BIOGRAPHY

Blake are four incredibly talented young men who are bringing a fresh, innovative sound to bridge the gap between classical and pop music.

Despite the gift of their classically trained voices, the group stumbled upon the unique sound of their harmonies when they began to sing impromptu at a house party. They had already met up via the social networking site Facebook, but had never sung together before; their powerful performance stunned guests. Even the quartet realized that, together, their voices have a rare and distinctly compelling sound.

Within months of meeting and forming, the group were signed to Universal Music Group and have already recorded their first, self-titled album, cleverly using striking harmonies around completely re-arranged classical, opera and pop tunes to take popular songs, old and new, to another level. Their name comes from a mutual appreciation of the great poet William Blake, whose peerless thirst for innovation is much admired amongst the group. 2007 was the 250 th anniversary of the poet’s birth.

A rush of interest in Blake followed by a blaze of publicity and numerous TV interviews towards the end of the summer of 2007,resulted in the RFU inviting Blake to record the Rugby World Cup official anthem ‘Swing Low’. It was released as a single in September last year and the band performed it at Twickenham for the England v France Investec challenge match. Not ones to show favouritism to just one national sport though, their first ever formal gig was to an 80 000 strong crowd at Wembley Stadium where they performed the National Anthem on the pitch at the Chelsea vs Man Utd FA Community Shield match.

'It’s extremely rare to get four voices which enhance each other to produce such a distinctive sound,’ explains Stephen Bowman, one of the quartet.

‘We all knew, or knew of each other from a mixture of school, choirs or theatrical productions since our childhood, and had subsequently made contact with each other on Facebook. Having met up and rehearsed just once, we went together to a house party in London.

'When a guy started playing the piano, it came naturally to us to start to harmonize with his rendition of Moon River. We sang just this one song together, but the sound clicked instantly; it was remarkable.’

It seems admiration of the foursome’s formidable talent is shared by a number of celebrity fans of the group too, including Keira Knightly, Cilla Black, Mick Jagger, Shirley Bassey, Christopher Biggins and Patti Boyd. Hans Zimmer was so impressed with Blake’s version of ‘Gladiator’ on their debut album, that he asked them to sing on the soundtrack of Angels and Demons starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard.

Shirley Bassey is such a big fan of the boys that they were invited to be the special ‘birthday surprise’ at her 70 th birthday bash at the Clivedon Hotel in December 2007. They performed ‘Happy Birthday’ for her in front of a huge celebrity audience. The same month, they became the first ever group to perform at the new Lawn Tennis Association’s National Tennis centre HQ in Roehampton on behalf of Sir Cliff Richard – which recently became the charity arm of the LTA.

STEPHEN BOWMAN, 27 (Date of Birth: 22.08.80)

Talented musician Stephen won a coveted place at London’s prestigious Guildhall School of Music. ‘I was a bit of musical freak because I was just 17 years old and you normally have to be aged 22 to get a place there,’ says Stephen, who is a classically trained baritone. ‘My voice broke at the age of 10 and developed very early, so I was extremely lucky. By 15 I was already enjoying success as a Baritone soloist for a number of choirs, including performances at Cathedrals in Holland, Belgium and Italy. Singing solo at the Duomo in Pisa, aged only 16, would count as one of my proudest moments’

Stephen, who is originally from Bath, is both dogged and determined. Having left the Guildhall, he has performed as a soloist and in ensembles, both in the UK and in France. He has approached every musical style with a fresh mindset, enabling him to perform not only classical repertoire, but also jazz, blues and popular tracks. ‘As a soloist I’ve often accompanied myself with piano, but working with bands, as part of a team, has always been a massive pleasure for me. Being part of Blake is the perfect environment for me.’

A keen song-writer, Stephen has written and recorded music from his semi-professional studio at home and admits: ‘I’ve never given up on my music. I’ve even worked as an IT salesman to fund my passion for song-writing. I’m always pushing for things to develop.’

It comes as no surprise that Stephen was the one who acted immediately after the quartet came together. ‘I’ve sung with other ensembles but they’ve never had that magic which we created in one song that night,’ he explains. ’It takes a huge amount of work to get a natural blend of voices.

‘My first thought was to just do some corporate gigs for bread and butter money. But after we got together to rehearse I knew we had to take it further because there was something unique and special about the sound we were creating.’’

JULES KNIGHT, 26 (Date of Birth: 22.09.81)

Singing is in Jules’s blood. The youngest of four siblings - all gifted choristers - Jules was mimicking melodies before he could even talk.

‘I was always singing as a baby. I was sensitive to sounds and different tones,’ explains Jules, who comes from Sussex and became a chorister at Winchester Cathedral at the age of seven.

He’s driven and ambitious and puts this down to the fact that he became professional at a young age. By the age of 13, he’d performed all over the world including tours of South America, the USA, and Australia where he sang solos in venues such as the Sydney Opera House. He also sang on all of Winchester Cathedral’s albums between 1990 and 1995.

After winning choral scholarships to Eastbourne College and Wells Cathedral, Jules developed a second passion - this time for acting which he combined with his singing talent, playing the lead in many musicals and plays. Having completed an MA at St Andrew’s University, he won a place at London’s prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama.

