His style retains much of the musical quality of the classical rebetika of the likes of Markos Vamvakaris, although the thematic content of the lyrics tends not to focus as much on the typically dark topics – drugs, death and prison – of earlier rebetika.

He died on August 3, 1972 in a road accident and was buried in a cemetery in Kallithea, just southwest of Athens, near the Tzitzifies area of south Kallithea, where he, like many other rebetiko and laiko musicians, would frequently perform.