I saw a young man by the name of Michael Junior give a concert on PBS. It was a wonderful program. Please tell me all you can about him.
—Shirley C., Massachusetts
Michael Junior is a big talent in a small package. The 15-year-old singer is from Belgium and cites Mario Lanza, Elvis Presley, and Helmut Lotti as his early influences. Appropriately, it was the latter singer who helped launch his career. Junior met Lotti, also from Belgium, backstage during a concert to ask for an autographed picture. While there, the gutsy youngster began to sing a Lotti specialty, Tiritomba, and won Lotti over with his phenomenal voice. Taking Junior under his wing, Lotti invited the youngster to sing the duet Panis Angelicus with him on his CD and at a 1998 Christmas concert in the Forest National in Belgium. Junior says his hobbies include swimming, cycling, and playing guitar, but singing is his passion. Junior released his first solo album, Dreamland, in 1999.
