Ryan Molloy

Ryan Molloy is a British actor, singer, and songwriter born on 21 November 1972 in North Shields, Tyneside, to Bob and Winnie Molloy. He attended Marden Bridge Middle School and Monkseaton High School before leaving at sixteen. He subsequently enrolled at Delaval Studios, part of Tyne Metropolitan College, then relocated to London to train as an actor at The Poor School. At nineteen he also trained at the University of California, Los Angeles and in New York City, where he supported himself largely by winning karaoke competitions. His sister Michelle lived in the United States during this period.

Following his return to England in 1994, Molloy was signed by RCA Records. A five-track self-titled debut album planned for 1997 was ultimately cancelled by the label. In 1998 he sang "Black and White Army (Bringing The Pride Back Home)," a song written by Sting to mark Newcastle's appearance in the 1998 FA Cup final. His recording career with RCA did not continue beyond that point.

Molloy began his stage career in dramatic theatre, appearing in a Los Angeles production of The Picked Cerebrum and London productions of Betrayal, The Merchant of Venice, and Macbeth. In 2003 he joined the West End production of Taboo, playing Steve Strange alongside Boy George and Lyn Paul. The following year he was part of the original cast of Jerry Springer: The Opera at the National Theatre, where he played the transvestite Tremont and the Angel Gabriel. After recovering from an appendix operation in early 2006, he took the role of Stuart in the touring production of Tonight's the Night, Ben Elton's musical built around the songs of Rod Stewart. In April and May 2007 he played Ozzie in On the Town at the London Coliseum, and in June appeared as Joliet Jake Blues in Blues Brothers Unlimited at Centrepoint Theatre in Dubai. That August he performed in Eurobeat at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and in September and October played John the Baptist and Judas in Godspell, with critics Mark Shenton and Sam Marlowe noting his projection of charisma.

In October 2007 Molloy was cast as Frankie Valli in the West End premiere of Jersey Boys at the Prince Edward Theatre. He gave his first preview performance on 28 February 2008, with the official opening following on 18 March 2008. Critical reception was strong: Lyn Gardner wrote that the production worked because Molloy carried it as the pint-sized Italian-American with an extraordinary falsetto, while Shenton praised his emotional and vocal range as the evening's anchor. He received an Olivier Award nomination at the 2009 Laurence Olivier Awards and was voted Best Actor in a Musical at the 2009 WhatsOnStage Awards by the public. Molloy remained with the production for six years, accumulating 2,500 performances in the lead role by February 2014 and departing after the final show on 9 March 2014, a tenure that made him the longest-running star in a West End musical and the longest-serving Frankie Valli in any production. He also contributed vocals, including on "Beggin'," to the soundtrack of Clint Eastwood's 2014 film adaptation of the musical, having auditioned for the film role that ultimately went to John Lloyd Young. Molloy reprised the stage role on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre in New York City for a limited engagement running from July to October 2014. In March 2017 he appeared in two sold-out Frankie's Farewell Weekend performances of Jersey Boys London at the Hippodrome in London.

On 31 October 2004, selected from two hundred candidates, Molloy became the new lead singer of Frankie Goes to Hollywood. On 11 November he performed at a special charity concert for the Prince's Trust at Wembley Arena, a show celebrating producer Trevor Horn's twenty-five years in the industry, where he sang "Welcome to the Pleasuredome," "Two Tribes," and "Relax." Horn described him as a hell of a good frontman. Molloy continued with the band through a 2005 tour and wrote new songs for them, though those recordings were not released before the band disbanded in 2007. He maintained his association with Horn and contributed lead vocals on "Freeway," "Man on the Moon," and "Stay Elaine" for the Trevor Horn Band's studio album Made in Basing Street, released in 2012. He performed with the Trevor Horn Band at Queen Elizabeth Hall in 2018, Cornbury Music Festival in 2019, Rewind Festival in 2021, and Cropredy Music Festival in 2022, where the set included "Two Tribes," "Relax," "Power of Love," and Yes's "Owner of a Lonely Heart."

In 2005 Molloy worked with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics on the spoof documentary Platinum Weird, a project that also involved Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, and Carmen Electra. He and Stewart collaborated again in 2019, when Molloy performed "Thorn in My Side" and "Love is a Stranger" at the Eurythmics Songbook concert at the Royal Festival Hall. In August 2006 he appeared at Jools Holland's Jam House Club during the Edinburgh Festival with his band Suntan. On 1 and 3 June 2013, Molloy performed "Make Our Garden Grow" with Barbra Streisand at two concerts of her Barbra Live tour at The O2 Arena, stepping in after the originally scheduled duet partners Il Volo cancelled on the day of the performance, leaving him little time for rehearsal.

In 2009 Molloy released two albums, Sings Frankie and Human. On 23 September 2013 he released the single "Turn on the Night," followed in 2016 by the pop rock album of the same name, which he described as mainly comprising older songs he had written. In April 2017 he held a concert titled "Big in Japan" in Tokyo, collaborating with producer Andy Wright and Simply Red guitarist Kenji Suzuki. He also held solo concerts at the Hippodrome in London in 2014, 2016, 2020, and 2021, and in January 2017 performed at The Stage Door in Southampton.

In 2014 Molloy appeared in Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be at Theatre Royal Stratford East. In the first half of 2016 he toured Ireland in Che Guevara's Night Off, a musical he wrote and starred in. In September and October 2016 he played Hades and the Devil in the rock musical 27 at Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone, a production choreographed and co-directed by Arlene Phillips and partly based on Greek mythology. Shenton observed that Molloy had matured into the Mephistopheles-like role, while Marlowe described his Hades as charismatic and sinister. Molloy subsequently founded Frankie and the Dreamers, a Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons tribute band, and has headlined for Royal Caribbean International. He is known for his countertenor voice and falsetto range.