Early life Adrian Zagoritis started life in
Nairobi. Music took a back seat to sport at school in UK where he captained the Eton cricket 1st XI and represented
the Independent Schools Football Association (ISFA) XI as a goalkeeper against
Arsenal,
QPR and
Chelsea youth sides in 1986.
Career Travelling from Kenya to the UK he worked with artists
Sybil,
Mel Gaynor from
Simple Minds and
Maxi Priest. Although writing and arranging several tracks for Mel Gaynor's band 'The Fusion Project' in 1997, the album was never released as Gaynor rejoined
Simple Minds for a world tour instead.
Songwriting and production – 2000 to 2007 Zagoritis settled in the UK in the new millennium fully committed to a musical career. Collaborations with writers Geoffrey Williams, Rob Harris and
Matt Johnson, both of
Jamiroquai saw releases spawned with South African Popstars winners
Jamali and Greek Popstars winners
Hi-5. Hi-5 turned two Zagoritis singles 'M’ena Fili' and 'Gennithika Ksana' into Top 10 hits, the latter peaking at No. 5. Both albums achieved platinum status and Gennithika Ksana was nominated for an
Arion award. In 2004 Zagoritis began working with
Torsten Stenzel, one half of the electronica act York whose second single, "On The Beach", which sampled
Chris Rea's song of the same name, reached No. 4 in the
UK Singles Chart in June 2000. One of the first of many releases of this partnership was the club hit "
Iceflowers" which was supported by
Judge Jules and
Paul van Dyk. Zagoritis and Stenzel wrote several tracks for the EMI-released York album
Peace which also contained their often-remixed song "Mercury Rising". In 2005, Dutch singer
EliZe released his song "
Automatic" which charted in the Top 10 in several countries. He also co-wrote a song following
Liverpool F.C.'s penalty shootout win in the
2004–05 UEFA Champions League final, performed by
The Trophy Boyz. Mainstream pop releases followed in 2006 with Holland's EMI act ROOOM charting with a Zagoritis/Geoffrey Williams single named "First Thing", reaching No. 33. In 2007 Germany's
Popstars winners
No Angels, and DSDS (Germany's
X-factor equivalent) runner-up
Linda Teodosiu (Sony), also chose his songs: "The Rhythm Of My Heart" was included on the former's album called
Destiny which reached No. 4 in the
UK Albums Chart.
2007 – 2010 Nightwish ex-lead singer
Tarja Turunen included several Zag songs for her debut solo album
My Winter Storm. Turunen had split acrimoniously from her band and her album contained many veiled references to these experiences, as well as a brooding darkness. Zagoritis's "Damned And Divine", "The Reign" and "Sunset" reflect this mood and demonstrated further ability away from mainstream pop or dance music.
My Winter Storm took the No. 1 spot on the Finnish charts, and went platinum in Finland and double platinum in Russia, as well as reaching gold status in Germany, Hungary, and
Switzerland. It reached No. 3 in Germany. In late 2007, Turunen was nominated for an Echo as best newcomer and an
Emma for best Finnish artist. On Turunen's next album,
What Lies Beneath, a title track composed by Zagoritis, Stenzel and Heldmann, he contributed "Naiad" which he also wrote with Tarja. The album reached No. 4 in Germany and charted in eight other countries. As a melodician and lyricist his style naturally gravitates to pop music and so a return to such projects followed with several releases for
Natalia,
Idol star in Belgium. The Zagoritis song "Soul Divided" written with Madonna writer Greg Fitzgerald was released along with two other of his tunes on Natalia's 2009 album,
Wise Girl which reached No. 1 for two weeks. The album achieved platinum status. "Soul Divided" was also covered in Japanese by Avex-signed artist Mihiro in 2010, renamed "Weekend". Universal Germany artist
Mihalis took eight Zagoritis lyrics for his album recorded in 2009, simply named
Mihalis. Seven of the songs were translations of his past Greek hits. One original song, "Favourite Mistake", was written by Zagoritis and Grammy and Ivor Novello award-winner
Rob Davis. Progressive house projects continued in 2009 tracks with "Tears on My Skin", also written with Davis and released on several albums including top-seller
Dream Dance, and
Free The Night signed by renowned A+R Eddie O' Loughlin to his Next Plateau label, distributed by
Universal.
Free The Night failed to chart.
Edurne the Spanish pop singer released "Tan Artificial" written by Zagoritis on
Nueva Piel, a Sony BMG album that reached No. 16 in March 2010.
Current Kate Ryan, Robbins Entertainment
World Music Award winner releases her album,
Electroshock in March 2012, the title track written by Zagoritis. It also contains his song "Walk to the Beat" penned with
Jukka Immonen. Zagoritis and Stenzel still work on songs for the latter's act York. "If Only I" was another collaboration which will also include featured vocals from Danish songstress Tanja Thulau from Danish electronica act Luke.
Armada Music, record label of DJ
Armin van Buuren released Zag's co-written singles "Top of the Universe" and "Breaking The Rules" in 2013. Also in 2013 in the mainstream pop world
Baptiste Giabiconi had a No.1 hit in France with the song "One Night In Paradise", co-written by Zagoritis and others. Giabiconi is a male model who had been discovered by
Karl Lagerfeld. In 2015, "Million Miles" co-written by Zagoritis and
Funkstar De Luxe was released in January by Lifted House/CO2 Records and reached No. 8 in the British Dance Chart in April, spending 10 consecutive weeks in the Top 20. The song features vocals by
Geoffrey Williams who wrote
Michael Jackson's "Whatever Happens".
Funkstar De Luxe is renowned for his hit single "
'Sun Is Shining' (Bob Marley vs Funkstar De Luxe)" which reached No. 3 in the UK and No. 1 in the U.S. Billboard chart. In 2017, Zagoritis and Funkstar formed a new group 'Mr. Anderson', a retro 1980s funk/RnB act featuring Xantoné Blacq, keyboardist and vocalist from
Amy Winehouse. The debut Mr. Anderson single "Cinderella" was released in early 2018. His collaboration with
Funkstar De Luxe in the same year, Super Disco, reached no.5 in Switzerland. 2020 saw Adrian set up a fledgling Production Label, Hummingbird Music, with angel investor funding. Hummingbird's first signing was young British singer/songwriter Ladybyrd who quickly gained the attention of
BBC Music Introducing with her brand of cinematic-inspired
indie pop naming her as “one of 2022's outstanding newcomers”. Ladybyrd also appeared as 'Breaking Act' in The Sunday Times Culture magazine in 2023. In 2024 Zag's collaboration with
Manfred Mann lead singer and Ivor Novello award-winner
Mike d'Abo and Bill Oakes, the Grammy Award-winning music producer of the hit films
Grease and
Saturday Night Fever spawned a musical named
Handbags & Gladrags after the hit song penned by d’Abo. The musical was showcased in 2025. == Film and television work ==