Despite that the Greeks of Constantinople were exempted from the population exchange of 1923, the hostile attitude by Turkish people towards them forced his family to immigrate to Greece.
[2] Against the will of his father who wanted him to become a fisherman, Mitsakis in 1937 fled to Thessaloniki where he met Vassilis Tsitsanis, Apostolos Hatzichristos and attended performances by Markos Vamvakaris.
After the war, Mitsakis cooperated with artists such as Giannis Papaioannou, Manolis Chiotis and Apostolos Kaldaras and quickly rose to fame.
During the 1950s, he worked with important singers such as Stelios Perpiniadis, Stratos Pagioumtzis, Anna Hrisafi, Sotiria Bellou, Marika Ninou, Stella Haskil and Keti Grey.
His successful career continued in the 1960s, during which he worked with Grigoris Bithikotsis, Spyros Zagoraios, Manolis Angelopoulos, Stratos Dionysiou, Stelios Kazantzidis, Marinella, Poly Panou, Yiota Lydia, as well as younger singers such as Giannis Kalatzis and Giorgos Dalaras.