Born Antonio Rosario Monopoli in Adelaide, Australia, he was
a regular on the national radio show Kangaroos on Parade at the age of nine. At
the age of sixteen he became a Carmelite monk and remained in the order for
five years. He was appearing at Caesar's Palace in Luton when he auditioned for
Opportunity Knocks, a British television talent show, which he won on six
consecutive occasions in the 1970s. By the early 1980s, Monopoly was frequently
obliged to display his talents aboard cruise liners. "I lived on one yacht
for a year," he said. "I went to 56 countries. I had champagne for
breakfast. But I hated it" When fulfilling his increasingly rare
engagements on dry land, he divided his time between Australia and the UK. He
was headhunted for a musical while appearing in Cinderella at Hanley, near
Stoke-on-Trent. Monopoly starred - in drag - in Moby Dick, the inaugural
production at the newly refurbished Old Fire Station Theatre in Oxford. The
show's success prompted Cameron Mackintosh to mount a 1992 West End
production, that opened to scathing reviews and promptly closed, after which
Monopoly portrayed Old Deuteronomy in a UK tour of Cats. Here to download is a
single by Tony “The Girl I’ll Never Know” b/w “Love And The World Loves With
You” (EA-9666) recorded for H.M.V. Records and produced by Howard Gable. I
searched the net but can’t seem to find what year this was released. Monopoly
died in Brighton, England on 21 March 1995.
2 comments:
HMV EA-9668 was Johnny Farnham and Allison Durbin's Baby Without You, in 1971. HMV EA-9665 was Lovelace Watkins' Now You're Gone c/w a Blood Sweat and Tears combo -- the UK version (on York) was Oct 71. So I reckon 9666 looks like 1971.
I'm intrigued to read that he was in Moby-Dick in drag. I expect that would have been dangerous, but how do you do it? They're in the middle of the Pacific, with no women for thousands of miles?
And 9654 was a Moody Blues 45 released 23/09/1971.
So I reckon this one would be October 1971.
cheers
smithy
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