Marijonas Mikutavičius

A popular Lithuanian singer, musician and songwriter, a music awards winner; a television journalist and a talk show host from Vilnius. Possibly best known for his song Trys Milijonai. Born in Lazdijai, Lithuania at the age of 9 Mikutavičius moved to Vilnius with his family where he later entered, and graduated (1994) in the Communications Department ("Faculty of Communication") of Vilnius University as a master in journalism. While studying at the university, Mikutavičius worked for periodicals and as a Vakaro žinios (Evening News) reporter for Lithuanian television. He also played in a rock band Bovy, toured around Europe performing in the Scandinavian countries, Germany, and Eastern Europe, and gained recognition as the best vocalist at the Liepājas dzintars (Liepaja's amber) music festival in 1995. He has been working as a screenwriter and took part in a variety of programs, usually youth oriented, on Lithuanian National Radio and Television and on major commercial TV channels like LNK and Lithuanian TV3. He has hosted Vakaras su Marijonu (An Evening with Marijonas), a talk show on LNK. He also works as a Lietuvos rytas daily (Lithuanian Morning) correspondent. Mikutavičius is the author of multiple hit songs, which have occupied top positions in Lithuanian music charts. For his popular song Trys Milijonai, he was awarded a BRAVO music award in 2002 (Bravo is a Lithuanian analogue of BRIT Awards voted by the music industry and listeners); he has also won a Radiocentras music award (voted by the listeners). In 2004, a Lithuanian record label "Intervid" released his album Pasveikinkit vieni kitus (Greet Each Other), which included 2 versions of Trys Milijonai. The album went platinum in Lithuania (sold 20,000 copies early in 2004 and more than 30,000 copies by 2005). His second album Baigėme Mokyklą, featuring 10 new songs, was released in 2008 and received both critic and consumer acclaim. Marijus is a favourite of concert promoters as well – he played roles in huge stage versions of Lithuanian rock operas Velnio nuotaka, Meilė ir mirtis Veronoje and Jūratė ir Kastytis. 2006 brought new challenges and heights – Marijus became a member of Lithuanian „all star band“ LT United which won 6th place in the Eurovision song contest. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.