| Marijonas Mikutavičius | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Born | April 19, 1971 |
| Origin | Vilnius, Lithuania |
| Genres | Soft Rock, Alternative Rock, Pop, Blues, |
| Occupations | TV presenter, Songwriter, Performer, Journalist |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Labels | Promostar |
Marijonas Mikutavičius (born 19 April 1971 in Lazdijai) is a popular Lithuanian singer, musician and songwriter, a television journalist, a comedian and a talk show host from Vilnius. He is best known for his sports anthem Trys Milijonai as well as an official Eurobasket 2011 song Celebrate Basketball and for representing his country at Eurovision Song Contest 2006 as part of LT United.
Born in Lazdijai, at the age of 9 Mikutavičius moved with the family to Vilnius where he later entered, and in 1994 graduated the Faculty of Communication of the 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 and sang in the Scandinavian countries, Germany, and Eastern Europe, and gained recognition as the best vocalist at the Liepājas dzintars (Liepāja's amber) music festival in 1995.
He has been working as a screenwriter and a participant in a variety of programs, usually youth oriented, on Lithuanian National Radio and Television and on major commercial TV channels 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 a number of hit songs which stand at the top of the music charts in Lithuania. As the author of the popular song Trys Milijonai, he became a Bravo 2000 music award winner (Bravo is a Lithuanian analogue of BRIT Awards voted by the music industry people); he is also a recipient of the Radiocentras music award (voted by the listeners).
In 2004, a Lithuanian music recording company "Intervid" released his album Pasveikinkit vieni kitus (Greeting Each Other), which included 2 versions of "Trys Milijonai". This album reached the platinum award for sales in Lithuania (sold 20,000 copies early in 2004 and more than 30,000 copies by 2005). February–March 2005 saw a controversy in the media, which arose from the rumors that Mikutavičius apparently, unilaterally sold the rights of the song for 5 years to "Intervid".