All Angels

All Angels are a British classical crossover group formed in 2006, consisting of Daisy Chute, Rachel Fabri, Melanie Nakhla and Charlotte Ritchie (who is also a well-known actress starring in shows such as Fresh Meat).^[1] The group's style is classical crossover music and close harmony arrangement, with a repertoire spanning classical, choral, opera and pop including Franz Schubert's Ellens dritter Gesang, Agnus Dei (the choral arrangement of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings) and the Sancta Maria intermezzo from Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, along with the Flower Duet from Léo Delibes' Lakmé and the Barcarolle from Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, plus pop songs such as Robbie Williams' Angels, Fleetwood Mac's Songbird, Coldplay's The Scientist, True Colours, Goodnight my Angel (Billy Joel) Muses' Starlight and Prince's Nothing Compares 2 U. They have also performed the National Anthem at Twickenham and at the England vs. USA football match in Wembley Stadium in the summer of 2008.^[2]

They recorded their first three albums with Universal and have sold over 1 million albums to date. Their self-titled debut album, All Angels, was released in 2006, and their second album, Into Paradise, was released on 26 November 2007. A third album, Fly Away, was released in January 2010. Songs on this album include Norah Jones's Come Away With Me, Send in the Clowns, Bob Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind, Eric Whitacre's Sleep, and a duet with The Harlem Gospel Choir on I'll Fly Away. All Angels are managed by TCB Group.^[3]

They undertook a UK tour supporting Katherine Jenkins in Summer 2009 and completed an arena tour later that year with Young Voices. They were invited to perform in Los Angeles as part of the Inspiration Awards raising money for a Breast Cancer charity which they have been affiliated with for the last four years.

History

All Angels signed a five album deal with Universal Classics and Jazz in 2006 to be targeted at the populist classical crossover market. Each of the group's members had to go through an audition process to join the group,^[4] and were selected from 120 auditionees. Their first live performance was at Cadogan Hall in Chelsea, London.^[5]

The group released their first album at the end of 2006, entering the United Kingdom (UK) charts at number nine. It was the UK's fastest selling debut for a classical act and won them a platinum disc, and was also nominated in the Classical BRIT Awards album of the year category in 2007.^[6] They sang in front of the Queen at the Festival of Remembrance held at the Royal Albert Hall on 9 November and at Silence in the Square, a concert held in Trafalgar Square on 11 November.^[7] In December 2006 they released the single Angels, the first ever Christmas single to be released in association with the Royal British Legion and their Poppy Appeal.

They sang at the Classical BRIT Award ceremony held on 3 May and broadcast on ITV on 6 May.^[8]

They made a cameo appearance in the British soap opera Emmerdale during a wedding on 9 October 2007 singing Songbird.^[9] They again sang at the Festival of Remembrance on 10 November. On 26 November they released a second album, Into Paradise, which features Nothing Compares 2 U and Sancte Deus. At the same time the album was released the winner was announced of the national Angel Idol competition, run in conjunction with Classic FM to find a fifth member for the group. The winner was Alexandra Lawrie who then had the opportunity to record a track and perform with the girls at a concert in London on 28 November.^[10]

They appeared on the BBC Radio 4 2007 Christmas Service, held at Wesley's Chapel in London^[11] and on the BBC 2007 New Year's Eve show, singing Nothing Compares 2 U.

On 14 January 2008 All Angels sang The Sound of Silence and Pie Jesu in a one-off concert at the International Eisteddfod's launch in Cardiff. They appeared at the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen on 11 July 2008.^[12][13] On 27 January they appeared on Songs of Praise on BBC One.^[14] In 2008 they embarked on a Cathedral tour in the Spring and further touring at open-air concerts venues, including Sandringham and Gawsworth Hall. They performed for the "Make a wish Foundation Summer Ball at Blenheim Palace. They went into the recording studio at the end of 2008 and into early 2009 recording tracks for their third cd. Also in July 2008 All Angels appeared at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. ^[15]

On 13 October 2009 All Angels performed a concert at Paisley Abbey with the Glasgow-based Les Sirènes Female Chamber Choir as part of the Paisley Choral Festival. The two groups collaborated on the song I'll Fly Away as a joint finale. They also performed their own concert at The Thaxted Festival.

On 10 December 2009, they participated in the Birmingham Young Voices concert. They sang with VV Brown, a singer from Northampton. All Angels are preparing for an EP to come out in November–December time of 2010. They are also returning for a second year to participate in the Young Voices tour 2010 which kicked off in Birmingham where they shared the stage with Island artists such as Dionne Bromfield (Amy Winehouse's goddaughter) and Josh Osho. They have performed several times at charity dinners at The Houses of Parliament and at many private corporate occasions. They were honoured to be performing in the Spring of 2011 for the 90th Anniversary for the Royal British Legion in Alicante, Spain. All Angels were thrilled to be asked to record the theme to the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final and to perform it at the match at Wembley Stadium between Barcelona and Manchester United.

