Carlos Marín, from child prodigy to prince of Cinderella
Carlos Marín, baritone and music producer, died this Sunday at age 53, was the only Spanish member of the pop and opera fusion quartet Il Divo, which also includes the Swiss Urs Bühler, the French Sébastien Izambard and the American David Miller.
Marín, who had been admitted to an induced coma since December 8 at the Royal Hospital in Manchester (United Kingdom), was born in Rüsselsheim, Hesse (Germany) on October 13, 1968, although his origin and education were Spanish.
Infant prodigy, At the age of eight he recorded his first album, 'El poco Caruso', and he performed in public in Granada. He studied piano and music theory and sang with Alfredo Kraus, Montserrat Caballe and Jaume Aragall, among others.
In 1980 he began his singing career in Spain, where he participated in several musical competitions, such as Jacinto Guerrero, Francisco Alonso and Julián Gayarre, in which he finished second in 1996.
He played roles in the musical Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast, Grease, The Coming Deluge or Man from La Mancha, in which he was a substitute for actor José Sacristán, and acted as a baritone in the operas La Traviata, El barbero de Sevilla, La Boheme, Lucia Di Lammermoor, Madame Butterfly, La Capricciosa Corretta and Marina.
He also acted in various zarzuelas of 'Los Veranos de los Jardines de Sabatini (Madrid)', such as La Gran Vía, La Revoltosa and La Verbena de la Paloma, and he collaborated in the production of La Magia De Broadway and Peter Pan, where he was co-producer with Alberto Quintero.
He also sang in the animated film 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' (Tim Burton) and in 2000 he voiced the prince in the Spanish version of 'Cinderella' by Walt Disney.
In 2004 he created Il Divo, known for taking the hits of popular music into the lyrical field, with which he has sold more than 26 million copies of his albums worldwide, with more than 50 number one for his sales and 160 albums gold and platinum in more than 33 different countries.
