Jonathan Ansell

Jonathan Mark Ansell (born 10 March 1982) is an English singer, best known as the high tenor of the vocal group G4.

Influenced by his mother's tapes of Pavarotti and the Three Tenors, Ansell joined the West Sussex Boys' Choir conducted by Arthur Robson, at the age of eight.

He toured extensively with the choir to Florida, Germany, and France, performed in the Royal Festival Hall and sang many times in Arundel Cathedral.

Ansell stayed with the choir until his voice broke at the age of 16 when he lost the ability to sing treble but after puberty found he had developed a high tenor voice instead.

After a performance of Love Changes Everything at a choral society concert in Littlehampton, Ansell's local MP Howard Flight, who was in the audience, arranged for him to have a preliminary audition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

After working with music teacher Martin Elliott, he won a place at the Guildhall two years later.

While at the Guildhall School, Ansell's singing teacher was Adrian Thompson, who has a similar voice to Ansell and he described their lessons as working together.

At that time, Ansell's academic studies fell below the standard.

Diagnosed as dyslexic, an agreement was reached where he stayed as a pupil.

While at the Guildhall School, Ansell formed the pop-opera boyband G4 with three other students Mike Christie, Tom Lowe, and Ben Thapa.

Lowe later resigned as bass, replaced by Matthew Stiff.

Their name, G4, stands for Guildhall 4.

G4 were discovered after finishing second on ITV talent show The X Factor in 2004.

G4's self-titled debut album produced by Trevor Horn and Brian Rawling, reached Number One for Mother's Day weekend 2005.

In total they released 3 albums, sold in excess of 1.5 million albums in the UK, completed 5 sell-out UK tours, sold in excess of 40,000 Live at the Royal Albert Hall DVDs (one of the concerts on their first tour) and also released a best-selling autobiography Our Way.

Ansell turned down the role of Prince Tamino in Kenneth Branagh's film of Mozart's The Magic Flute to stay with the band and continue recording.

On 5 April 2007, G4 announced on GMTV that they were calling it a day at the end of July 2007.

Ansell signed with new management Jonathan Shalit in 2007 and secured a £1 million, 5-album deal with Universal Classics and Jazz (UCJ), part of Universal Music Group.

His first solo album with UCJ, Tenor at the Movies, was released on 18 February 2008.

For five Sunday afternoons from 17 February 2008, Ansell presented The Great Movie Composers on ClassicFM coinciding with the release of his solo album.

Ansell participated in a celebrity edition of Channel 4 show Come Dine with Me on 10 April 2008 with MC Harvey, Tamara Beckwith and Lynsey de Paul.

Ansell came in joint first place with MC Harvey, scoring 21 points.

On 8 May 2008, Ansell's participation in BBC programme Ready Steady Cook against Hayley Westenra was broadcast.

In the evening of 8 May 2008, Ansell performed Un Giorno Per Noi with Westenra at the Classical Brits, Royal Albert Hall.

During June 2008, Ansell and England and Arsenal striker Kelly Smith won the British Lung Foundation's male and female 'Lungs of the Year 2008' award in recognition of the fantastic use they have made of their lungs over the past year.

In a Q&A session with the BBC's Last Choir Standing website, Ansell gave his views on the benefits of being part of a choir: "People see choirs on stage and predominantly it looks quite square... but off stage that's where all the fun happens – in rehearsals, messing about, lunch breaks, interacting with new people. That, for me, is what choirs are all about – having that fun both on and off stage."

Jonathan made a guest appearance on Last Choir Standing (Results Show) on 3 August 2008 performing "Barcelona".

On Sunday, 17 August 2008, Ansell participated in the tribute concert Lyrics by Don Black which was held at the London Palladium featuring performances of Black's songs by a selection of guest artists.

He performed the duet Amigos Para Siempre with Westenra, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The evening, hosted by Michael Parkinson, was recorded by BBC Radio 2 Friday Night is Music Night and broadcast on Friday, 22 August 2008.

One of the tracks on his second album Forever is "Hearts of England", the 2008 Rugby League World Cup song composed by Patrick Hawes and his brother Andrew.

He performed it live at the Rugby League Carnegie Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday, 30 August 2008.

For the second weekend running Ansell performed a track from his album Forever live at Wembley, this time to sing the football anthem Nessun Dorma at Soccer Aid on Sunday, 7 September while the teams were presented to Sir Geoff Hurst.

Before his G4 days, Ansell worked in Jersey with a Gilbert and Sullivan operatic society and during September 2008 returned to his roots, taking on the role of Nanki-Poo in the Carl Rosa Opera Company's production of The Mikado at both the Richmond Theatre and Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham.

Ansell performed with Westenra at Music on Fire!

at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in September 2008, organised by the Army Benevolent Fund to raise funds for veterans.

The third series of The Alan Titchmarsh Show featured the start of a competition to find a soprano to sing with Ansell in the A Night at the Opera tour.

8 ladies were selected to sing in front of a judging panel of David Grant, Ruthie Henshall and Jonathan Shalit.

On 17 November 2014 G4 reformed for 'one night only' giving a concert at The Barbican Centre in London to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of their X Factor appearance in 2004.

Whilst on stage Jonathan announced that due to the response of their 'one night only' concert they would be doing a UK tour in 2015.