Stavros Ioannou was born in 1945 in Athens. He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts under Yiannis Moralis (he graduated in 1976). He held solo exhibitions (his first solo exhibition was held at the bookstore Gazette in Athens in 1976, then at Syllogi art gallery in 1977 and 1979, at Ora art gallery in 1983, etc.) and he also took part in group exhibitions.

He won the First Prize for Painting (House of Letters and Arts – 1979) and an honourable distinction at the Pan-Balkan Plastic Arts Exhibition in Bucharest (1980). Stavros Ioannou died in Athens in 2009. He was a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece.