Singer Tony Monopoly, an ex Carmelite monk from Adelaide, hits UK highs before lull broken by the 'Moby Dick' dud
Tony Monpoly singing "You never send me flowers" in a British television show duet with Shirley Bassey. Inset: His first 1976 self-titled album in the UK.
Tony Monopoly was a former Carmelite monk from Adelaide who abandoned the contemplative life and went on to win six consecutive editions as a singer of British talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1975. Famous for his white suit, medallion and luxuriant chest hair, he was frequently compared with Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck but never reached their heights.
Born Antonio Rosario Monopoli to Italian migrants in 1944 in Adelaide, Monopoly was a regular on radio 5AD’s Kangaroos on Parade show as a nine-year-old soprano. At 16, he entered the order of the Discalced (Barefoot) Carmelites where he was required to rise at 4.30am, observe silence, and perform self flagellation three times a week.
After five years, he returned to the secular world, got a job as a fabric salesman and resumed singing. During the 1960s, he regularly sung on television with Edwin Duff and Norm Erskine on In Melbourne Tonight and Tonight with Don Lane. Monopoly toured the Hilton hotels of southeast Asia and did an entertain-the-troops tour of South Vietnam. An obituary in The Independent, London, suggested Monopoly had a close relationship with Adelaide stripper/dancer Big Pretzel who also was on the tour.
In 1975, Monopoly was appearing at Caesar's Palace (Luton, England) when he was noticed by an impresario who persuaded him to go on the British TV talent show Opportunity Knocks. Initially reluctant, Monopoly retired undefeated after his six appearances, and within months had a record contract, a mews house in Notting Hill and a Mercedes-Benz. English reporters were fascinated by his monastic apprenticeship.
In June 1976, Monopoly’s self-titled album peaked at No.25 in the United Kingdom chart. In a national preselection in 1977 at New London Theatre to choose the song for Eurovision, Monopoly earned 66 points and placed ninth with "Leave a little love."
In mid 1970s, Monopoly could fill London’s Talk of the Town nightclub for a week, backed by a 25-piece orchestra. By the early 1980s, Monopoly was mainly performing aboard cruise liners: "I lived on one yacht for a year. I went to 56 countries. I had champagne for breakfast. But I hated it.” He otherwise divided his time between Australia and the UK.
Monopoly's fortunes were briefly, but spectacularly, revived in 1992 when he was cast as the lead in Moby Dick, the £1.2m West End musical produced by Cameron Mackintosh. He was headhunted for the role while appearing in Cinderella at Hanley, near Stoke-on-Trent. For Moby Dick, Monopoly,in drag, starred as Dorothy Hymen, a headmistress who plays Captain Ahab in her school's end-of-term musical.
The inaugural production’s success at the refurbished Old Fire Station Theatre in Oxford prompted Mackintosh to take it to the West End. It opened to scathing reviews and audiences unimpressed by characters such as Trixie Shedbanger, Fifi Clampwell and Sylvia Jocklick. It closed after a few months but Monopoly insisted he had “terrific fun'' leading a young and inexperienced cast. He went on to play Old Deuteronomy in a national tour of Cats.
Monoply's last performance was on New Year’s Eve 1994 at The Grosvenor House in London. In his final years, Monopoly returned to the Catholic Church. “I have been on a journey and come through practically unscarred. I have a relationship between myself and God. I am a peaceful man and a happy man. I believe that is all you can ask for in life”.