Gregory Preston Olivier

Grigorios Krestenitis Chondroyannos "Gregory Preston" Olivier (né Athanasiadis; [Greek: Γρηγόριος Κρεστενίτης Χονδρογιάννης Αθανασιάδης]) (born 8 April 1991) is an American singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor. He is the co-founder and the de facto lead singer of the alternative/indie pop band Curriculum. Olivier sings lead on nearly all of the band's material though, in recent times, the rest of the band members have begun doing more of the vocals as well. Olivier also plays guitar and co-writes the band's song with the rest of the band.

In 2014, Olivier began a career in acting and starred in the Netflix series Professor Langely where he portrays the lead character Professor Lincoln Brentwood. The show received positive reviews from critics, who expressed their surprise at Gregory Preston's acting skills despite his lack of experience.

Aside from the popularity of his band and the success of Professor Langely, Olivier grew to mainstream prominence due to his relationship with popular singer Kleo and his marriage to Virginia Olivier, who is well-known in the United States for being a crisis management consultant and businesswoman. After more than a year of marriage, Olivier revealed that he and his wife were divorcing after she left him for his father.

Olivier likes to be addressed as Gregory Preston (and not just Gregory) since they both are his first name, despite being un-hyphenated.

Early life
Gregory Preston Olivier was born as Grigorios Krestenitis Chondroyannos Athanasiadis in New York City, New York, United States on 8 April 1991 to a wealthy family since both of his parents are both heirs to vast fortunes. Gregory Preston is of Greek descent on his father's side; both of his parents are Jewish.

Olivier graduated from a prestigious high school in 2009 as the valedictorian of his class. In 2013, Olivier graduated from Columbia University with summa cum laude honors where he received a degree in English.

Family
His father, Silas Michail Athanasiadis, who was born in New York City but raised in Thessaloniki, Greece, is an esteemed and well-known English professor at Columbia University though he also a shipping magnate handling most of his family's shipping business in Europe. His mother, Marie Theodora Athanasiadis (née Pavarnak-Mendolsohn), is an American businesswoman who owns various multi-million dollar businesses and has made various successful investments. Gregory Preston's parents married in 1988. Gregory Preston also has two older siblings, a brother and sister, who are both close to ten years older than him.

Olivier has stated that while growing up he has always had a difficult relationship with his father and brother, stating that they were emotionally and verbally abusive. Olivier also revealed that his brother was occasionally physically abusive. Olivier's father and brother often partied and did cocaine together, prompting Olivier to attempt to join them in order to feel accepted by them. Olivier severed ties with his father and brother after realizing that they had narcissistic personality disorder.

Olivier, meanwhile, has had always had a good relationship with his mother and sister. Olivier's mother taught him the importance of proper etiquette and introduced him to a variety of music when he was growing up; she also taught him proper vocal techniques when she found out he could sing. Olivier learned the importance of proper English grammar from his father, despite their difficult relationship and Olivier's father noticeable Greek accent. Olivier learned various Greek and Hebrew folk songs from his grandparents.

Gregory Preston is the paternal nephew of country superstar singers Lucas Alistair (born Loukas Alexandros Athanasiadis) and Johnny Gus Fredricks (born Konstantinos Ioannis Athanasiadis) and famed Broadway actor, producer, and director Aristoteles Charalampos "Avery Chester" Athanasiadis. Gregory Preston is also the maternal cousin of singer and actor Travis Horn. His bandmate, Wyatt van Cleef, is also related to Travis Horn but only by marriage; van Cleef and Olivier are not biologically related.

Early relationship and friendship with Curriculum bandmates
Olivier has always known his future Curriculum bandmates Phillip Mandelbaum, Wyatt van Cleef, and Dana Breckenridge since they were all infants, despite earlier claims that Olivier had not met van Cleef or Breckenridge until they were all in their early teens. Mandelbaum had always lived next door to Olivier in the same affluent New York City neighborhood. The families of Olivier and his future bandmates had been friends with each other for generations and had hoped that the four boys would be friends. Despite knowing each other since they were babies, Olivier and his future bandmates did not become friends until they were teenagers.

Music career with Curriculum
Main article: Curriculum

Olivier and his future bandmates Mandelbaum, van Cleef, and Breckenridge finally became friends when they were teenagers, despite knowing each other since they infants. The four boys finally became friends after bonding over their problems with their families and their shared love of geography, culture, and music.

After realizing they could play instruments and with Olivier being recognized as the vocally strongest of the group, all four boys decided to form a band. The now formed band decided to name themselves "Curriculum", which is named after the band's fondness and appreciation for academia and education.

Curriculum formed in 2006 when all four members were in high school. The band would only have jam sessions and never played live in front an audience. As all four members were accepted into Columbia University in New York City, they began taking their music seriously. The band independently released two EPs digitally and began receiving airplay on the university radio. Despite them rising to minor prominence at Columbia University for their music, the identity of the members of Curriculum were never revealed as the band kept pictures of themselves off the covers of their EPs and never did any live performances.

