Post by drew on Nov 1, 2006 5:10:43 GMT
Angels'Delight Angels'Delight ; This Christmas, the Latest Musical Sensation Set to Storm the Charts is Four Posh Teenage Girls Who Can Do More Than Sing. ALL ANGELS Tell SHOSHANA GOLDBERG About Their First Taste of Fame and Their Hopes for Glory
10/28/2006
By SHOSHANA GOLDBERG
After a nationwide search for girls who sing like seraphim, four public school high-flyers were brought together to form All Angels, the latest, if rather unlikely, manufactured teen band. The girls were chosen from a shortlist of 140 by music producer Steve Abbott and Nicola Benedetti, Britain's violin prodigy.
Daisy Chute, Melanie Nakhla, Charlotte Ritchie and Laura Wright were introduced to each other in the summer and bonded over the pressures of A-levels, parental expectations and a shared passion for music.
'We made an album that would usually take two or three months in three weeks during the summer holidays,' explains Abbott. 'We had to guarantee parents that the girls would get nine hours' sleep each night.' Here the girls talk about their lives and what impact - if any - being part of All Angels has made on them.
LAURA WRIGHT, 16, attends Framlingham College in Suffolk, where she has music and art scholarships. She lives with her artist mother and financial adviser father in Suffolk. Laura won Young Chorister of the Year in 2005 and represented her school in six sports. Laura says: I get far more nervous performing in front of my friends in the school chapel than in front of 1,000 people I don't know. I'm very hard on myself if I don't do well. Classical singing is my passion. I started having lessons in 2003, but the first time it occurred to me that I was talented was when the musical director at school told me to enter the Young Chorister of the Year competition. I didn't think I stood a chance of getting to the final. I'd never been that scared before, but I knew it would open a lot of doors. So far, winning the contest and being selected for All Angels has washed over me completely.
As soon as I'm back at school, my friends bring me back to reality. They tease me quite a bit. Giving an audience everything you've got is an amazing feeling. One day I'd love to sing Bizet's Habanera from Carmen at the Royal Albert Hall wearing a big, fat ball gown in front of all my family and friends.
DAISY CHUTE, 17, won a scholarship to the Purcell School in Bushey, Hertfordshire, a specialist music school. She lives near Edinburgh with her artist mother and retired solicitor father. At nine, Daisy performed in the touring production of Les Miserables. At 15, she made her debut album in her parents' dining room. Daisy says: Singing has always been the most important thing to me. I've loved jazz and musical theatre since I was small, but I started as a chorister at 12 and began lessons at 13. Learning to sing something new every day was a revelation. I loved it. Not all my performances have been flawless, though. When I was eight, I played one of the munchkins in The Wizard Of Oz. I picked my nose on stage thinking no one could see, and was told afterwards that the entire audience watched me do it, which was a mortifying.
It was getting my first audition for Les MisErables when I was nine that made me realise I had some talent. I've known ever since then that I wanted a career in music. Last November, singing at the Royal Albert Hall's School Proms concert with the Loretto Ensemble, I slipped the composer Howard Goodall my CD because that's what you do. Not long afterwards, he hired me for his Channel 4 programme How Music Works and recommended me for All Angels.
I'd like to write an opera, act in films and sing at Carnegie Hall in New York. There's so much I want to do and I can feel scared sometimes that I might not fulfil my potential and live life to the fullest. My mum is a highachiever with great ambition for me and my brothers. Living up to her expectations can be a challenge. I'd love to sing in amazing places with some of the world's most successful and talented people, but I'm terrified of peaking too soon. I hope it's not all downhill from here.
MELANIE NAKHLA, 17, attends Wycombe Abbey School in Buckinghamshire.
The second oldest of five children, she lives in Shrewsbury, Shropshire with her mother, who is training to be a psychotherapist, and father, the CEO of a plastics company. She has played tennis and netball at county level, and learned to fly a Cessna two-seater plane. Melanie says: Our house was always full of music - songs from musicals as well as classical and jazz. All us children play an instrument and sing together, rather like the Von Trapp family. I was really proud to be chosen for All Angels and to be given such an amazing opportunity, but there are so many wonderful careers. I want to study French and Spanish at university and I'm about to fly solo for the first time. I'd love to get my pilot's licence and perhaps fly professionally.
Trying so many new things has been wonderful, but I'm anxious about staying on top of my academic work and taking enough care of my health in case my voice suffers. My parents are extremely supportive and keep a close eye on whether I'm under too much strain. I'd love every minute of being famous, but I'd have to learn to think more carefully about what I say and do.
