Babis Tsertos was born in Tropea of Arkadia, Greece. At the age of 17 he came to Athens, where he now lives permanently. Although he started singing and chanting in a very young age, he wanted to go to University. In 1974 he was accepted in the Department of Physics. "I was very lucky that everyone in the family were very good singers, and my father also played the mandolin. I was also lucky to grow up in Tropea, the commercial, cultural and spiritual center of the region. I always recall many memorable feasts, where we could hear all kinds of Greek music".
As a student, Babis Tsertos, living during the 'revival' of rebetiko, learned to play bouzouki and participated in the University band singing entechno, folk and rebetiko. "My life was tied strongly to music. We spent almost every night in taverns playing music and singing. The thought, however, to become a professional singer was still far away". But when the first rebetiko taverns were bulit in the 80's, Babis Tsertos started working as a professional musician in the tavern "Oi Filoi" in Kipseli. Since then he sings constantly, having the chance to work with great performers and creators of rebetiko such as Sotiria Bellou, Takis Binis, Anna Chrysafi, Kaiti Grey, Kostas Kaplanis, Theodore Polikandriotis, Koulis Skarpelis, Chontronakos, and more recent musicians like Babis Goles, George Xintaris, Stelios Vamvakaris, Mario, Agathonas etc. Recently, he has worked with performers and creators such as: Glykeria, Manolis Mitsias, Vicky Moscholiou, Lakis Halkias, Manolis Rasoulis, Petros Vagiopoulos, Vitali, Dalaras, Thalassinos, Nadia Karagiannis, Aidonidis, Theodosia Stigga, Sotiria Leonardos etc.
In 2002 he received the Best Rebetiko Singer Award of "Corfiatika Awards" and in 2003 the Best Traditional Album Award (with his album "Anaglyfa Technis Tapeinis") of "Arion Awards".
During the last years he worked with "Estudiantina" presenting the musical richness of Smyrne's tradition. He participated in the album «Smyrne» of Estudiantina, a production o Gerge Dalaras that was recently released, with the participation of many great performers, winning the Best Traditional Album Award of "Arion Awards".
Also during the last years, he worked with the Mandolin Orchestra of Exarchia "Dionisios Lavragas", which has given a series of concerts in various theaters, including the Greek National Opera, along with great lyrical artists. The culmination of this collaboration was his participation in the album Diadromes (music by Ch. Nikolopoulos and lyrics by John Ladis), which pictures the
neighborhoods of Athens. It was a live recording of the concert of Mandolin Orchestra in the National Opera.
He has released 10 solo albums: Atimi Tichi, Erotopouleion, "a Niata ta Bermpantika, Meraklidiko Pouli, Tis Ligeris Apenanti, Anaglyfa Technis Tapeinis, "To Monopati, Babis Tsertos Sings Michalis Sougioul, Stou Paradeisou to Vytho and Vasilis Tsitsanis: Three Works, Seven Songs, and participated in many other albums.