User:Solonz1/sandbox

Solon P Zafiropoulos (born February 20, 1970) is an American Singer-Songwriter, actor and comedian entertainment personality out of Boston, Massachusetts who is best known for headlining President Clinton's farewell concert in Boston on January 11, 2001. In addition to being a long time and well known front man, and talented entertainer for band, Guy Smiley, he is also one of Boston and New England's most well known vocalists of Frank Sinatra's Music and the Great American Songbook.

Early life
Solon was born in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Greek immigrants Dr. Pan & Georgia Zafiropoulos, who originally came to Boston to attend BU and Radcliffe. After deciding to stay and settle, they raised Solon and his two older brothers in a strict, Christian Orthodox upbringing, always stressing morals and discipline with a firm hand. Solon took a liking to music and entertainment from a young age, unknowingly following in his mother’s foot steps, who was an accomplished opera singer herself back in Greece, training under Maria Callas' teacher, Maria Trivella. www.SolonZandtheSapphires.com

Ever the creative talent as a young child, he enjoyed inventing characters and writing scripts for fictional stories to record voice overs using an old Realistic mic and tape recorder. This was around the same time he started listening monotonously to records of Greek comedian Karagiozi, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Van Morrison, and the Beatles. One day, he would be able to impersonate the voices of each by the time he reached his early 20's. You can click on the above artist names to hear Solon's tribute impressions.

His mother enrolled Solon for piano lessons from age 5 where he continued until he was 14 and opted to learn playing Beatles songs instead of continuing lessons…and with that he picked up a keyboard and began spending hours ever day, writing and playing many different original songs. He would later teach himself to play guitar – continuing to write songs until the present day.

Developing and Later Years
Solon always enjoyed singing, and also doing impersonations of everyone in his family, friends as well as famous people. He was the center of attention at all the family parties and gatherings, drawing both applause from the guests, and ire from his mother for going too far at times. His love for entertainment led him to the theater where he auditioned for and landed the lead roles in every play and musical from elementary school all the way up through college. It was at Wellesley based local community college, Mass Bay, where he further nurtured his comedy improv talents in plays like “God” by Woody Allen, and breaking the theater’s 30 year old attendance records, with slap stick humor that left the mostly adult audience laughing from start to finish. Bored with stage acts, he decided he enjoyed music too much to stay away, and started forming and playing with various bands.

He moved to Boston in 1998 after graduating from Northeastern University, in order to continue performing at New England's most well known clubs, the Pelham, Purple Shamrock and Harpoon Brewery with his band, Guy Smiley. His following grew soon after his band began headlining the Harpoon Festival s every few months, but really took off after JAN 11, 2001 when he was asked to headline President Clinton’s Farewell show in Boston’s Matthews Arena in front of 10,000+ adoring fans. His Elvis impersonation was so good, that then sitting President Clinton requested to meet him backstage for a photo together, and exclaimed, “I just love your Elvis Presley!”

From his childhood years up through today, Solon has put in countless hours to become an experienced and dynamic singer with an uncanny ability to mimic many famous people. Blessed with a rare 4 octave vocal range, some of his best impersonations include – Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Roger Daltrey, Frank Sinatra, Tom Petty Joey Ramone as well as famous Greek and American comedians. An experienced, and sought after corporate entertainer, and respected impressionist – Solon Z will make your special project shine. Give him a day to absorb a voice, and he will imitate it!

In 2013, he was again bored, this time with performing only pop music at weddings and clubs, and so he formed his own 24 piece big band swing orchestra, "Solon Z and the Sapphires"

Marriage and Children
In 2003, Solon married Martha Gomez Rios, and together they're raising 3 lovely children in Boston, Massachusetts.


 * Michael Pan Zafiropoulos (September 17, 2007)
 * Georgia Isabella Zafiropoulos (December 01, 2005)
 * Alexandra Nicole Zafiropoulos (January 29, 2010)

Music Path Today
Solon has performed in over 1,000 live shows over the years, and logged countless hours in the recording studio, and currently working on completing his first official album with his Sapphires collaborator, and arranger, Danny Fratina.

He has also recorded many songs, and voice over, and jingle projects for clients over the years, and still very active in this area. His recordings can be heard HERE.

Philosophical and/or political views
Solon is a registered independent, right leaning moderate, with possible political aspirations in the future, after he has finished raising kids. In the meantime, when he isn't busy performing with his swing orchestra at wedding receptions in Boston and New England, he is either boating with family and friends, internet marketing, business investments and spending his time writing political satire and comedy.

Published works
Solon has published several blog articles, along with copywrite content he has created for the websites of his various clients over the years. He has also been active recording and writing over the years, with some of his material available HERE.

Always cite your sources! No original research!

See Also External links

 * Solon Z
 * Solon Z and the Sapphires