Alain Vanzo (April 2, 1928 – January 27, 2002) was a French opera singer and composer, one of few French tenors of international standing in the postwar era. He, along with such singers as Henri Legay and the Canadian Léopold Simoneau, represented a traditional French lyric style during a period when larger Italian and German vocal styles had become popular.
Vanzo was born in Monte Carlo, Monaco, the son of a Mexican father and a French mother. He started singing at a young age in the church choir. At 18, he started singing popular songs with a small band called "La Bastringue". He sang at the Théâtre du Châtelet, during the 1951–52 season, as a double for Luis Mariano in the operetta Le Chanteur de Mexico, while taking voice lessons with Rolande Darcoeur in Paris. His breakthrough came in 1954, when he participated in a singing contest at Cannes, and won the first prize.
Vanzo was then immediately invited to sing at the Opéra-Comique and at the Palais Garnier, quickly estab...