Members

Daisy Chute

Daisy Chute (born 7 August 1989)^[16] is from Edinburgh. She studied at St Mary's Music School Edinburgh,where she was a chorister at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral and Loretto School^[4] and began her performing career at the age of nine as the young Cosette in the touring production of Les Misérables. At the age of thirteen she appeared as a young Judy Garland in Stars in Their Eyes Kids, and made her first appearance on the Edinburgh Fringe. At fifteen she recorded her debut album, Simply Jazz after she performed with a trio at a jazz cabaret show at the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival and Edinburgh Fringe. A track from her Simply Jazz album was played by Humphrey Lyttelton on his BBC Radio 2 Best of Jazz show making Chute the youngest performer to ever be showcased on his show. Chute finished her secondary schooling at the Purcell School of Music in Bushey, Hertfordshireon full scholarship, where she studied voice, piano and composition and gained 3 A's at A level examinations.^[17] In 2005 she was a joint winner of a Scottish songwriting competition for the music festival Burnsong, with her song, Promises to Keep. All the winning songs were performed professionally and broadcast live on BBC Radio Scotland.^[18]

After meeting composer Howard Goodall at the Royal Albert Hall's School Proms where she was fronting Loretto School ensemble, she was asked to sing on his television show, How Music Works^[17] where she performed the Shaker song 'Tis A Gift To Be Simple with Anastacia Nosobin on guitar on the first programme of the series.^[19] Howard Goodall recommended Daisy for inclusion in ALL ANGELS. She also recorded the theme tune for the BBC Radio series What is Melody written by Dr Richard Niles.

In June 2006 she was a "Highly Commended" finalist in the joint BBC Proms and The Guardian newspaper Young Composer Competition.^[20]

On 24 September 2006 she performed at Wigmore Hall in London,^[21] giving a solo recital of Alec Wilder songs. She was signed to Universal Classics and Jazz (UCJ) on the day she turned seventeen, as part of All Angels.^[17] Chute has also had a brief stint presenting the CBBC news programme, Newsround at the Pop Poll Awards and interviewed Ronan Keating, 'Billie Piper and Westlife. In summer 2008, she was featured in Highland Heartbeat, a Scottish music special filmed by American broadcaster PBS and broadcast throughout the USA in the Spring of 2009. She performed last year touring the music societies as guest vocalist with classical guitarist, Simon Thacker and Camerata Ritmata.

In 2008 Chute won the Scottish Music Centre's Young Composer's competition.

She has now received a Bachelor of Music degree at King's College, University of London.

Melanie Nakhla

Melanie Nakhla was born on 29 December 1988 in London. She moved with her family to Shrewsbury, Shropshire when she was three years old, where she attended Prestfelde School. She also attended Shrewsbury High School, until the age of 15. She began singing at a young age, joining the Shrewsbury Children's Choir when she was eight years old.^[5] She competed in the Oswestry Eisteddfod when she was ten years old coming first in a singing competition.^[22] She was a student at Wycombe Abbey in High Wycombe where she was head of choir.^[4][5] She has also appeared at the Royal Opening production of Romany Wood at Severn Theatre in Shrewsbury. She is studying French and Spanish at University College London.She has performed for the Dimond Jubilee in Shropshire.

Charlotte Ritchie

Rachel Fabri

Rachel Fabri (born 12 September 1985 in Malta) – Raised in Malta, she trained at the Masquerade Theatre Arts School. She also trained privately under the tuition of soprano Gillian Zammit. She later received a master's degree in musical theatre at the Guildford School of Acting.^[23] She is an actor as well as a singer singing all kinds of different styles. Rachel is the newest member of the group, having joined the All Angels in July 2010. Rachel is a Psychology graduate from the University of Malta. Rachel's roles have included performances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival^[24] as the lead role in 'Persephone', the London Palladium in 'Me and My Girl' and Abdel Akle in the Lee Tamahori film 'The Devil's Double'^[25]

Laura Wright

Laura Wright, (born 17 June 1990)^[26] was a member of All Angels and left the group in 2010.

Discography

Albums

• 2006: All Angels
• 2007: All Angels (Revised) – Digital release
• 2007: Into Paradise
• 2009: Fly Away
• 2010: "Starlight" (EP Digital Release 22 November)

Singles

• 2006: Songbird
• 2006: Angels
• 2007: Nothing Compares 2 U

Featured

• 2007: The Number One Classical Album 2008 – "Sancte Deus (Nimrod)
• 2008: Tenor at the Movies – "Vois Sur Ton Chemin" from Les Choristes with Jonathan Ansell
• 2008: A New World – "Anytime Anywhere" with Will Martin

References

External links

• All Angels official on Myspace
• All Angels at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview 2007 on ilikemusic.com
• All Angels on classicalx.com
• All Angels interview on classicalx.com