35 Facts About Mario Frangoulis

Mario Frangoulis is a Greek vocalist and theatre actor, famous for his refined tenor vocals.

Mario Frangoulis's initial rise to international prominence came with his hit song "Vincero, Perdero" and his rendition of the song "Nights in White Satin".

Mario Frangoulis has recorded songs in Italian, Spanish, English, French, and Greek and is fluent in all five languages.

Mario Frangoulis was born on 18 December 1967 in Umtali, Rhodesia to Greek parents.

The couple adored him so much and Mario Frangoulis considered them as his parents.

At the age of eight Mario Frangoulis began singing in various choirs and at the age of eleven he played the part of Issachar in a school production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to follow by many different roles in several other school theatrical performances, including the Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret and at sixteen played Tony in West Side Story.

When Mario Frangoulis was six years old, he started violin lessons, which he continued for twelve years, receiving a first prize when he was as young as fourteen.

Mario Frangoulis graduated from the Conservatory in 1984, and although he did not further his violin studies, this particular musical training assisted Frangoulis with his operatic studies later in life.

In 1985, Mario Frangoulis moved to London, where he attended a three-year-long professional acting course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Also in 1989, Mario Frangoulis, who had never studied classical singing, received the Maria Callas Scholarship for Opera.

In 1991, Mario Frangoulis was invited by Andrew Lloyd Webber to star as Raoul in Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theater.

In 1992, Mario Frangoulis moved to The United States to continue his operatic studies.

In 1992, Mario Frangoulis traveled to Liverpool, where he performed in an Opera Gala celebrating the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America, hosted by Sir Peter Ustinov.

In 1995, Mario Frangoulis returned to London to play the role of Lun-Tha in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I during the Covent Garden Festival.

Mario Frangoulis sang the title role in the musical Yusupov in Oxford as well as Johnny in "Sail away".

Mario Frangoulis sang as a Les Miserables alumnus in the Tenth Anniversary Concert of the show at the Royal Albert Hall.

Mario Frangoulis reprised the role of Lun-Tha in a concert version of the musical with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Wally Harper, with Barbara Cook and his 1996 return to the London cast of Les Miserables.

In February 1997, due to his mother's serious illness, Mario Frangoulis returned to Greece.

The result of this introduction was, the signing of an exclusive contract for 2 CDs and 3 CDs optional, enabling Mario Frangoulis to start an international recording career at the highest level.

Mario Frangoulis's first solo album "Fengari erotevmeno", a live recording of the show, a double CD by Sony, Greece, was an immediate best-seller, thus winning him his second platinum album in two years.

In July 2000, Mario Frangoulis was the first Greek tenor to perform at La Scala, in Milan as Tony in West Side Story.

Mario Frangoulis was invited by the composer Mikis Theodorakis to perform in the Machi tis kritis concert at the Kallimarmaro amphitheater in a tribute to those who lost their lives in the Battle of Crete.

At the beginning of 2001, Mario Frangoulis took part in a charity opera gala at the Athens Concert Hall, along with stars of the Greek National Opera.

In March 2002, Mario Frangoulis gave a concert with Deborah Myers at the Athens Concert Hall, singing songs from well-known films.

On 30 January, Mario Frangoulis was invited by the Athens 2004 Olympic Games committee to give a concert at the Athens Olympic Stadium.

On New Year's Eve, Mario Frangoulis welcomed the year of 2004 with the Mayor of Athens in an outdoor performance in Syntagma Square, which was broadcast live all over Greece and by satellite all over the world.

Mario Frangoulis played the part of Alfred Drake, a Broadway star of the 1960s, and he sang the duet 'So in Love' from Kiss Me, Kate, with Lara Fabian.

Mario Frangoulis completed his new album Amor Oscuro, dedicated to the Spanish poet and dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca.

Mario Frangoulis toured in the United States leg of Sarah Brightman's "The Symphony World Tour".

Mario Frangoulis had various appearances in great Athenian and other Greek venues in those two years.

Mario Frangoulis was invited by the Special Olympics Committee to take a major part on the opening ceremony of the event in June 2011.

Since he loves and adores children, Mario Frangoulis gave a compassionate, loving and warmhearted performance, presenting a song from his new third international album Beautiful Things, which was first released in a place that occupies a very special spot in Mario Frangoulis' heart: the country of Greece.

In 2014 Mario Frangoulis performed with the acclaimed Norwegian soprano Sissel at a concert on Friday 5 September at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Greece.

In 2016 Mario Frangoulis recorded a duets album in Greek with Greek singer George Perris titled "Kivotos" which included covers of popular Greek art songs from the 80s and 90s.

Mario Frangoulis has sung in about forty charity galas, such as the Red Cross Annual Ball, held at the Grosvenor House, several galas organized by the Greek foundation Elpida, a charity dedicated to the cure of children who suffer from cancer in Athens, Greece and many others worldwide.