Carlos Marín

Carlos Marín (born 13 October 1968) is a Spanish baritone and a member of the classical crossover group Il Divo, who has sold over 28 million records worldwide.

Born in Mörfelden-Walldorf near Rüsselsheim (Hessen, Germany) but raised in Madrid, Spain, Carlos started his career in music early in life, recording his first album when he was eight years old, produced by Father Abraham aka Pierre Kartner. The record, named The Little Caruso, contained songs like "O Sole Mio" and "Granada". He even sang "Granada" in front of an audience of 800 people at that age. At age ten he recorded a second album calledMijn Lieve Mama (My Dear Mother). This musical beginning led him to study piano and solfeggio. He lived in the Netherlands for a short period of time and became known as "Carlos the Little Caruso".

When he was twelve he moved to Spain, where he won several awards in television contests like "Gente Joven" (Young People) and "Nueva Gente" (New People) in TVE (Spanish Television) when he was 15 and in his 20s. During this time he also started to sing in live TV shows accompanied by an orchestra.

He has earned through the years an important reputation as a musical performer, cultivating different musical genres and receiving excellent reviews by the critics. He made a name for himself in the musical industry, participating in several musical contests: the "Jacinto Guerrero", "Francisco Alonso" and "Julián Gayarre" in 1996, where he won second place in male performers, among others.

He has performed in several musicals, starting in 1993 as Marius in Les Misérables, and afterwards The Beauty and the Beast (where he suffered an accident that left him with a broken ankle), Grease (where he played the role of Vince Fontaine), El Diluvio Que Viene (The Coming Flood), and covering for José Sacristán in Man From La Mancha. He has also participated in the production of La Magia De Broadway (Broadway Magic) and Peter Pan (in theater and CD), in this musical he shared also the tasks of musical direction with Alberto Quintero.

He sang in Henry Selick's animated film, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and he was also the Prince's singing voice in Disney's Spanish version of Cinderella, produced in the year 2000.

Carlos has taken vocal lessons with Alfredo Kraus, Montserrat Caballé and Jaume Aragall.

In recent years he has won acclaim as primo baritono in several operas, including La Traviata, The Barber of Seville, La Bohème, Lucia Di Lammermoor and Madame Butterfly. Some of his most distinguished opera performances available on record are Mercutio in Campoamor (Oviedo), Don Giglio in La Capricciosa Corretta (highly recommended for opera lovers), or in Damut's version of Marina.

Marín has also participated in zarzuela (Spanish operetta). He participated in the zarzuelas in the Jardines De Sabatini (Sabatini Gardens in Madrid) point of encounter for the music lovers during the summer season at the Gardens of Madrid's Royal Palace. Some of his performances in the Spanish operetta can be found on DVD like La Gran Vía (The Great Way), La Revoltosa (The Rebellious), in which he plays Felipe, and La Verbena De La Paloma (The Fair of the Virgin of la Paloma), in which he plays Julián.

In December 2003, he became a member of the international musical quartet Il Divo along with Urs Bühler (Switzerland), Sébastien Izambard (France), and David Miller (USA).

Their debut album, Il Divo, became a worldwide multiplatinum selling record when released in November 2004, entering Billboard at number four and selling five million copies worldwide in less than a year and knocking Robbie Williams from the number one spot in the charts. Their second album, Ancora, was released on 7 November 2005 in the United Kingdom. Il Divo's third album, Siempre, was released on 21 November 2006 in the United States and on 27 November 2006 internationally. Their album, The Promise, was released on 10 November 2008 (world) and on 18 November 2008 (US), and shot straight to number 1 in the UK. On 1 December 2009 Il Divo released their album An Evening with Il Divo (Live in Barcelona) with their single "Unbreak my Heart" turning into another crushing success on the top charts. That same year Il Divo were chosen to sing Sortilegio de Amor, the soundtrack for the Mexican Televisa soap opera, Sortilegio, written by the Brazilian songwriter Denisse de Kalaffe. In 2011 Il Divo received the Classical Brit Award, Artist of the Decade. In June the same year, Il Divo were named Musical Ambassador in Japan and were asked to sing "Time to Say Goodbye" for the Japanese movie Andalucia.

Parallel to his presence in Il Divo, Carlos Marin started his own solo show performing for the first time in Madrid (Spain), where he gave four concerts at the Compac Gran Via Theater in June 2011, continuing with these solo concerts in Campeche (Mexico) 2014, Ciudad del Carmen (Mexico) 2015, Madrid (Spain) 2015, Mexico DF – Teatro Metropolitan 2016 which kicks off his first World Tour to include USA, Spain, Mexico; South-America and Japan.

In September 2016, Carlos Marin releases his first personal DVD/CD Worldwide, result of the recording done during the Show at the Compac Gran Via Theater in Madrid, January 2016, where he sold out every night for 6 shows straight, gathering spectators from all over the world.

Solo

• Studio albums:

1. Little Caruso (1976)
2. Mijn Lieve Mama (My Dear Mother) (1978)

• Opera and musicals:
• Jekyll & Hyde, The Musical: Promo (2000)
• Live albums:

1. En Concierto (2016)

Il Divo

• Studio albums:

1. Il Divo (2004)
2. Ancora (2005)
3. Siempre (2006)
4. The Promise (2008)
5. Wicked Game (2011)
6. A Musical Affair (2013)
7. Amor & Pasión (2015)
8. Timeless (2018)

• Seasonal album:

1. The Christmas Collection (2005)

• Compilations:

1. The Greatest Hits (2012)

• Live albums:

1. An Evening with Il Divo: Live in Barcelona (2009)
2. Live in Japan (2014)

• Special editions:

1. Il Divo: Gift Edition (2005)
2. Il Divo Collezione (2006)
3. Christmas Collection: The Yule Log (2006)
4. The Promise. Luxury Edition (2008)
5. Wicked Game: Gift Edition (2011)
6. Wicked Game: Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set (2011)
7. The Greatest Hits: Gift Edition (2012)
8. The Greatest Hits: Deluxe Limited Edition (2012)
9. A Musical Affair: Exclusive Gift Edition (2014)
10. A Musical Affair: French Versión (2014)
11. Live in Japan: Japan Versión (2014)

Il Divo

1. 2004 – Live at Gotham Hall
2. 2005 – Encore
3. 2005 – Mamá
4. 2006 – The Yule Log: The Christmas Collection
5. 2006 – Live At the Greek Theater
6. 2008 – At the Coliseum
7. 2009 – An Evening with Il Divo: Live in Barcelona
8. 2011 – Live in London
9. 2014 – Live in Japan
10. 2016 – Live in Japan 2016