Carlos Marin Carlos MarÃn (born October 13, 1968) is a baritone and member of the operatic pop musical quartet Il Divo. Born in Rüsselsheim, Germany, but raised in Madrid, Spain, Marin started his career in music early in life, recording his first album when he was eight years old, produced by Father Abraham. The record, named The Little Caruso, contained songs like "O Sole Mio" and "Granada". He even sang "Granada" in front of an audience of 700 people at that tender age. At age ten he recorded a second album called Mijn Lieve Mama (My Dearest Mother). This musical beginning led him to study piano and solfeo. 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 Miserables, and afterwards The Beauty and the Beast (where he suffered an accident that left him with a broken leg), Grease(where he played the role of Vince Fontain) , 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).
He sang in Tim Burton’s animated film, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and he was also the prince singing the songs 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 these last years he has won acclaim as primo baritono in several operas, including La Traviata, The Barber of Seville, La Boheme, 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.
Marin 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 in DVD like La Gran VÃa (The Great Way), La Revoltosa (The Rebellious), where he plays Fernando, and La Verbena de la Paloma (The Pigeon’s Festival), where he plays Julián.
In December 2003 he became a member of the international musical quartet Il Divo along with Sebastien Izambard (France), David Miller (USA) and Urs Bühler (Switzerland). Besides their musical experience and prowess, the members of Il Divo are also recognized for their impeccable taste in fashion, dressing almost exclusively in Armani suits, and also for their handsome looks. As a result of this, their first album, called 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 November 7, 2005 in the United Kingdom.
