Mario Visconti, stage name of Mariano Royo, was born in Zaragoza (1908) and started singing tangos in Barcelona in the late twenties to great popular acclaim. He soon began to make recordings for the Parlophon house and later switched to Odeon. He was heard by Gardel who encouraged him to go on. He toured Europe with different musicians, among them were the guitarist Rafael Iriarte, the pianist Juan Cruz Mateo and the bandleader José Melin. His duos with Carmencita Aubert were very successful and were often committed to record. He also toured Egypt, Turkey and Iran where he was appearing for two years.

When the world war broke out he was in Hamburg appearing with Eduardo Bianco. He moved later to Italy where he recorded several discs with the Canaro orchestra for the Cetra label. In 1943 he returned to Spain again with Bianco. Soon thereafter he put together his own orchestra and signed a contract with Odeon which meant spectacular record sales for that time. Lola Membrives offered him the chance to appear in Buenos Aires where he was hired by Radio El Mundo. He stayed several years in Argentina and appeared in other countries of the southern hemisphere. He came back to Spain in 1948 where he went on singing, especially boleros and tangos. In the fifties his career began to decline and he retired in 1954 but he came back shortly in 1960 to record four tangos. He died in an old people’s home in Barcelona in 2000.


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