‘Going to drama school has taught me to put emotion into singing. Every line should be driven by it, otherwise it doesn’t mean anything,’ explains Jules, who describes himself as the more feisty member of the group.

‘Blake is not just about high quality voices. We have personality, energy and all of us have an innate musicality which gives us a fresher, newer sound different from anything before us.’

While Stephen acts as the pacifier of the quartet, Jules is a firebrand. ‘I like to shake things up,’ grins Jules, who loves socializing and organized Scotland’s biggest charity ball. ‘I’m the cheeky one who is impulsive and spontaneous.

‘I was a chorister with Ollie, and knew he was still singing but I thought he would stick to opera; I could never have imagined that we would be working together like this. We all come from classical backgrounds but we inject elements of pop.’

DOMINIC TIGHE, 24 (DATE OF BIRTH: 20.04.83)

Not only is Dominic a talented singer, but he is also an accomplished and established actor. His childhood was steeped in classical music when he was a chorister for Devon’s Buckfast Abbey School. He later recorded three albums with Downside Abbey before going on to sing at the Queen’s private 80 th Birthday at Windsor Castle in front of the entire Royal Family. He has also sung at Buckingham Palace before Prince Edward and in the presence of Nelson Mandela on his last State Visit to the UK.

‘My dad was in the Navy and my mum was a naval wife. Neither were musical, but somehow my big brothers and I were all born with good voices,’ explains Dominic who grew up in Devon but travelled to Italy, Belgium and the USA because of his father’s career. Dominic teamed up his talent for singing with his passion for acting and was a member of the National Youth Music Theatre from the age of 11 to 18, where he had three lead roles before winning a place to train as an actor at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama.

‘I’m confident and optimistic,’ he says. ’I was a bit of a rogue and drama was the only class where I could be myself and get away with it. But I had the drama prize taken away from me because I was rude to one of my fellow class members. I was upset as it was the only prize I ever got at school. Central taught me the discipline necessary to do well in these industries.’

Until recently Dominic had done more acting than singing, and since leaving drama school two years ago has not had a period out of work. He has worked with (amongst other directors) Alan Ayckbourn, Edward Hall and Kevin Spacey. He came straight from an international theatre tour with the Old Vic to start recording Blake’s first album.

‘It was strange going from the acting world straight into singing,’ explains Dominic. ‘I love the contrast and now I’m working hard on my voice. Blake is made up of four different voices - my voice is lighter like Jules’s. So while Stephen and Ollie are fully classically trained with deep, rich tones, Jules and I are like the polish on top. I’m enjoying being more versatile with my voice; swapping between a classical and a more poppy sound.’

‘You get an idea of our personalities from our solo lines. I put my acting into my singing - I love the words as much as the music.

‘That’s why we think the name Blake is appropriate for our group. We named ourselves after the English poet William Blake because he was a man who embraced so many different styles of art and language. I think that says a lot about who we are.’

OLIVER BAINES, 24 (Date of Birth: 23.11.82)

There is nothing, it seems, to which Oliver can’t turn his hand. Despite admitting that the male line of his family are close to tone deaf, Oliver luckily managed to inherit his mother’s talent for singing and playing the piano.

From the age of 8 Oliver received professional classical music training, singing all over the world before he was 13; to this day he continues to sing in several choirs, both large and small. At the age of 17, he was accepted into the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, joining them for their world tour in 2003.

While at school, Oliver still managed to find time to play the trumpet and French horn in various orchestras and bands, as well as fostering his love of jazz by taking up the piano. ‘My piano skills at school were pretty diabolical,’ laughs Oliver, ‘not least because every lesson dissolved into me singing and my teacher playing as we worked our way through a Cole Porter album. It wasn’t until I was at University that I got frustrated enough to sit down and teach myself how to play.

‘I went to school with Jules but always imagined he was going to stick to his acting and I would stick to singing and eventually opera. It’s funny to think that we’ve now met in the middle and are working together,’ says Oliver.

After leaving school, Oliver began a degree in music technology. ‘But this left me unsatisfied musically, and I wanted to spend more time performing music than studying it,’ says Oliver, who comes from Wiltshire and describes himself as eclectic – even slightly eccentric. ‘It wasn’t until my teacher said I had a career in singing that I had the confidence to go and train professionally. After that I was determined to get into Music College, and have been studying at the Guildhall School of Music for the past year.

But it’s Oliver’s background in music technology which has given him a great interest in the production of Blake’s album. ‘I think that our producer Nick Patrick - who has worked with Russell Watson, Katherine Jenkins, Myleene Klass and Lulu among many others - has had a problem keeping me away from the production desk; I’ve learned an incredible amount from him,’ says Oliver.

‘We have set words from the Requiem mass to part of the soundtrack from the film Gladiator, and are all really proud of it – it’s certainly one of my favourites. Even Hans Zimmer, who wrote the original, has written to say how much he loves the track. It’s a huge, anthem-type piece which starts with this incredible choir and then seeps into the Gladiator music.

‘We’re not a manufactured group and this shows because we’ve been allowed such a huge amount of creative control. We chose the repertoire ourselves and all the tracks are original because every single song has been completely re-arranged. We feel we really are a unique quartet.’