Mircea Baniciu

Mircea Baniciu (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈmirtʃe̯a baˈnitʃju]; born 31 July 1949) is a Romanian musician, singer, and songwriter. Originally known as the lead singer of the Romanian rock group Phoenix, Baniciu quit the group when they illegally fled Romania for West Germany in 1977, continuing his career as a successful solo singer throughout the 1980s before forming a folk supergroup in 1992 with fellow musicians Mircea Vintilă, Vlady Cnejevici, and Florian Pittiș, with whom he had successfully toured Romania during the 1990s.

Following the Romanian Revolution, Baniciu re-joined Phoenix as their lead singer, but, due to frequent disagreements with band leader Nicu Covaci, has performed and appeared on the group's albums irregularly, before finally quitting Phoenix permanently in 2007. In 2014, with fellow Phoenix bandmates Josef Kappl and Ovidiu Lipan "Țăndărică", Baniciu formed Pasărea Rock (i.e. "The Rock Bird"), a folk rock supergroup.