After the band rose to further prominence after a YouTube video of them singing "All I Need (All I Don't)" went viral (which the show the guys singing while throwing paint against a white backdrop with their faces distorted), the band released their first single "So Mainstream" in mid to late 2012. The single reached the top three in the UK and US and the top ten in other countries as well. In February 2012, Curriculum released their debut album Syllabus, which peaked at #1 in the UK and was later certified Diamond by the Urapopstar Recording Association Phonographic Society (URAPS). With "So Mainstream" being the lead single, three other singles were lifted from the album, all of which were commercially successful.

After various delays which is said to have lasted more than a year, the band finally released their second album Sophomore] in January 2014. The album spawned four singles including the band's biggest hit "[[Like A Narcissist", which has sold close to one million copies in the UK, and "Masculine", which became the band's first number one hit in the UK. The album has sold close to 1.4 million copies in the UK. In mid to late 2014, the band released their EP Flunking Out and later re-released as Remedial; the EP went Gold in the UK.

Olivier has stated that he would never want to go solo (in terms of a music career) and would always want to be in a band or group.

Acting career
Olivier was cast as the lead role for the Netflix series Professor Langely. Professor Langely is a dramatic/thriller adaptation of the 1983 comedy film Doctor Detroit. Taking place in Washington, DC, Professor Langely follows the story of a professor named Lincoln Brentwood who is an esteemed professor at a prestigious university. Though he usually leads a good and clean-cut life, he is also secretly a pimp to a bunch of prostitutes who has had their old pimp killed by a ruthless villainess whom he owed money to. Professor Langely was given positive reviews by critics, who were especially surprised by Olivier's performance and acting skills despite having no prior experience. Olivier credited his uncle, famed Broadway and music video director and producer Avery Chester Athanasiadis, for getting him ready for the role. Professor Langely is currently shown only on Netflix.

Olivier has since hinted in interviews that he would like to appear on the popular TV series Fragments which stars popular singer Ashley!.

Voice
Olivier has a voice type and vocal range of a tenor and is considered to have a very wide vocal range. He is known to hit very low notes while also reaching very high notes in his falsetto ranges. Recent YouTube video has surfaced proving that he can also reach the whistle register, which is usually done by female singers. Olivier is said to have a vocal range of multiple octaves. His voice has been widely praised by critics for its flexibility and its wide range.

Compared to his singing voice, his speaking voice is known be "medium-low though its leaning to low more than medium".

Image
Olivier has been described by many as being "prim and proper". He is known for being a big proponent for proper English grammar and practices when speaking though he might do the same when singing lyrics to certain songs that he is singing with the band.

Personal life
In August 2012, Olivier began dating popular singer Kleo. After his relationship began, Olivier was often seen signing autographs with the name "Gregory Preston Pledger"; Pledger is the last name of Kleo. He (unofficially) changed his name to Greg Pledger for a time. In the spring of 2013, Olivier and Kleo broke up.

Relationship with Kleo
In summer 2012, Olivier began dating popular singer Kleo. The two met when Kleo was collaborating with Curriculum on the single version of their song "Teamwork". After his relationship began, Olivier briefly but unofficially changed his name to Greg Pledger for a time; Pledger is the last name of Kleo. It was rumored that Kleo and Olivier were engaged on New Year's Eve 2012 though that proved to be false, though the rumors did attract plenty of attention on Twitter.

In early 2013, after less than a year of dating, Olivier and Kleo had mutually and amicably split up, following Olivier's stint in rehab due to cocaine and pill addiction. The couple split basically because Olivier was afraid that he might be an embarrassment to Kleo and a threat to her image over him going to rehab.

In 5 July 2013, Olivier married Virginia Marilyn Trinity Karyn Olivier in Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States. Virginia is twelve years older than Gregory Preston and have known each since they lived in the same Upper East Side neighborhood in New York City. Virginia even used to babysit Gregory Preston when he was still a child and before she went to college. Virginia also comes from a wealthy family, as does Gregory Preston, and is a successful businesswoman and crisis management consultant who owns her own firm based in Washington, DC. After they married, Gregory Preston decided to legally take Virginia's surname as his married legal name.

In summer 2014, Gregory Preston and his Curriculum bandmates moved to San Francisco, California and resides there, though he also still resides in Washington, DC where his wife is based. He and the band also still reside in the UK.

Health concerns
In Spring 2012, while in the recording studio with the band, Olivier had a mental breakdown just shortly after he finished recording a song. Band member Wyatt van Cleef confirmed that the story, saying shortly before he had the breakdown, he began hyperventilating and forgetting "much of what he was supposed to do that day". Olivier was hospitalized for a number of days but was eventually taken out of the hospital and recovered. Prior to his recovery, it was noted that Olivier had limited speech and emotion.

In January 2013, Olivier was admitted into rehab by his girlfriend Kleo for misuse and abuse of cocaine and prescription medication. Kleo walked in on Olivier doing cocaine while pills were sprawled out on a table. Kleo and Olivier had a discussion and mutually agreed he would go to rehab. Olivier was eventually released from rehab in the spring of 2013.

Discography
See Curriculum discography