Don’t call The Ten Tenors’ Dion Molinas “the gay one.”

By Joseph S. Amster

Although Dion Molinas is the openly gay member of the Australian singing sensation The Ten Tenors, please don’t call him “the gay one”—he’d prefer to be known for his talent rather than his sexual orientation. “Apart from doing interviews with gay magazines, I don’t really make it a point of going out there and saying ‘Hello, I’m the gay one’ kind of thing. I want to be known as Dion, part of The Ten Tenors, which is what I’ve always done,” he says.

Luckily, being out has never been an issue to his group mates; in fact, they try to find him dates. “I’ve decided to take some of the guys out with me when I go out, because when I do, they’re like my little Buddha, my good luck charm,” he says. “They point guys out, push them over, and say, ‘Talk to him.’ I’m actually really, really shy—no matter how much I’ve had to drink. I’ve been single for seven years, and you lose contact with how to talk to people. I’m hopeless, actually. I always wait for someone to come up and talk to me, and when they don’t, I leave and I get really upset.”

The Ten Tenors, who just released their second album, entitled Here’s to the Heroes, are currently touring to promote the disc. They’ll perform an opening-night benefit on Tuesday, Oct. 24 for AIDS Walk Los Angeles as part of an engagement at the Pantages Theatre running through Nov. 5.

The Ten Tenors are no flash in the pan sensation—they’ve worked hard for nearly 10 years to achieve success. “We worked very, very hard to be where we are today,” Dion says. “For two years, we toured through outback Australia, driving ourselves around, setting up our own musical equipment and putting up chairs, so we came from very humble beginnings. This may sound a little divaish, but I think we deserve to be where we are, because we haven’t had any money thrown at us—it’s only recently that people have stood up and taken notice as far as record companies. We’re with Warner Music, and they see the potential now, but to get to that point, we did all the work. We weren’t a group that Simon Cowell put together and said, ‘Here’s $3 million, you’re going to be famous—I’ll make you famous.’ We worked exceptionally hard, so I’m not surprised at the success we’ve had because of the way we’ve worked to get to it. One of the strengths of the group is that it’s been organic—everything has come from within. Still to this day, we do all our own vocal arrangements, we choose the music, and we do the staging. Although we have a lighting designer, we contribute to that as well in terms of how we feel a particular song should feel and look onstage, so everything is still organic from within the group.”

With The Ten Tenors’ repertoire ranging from heavy classical to a pinch of pop, Dion has a wide range of musical tastes. “As far as classical composers, Mozart is my favorite—his work is such easy-listening music, and I really love it. The iconic tenor piece would have to be Nessun Dorma from the opera Turandot, which is amazing to sing, but also difficult to sing. It’s just a beautiful song. Pavoratti is famous for singing it,” he says. As far as vocalists, however, they must have good pipes. “Although he’s expired somewhat, Pavoratti is my favorite tenor in his day. Personally, I think he will forever be the world’s greatest tenor. It will be hard to

surpass him—he was amazing—the man was incredible. My role models in the pop world are all women. I’m not really heavily into the male pop singers, but Robbie Williams is cool—he’s good and very diverse. For me, I’d have to say Christina Aguilera because the girl can sing, and I really appreciate that. The closest we come to doing a pop song is Who Wants to Live Forever? by Queen, which is just an amazing song, just a brilliant song to sing. [Freddie Mercury] was a tenor, and he’d probably have to be my favorite contemporary male tenor.

As far as the far future, Dion says that someday, he’d love to retire to the Caribbean or his home in Brisbane, Australia. Thinking 10 years ahead, perhaps a return to his first love, the musical theater. “I’d like to be involved in a musical production someday on Broadway or the West End of London,” he says. “At the moment, I’m not thinking too far ahead, because I’m just riding this wave. The group is going from strength to strength, and you’d have to be crazy to pull out at a time when it’s just going forward and forward.”

Ultimately, Dion says he’d like to find someone to share his life with, something that’s been difficult while touring. “I’d like to find some who has a happy balance between dependence and independence. I’ve been single for seven years, and most of that time I’ve been working very hard, so I haven’t had the opportunity to meet someone. I need somebody who understands what I do, is very patient, and has their own circle of friends so they can be independent when I travel. I’ve resigned myself that while I’m working as much as I am, that I may not meet anybody. That’s a shame; because I look at everything I’ve done in the last six years when we’ve become so successful, and I haven’t had the opportunity to spend it with somebody special. More than likely, it’ll be just stories I’ll be telling someone and photos. That’s one thing that upsets me, because I’m a very generous person and I like to share my life and myself with people. Maybe I won’t get to share this part of my life with anybody, but that’s the way it goes.” For more information about The Ten Tenors’ Oct. 24 AIDS Walk Los Angeles benefit, go to www.broadwayla.org/awla, or call (213) 365-3500. For more information about The Ten Tenors, go to www.thetentenors.com.