Constantine Maroulis

[spring{fever}]

He was meant to have won that year <_<

Early years

Maroulis was born in Brooklyn to Greek American parents, James Constantine Maroulis and Constance P. Maroulis (born 1938). Both of his maternal and paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Greece in the 1920s.[1] He was brought up in the Greek Orthodox religion[2] and he can speak Greek.[citation needed] His older brother, Athan Maroulis (born 1964), is a record producer and his sister, Anastacia P. Maroulis (born 1968), is a New York / New Jersey schoolteacher.

When Maroulis was five years old his family moved to Wyckoff, New Jersey, an affluent suburb of New York City, where he grew up. At that time he developed an interest in music, following the lead of his older brother.

By age eleven he was studying the trumpet at Eisenhower Middle School.

He later sang in high school garage bands, including Lady Rain and Milkbone. He graduated from Ramapo High School in 1993.[3] He later attended the The Boston Conservatory of Music, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theater from the Boston Conservatory of Music and a minor in voice from the Berklee College of Music in 2002.

He was in the cast recording of the 2000 musical, Suburban Dreams, which was produced by composer Stephen Thompson, Richard Kenner, and Jesse Merz.[4]

Some years before appearing on Idol, Maroulis competed on the dating show Elimidate[5] and was an extra in NBC's Law and Order: SVU and the WB's Astro Boy.

He has appeared in a number of off-Broadway roles from the Conservatory, along with a series of independent films. After graduating the Conservatory, Maroulis trained as an acting apprentice at the prestigious Williamstown Theatre Festival[6] in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts and toured in the Broadway international touring company of Rent as the lead role Roger Davis.[2] His role as Roger was non-equity. Since he had no agent representing him, he was allowed to appear on American Idol. After American Idol Maroulis was briefly represented by the Creative Artists Agency, but as of October 2006, he is no longer represented by the agency.[7] As of 2006, Constantine created his own independent label, Sixth Place Records, a branch of Sixth Place Productions, which released his solo album, Constantine (album) on August 7th, 2007.

[edit] American Idol

In August 2004, supposedly upon an ex-girlfriend's suggestion, Maroulis traveled to Washington DC to audition for the television show American Idol. During the semifinals and finals of Idol, he was the subject of an internet memo, the Vote for the Worst online campaign provided by the Internet community, "Survivor Sucks" before the website switched focus to Scott Savol as a result of fan complaints.

For the 2005 season, Idol producers changed the age range of contestants from 16-26 to 16-28. Along with Bo Bice, Maroulis was one of the oldest contestants to participate on American Idol. Maroulis and Bice are also notable for being among the first contestants to compete using the rock idiom.

On April 27, 2005, Maroulis was eliminated from American Idol after he performed Nickelback's "How You Remind Me" during the 2000s music round. He was in the bottom three with Vonzell Solomon and Anthony Fedorov. Less than a week before his elimination, Maroulis's pre-Idol band, Pray For The Soul Of Betty, announced the May 10 release of their self-titled debut on their label, Baby Julius.[8]

Maroulis was featured on the American Idol Season 4: The Showstoppers compilation with "My Funny Valentine". His rendition of the Queen classic "Bohemian Rhapsody" also earned him the praise of judges, including that of the usually harsh Simon Cowell. Maroulis later recorded a studio version of the track for Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen, which was released on August 9, 2005 on Queen's label, Hollywood Records, a division of Universal.

[edit] Betty frontman

Main article: Pray for the Soul of Betty

Maroulis was added to the band in 2003 as the lead vocalist after winning over 150 auditioners. For three years, he contributed lyrics and songs for the band. The band rose to national attention when Maroulis appeared on Idol. His audition clip showed him "quitting" the band, a claim he had denied at the time. On March 20, 2006, Maroulis announced his departure with the band due to creative and business differences.

[edit] Solo career

In November and December 2005, Maroulis performed four live shows in Manila, Philippines and New Jersey, USA. His set list included well-known songs he has performed previously, including songs from Hedwig and the Angry Inch[9] Rent, Jesus Christ Superstar,[10] and American Idol. In August, 2006, Constantine completed a solo tour of 13 cities throughout the Northeast, where he debuted material to be featured on his upcoming CD, including various self-penned compositions. [11]

On August 7th, 2007 Constantine released his 2-years-in-the-making CD with 12 tracks. Maroulis' self-titled CD Constantine (album) debuted at #75 on the Billboard charts.

Maroulis sang the National Anthem when he played at the Reality All-Star Soccer Festival (organized by Survivor: Africa winner, Ethan Zohn) in April 2007, and also sang the Anthem before the start of a 49ers/Bengels football game at Monster Stadium, San Francisco in December 2007. The performance, broadcast nationally on the NFL Network, was hailed by commentator Bryant Gumbel as "a stirring performance."

Constantine embarked on another solo tour across the eastern U.S. in February 2008, playing to sold-out venues in various cities including Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Annapolis.

[edit] Acting career

In the fall of 2005, he was in negotiations to star in a television sitcom called "Brooklyn" that was to be loosely based on his upbringing as the youngest of three in a large Greek-American family of New York. Disney's ABC network bought rights to the show, courtesy of Grammnet (of Paramount, owned by former Cheers and Frasier star Kelsey Grammer). However, later ABC passed on the project before it passed the script stage.[7]

On August 22, 2006, it was announced by MTV that Maroulis was joining the cast of the Broadway musical The Wedding Singer alongside Stephen Lynch. On August 23, 2006, it was announced that he was performing the role of Sammy, originally performed by Matthew Saldivar. He joined the show for an 8-week stint through December 3, 2006. Beginning on January 9, 2007, Maroulis took over the role of "Young Soldier" in the Off-Broadway musical revue, "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" where he performed through the end of February.

Maroulis joined the cast of the CBS daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful on May 15, 2007 for a limited run as Constantine Parros, a singer and record producer. He signed a 13-week contract.

In February of 2008, Maroulis appeared in a reading of Eric Sanders, playwright's play "It's a Dry Heat" at Playwrights Horizons, opposite Tony Award-nominee Isabel Keating and rising star Gillian Jacobs.

March 2008 saw Maroulis joining the cast of American Idol Extra as cohost, along with fellow American Idol alumni Gina Glocksen and J.D. Roberto, broadcast on the Fox Reality Channel.

[edit] Personal life

On October 24, 2007, US Weekly reported that Maroulis is currently dating '80s pop singer Debbie Gibson, although Maroulis says they are just friends.

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