Long Live Joburg's Club King, Chris Coutroulis

Joburg Admin / December 14, 2021

Image: @vanessa_carreira Instagram Businessman and founder of nightclub consortium The Taboo Group, Chris Coutroulis, passed away after a lengthy illness on 30 November 2021, at the age of 52 in a northern Johannesburg hospital. He is survived by his wife, former Miss SA Vanessa Carreira and his four children. Chris helped establish Johannesburg as a nightclub mecca that hosted top tier parties that could compete at a global level.

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A post shared by Taboo Sandton (@taboo_jhb)

Among those was his Maxim South Africa Top 100 party at Taboo, held to celebrate the top 100 most beautiful and successful women in South Africa. Chris's most famous club, Taboo, has hosted Bonang Matheba, Cassper Nyovest and Thando Thabethe's lavish birthday parties, and is a hotspot for celebrity sightings. His parties were attended by all the big South African names - from DJs like Euphonik to politicians like Fikile Mbalula - as well as international celebrities like David Beckham and Drake. During the 2010 Fifa World Cup, Taboo nightclub went all out with its advertising - even appearing on CNN. They hosted the FIFA Official Afterparty 2010 and drew international soccer players to its doors. Chris's long list of clubs (some now closed) include Taboo, The VIP Room, Onyx, Papparazzi. and Cocoon Lounge.

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A post shared by ONYX_Sandton (@onyx_sandton)

More recently, The Taboo Group launched Monarch - an upmarket restaurant and day club, also in Sandton.

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A post shared by Monarch Sandton (@monarch_sandton)

Chris's funeral was held on 7 December 2021, with a livestream of the memorial available online.

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