Last month, we did an underwater photo shoot wearing white dresses. I jumped straight in the water and my dress shot up revealing more than I intended to the photographer.
CHARLOTTE RITCHIE, 17, won a scholarship to attend James Allen's Girls' School in London. She lives with her mother, an exhibitions administrator, and father, a company director, in south London. She appeared in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. Charlotte says: I didn't discover classical music until recently.
I began tuning into Classic FM when I was revising for my GCSEs. I think my talents lie as much with acting as singing. If I could perform on a West End stage in a musical or play that is respected as a serious piece of work, I'd die happy. I'd rather be successful than famous.
Free stuff would be good, but people make a lot of assumptions about celebrities. Doing something you're proud of is much more important.
I'd never let any of this interfere with my academic career, though. I'm determined to go to university next year to read English and Drama.
What's happened with me has been exciting for my friends, too. They all want to know who I've met and what shoes and dresses I've worn.
Lots of my friends listen to classical music and I don't think it should be looked on in that snobby way. We're relatively normal girls, so I hope we'll bring the music to a level everyone can access.
All Angels' single, Songbird, is released on November 6 and their album on November 13.
(c) 2006 Daily Mail; London (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
www.bibank.com/portal/story.asp?idstr=99679567
Whilst this is just news represented from Daily Mail, it does mean that customers in Northwest Alabama will be hearing about All Angels.
10/28/2006
By SHOSHANA GOLDBERG
After a nationwide search for girls who sing like seraphim, four public school high-flyers were brought together to form All Angels, the latest, if rather unlikely, manufactured teen band. The girls were chosen from a shortlist of 140 by music producer Steve Abbott and Nicola Benedetti, Britain's violin prodigy.
Daisy Chute, Melanie Nakhla, Charlotte Ritchie and Laura Wright were introduced to each other in the summer and bonded over the pressures of A-levels, parental expectations and a shared passion for music.
'We made an album that would usually take two or three months in three weeks during the summer holidays,' explains Abbott. 'We had to guarantee parents that the girls would get nine hours' sleep each night.' Here the girls talk about their lives and what impact - if any - being part of All Angels has made on them.
LAURA WRIGHT, 16, attends Framlingham College in Suffolk, where she has music and art scholarships. She lives with her artist mother and financial adviser father in Suffolk. Laura won Young Chorister of the Year in 2005 and represented her school in six sports. Laura says: I get far more nervous performing in front of my friends in the school chapel than in front of 1,000 people I don't know. I'm very hard on myself if I don't do well. Classical singing is my passion. I started having lessons in 2003, but the first time it occurred to me that I was talented was when the musical director at school told me to enter the Young Chorister of the Year competition. I didn't think I stood a chance of getting to the final. I'd never been that scared before, but I knew it would open a lot of doors. So far, winning the contest and being selected for All Angels has washed over me completely.
As soon as I'm back at school, my friends bring me back to reality. They tease me quite a bit. Giving an audience everything you've got is an amazing feeling. One day I'd love to sing Bizet's Habanera from Carmen at the Royal Albert Hall wearing a big, fat ball gown in front of all my family and friends.
DAISY CHUTE, 17, won a scholarship to the Purcell School in Bushey, Hertfordshire, a specialist music school. She lives near Edinburgh with her artist mother and retired solicitor father. At nine, Daisy performed in the touring production of Les Miserables. At 15, she made her debut album in her parents' dining room. Daisy says: Singing has always been the most important thing to me. I've loved jazz and musical theatre since I was small, but I started as a chorister at 12 and began lessons at 13. Learning to sing something new every day was a revelation. I loved it. Not all my performances have been flawless, though. When I was eight, I played one of the munchkins in The Wizard Of Oz. I picked my nose on stage thinking no one could see, and was told afterwards that the entire audience watched me do it, which was a mortifying.
It was getting my first audition for Les MisErables when I was nine that made me realise I had some talent. I've known ever since then that I wanted a career in music. Last November, singing at the Royal Albert Hall's School Proms concert with the Loretto Ensemble, I slipped the composer Howard Goodall my CD because that's what you do. Not long afterwards, he hired me for his Channel 4 programme How Music Works and recommended me for All Angels.
I'd like to write an opera, act in films and sing at Carnegie Hall in New York. There's so much I want to do and I can feel scared sometimes that I might not fulfil my potential and live life to the fullest. My mum is a highachiever with great ambition for me and my brothers. Living up to her expectations can be a challenge. I'd love to sing in amazing places with some of the world's most successful and talented people, but I'm terrified of peaking too soon. I hope it's not all downhill from here.
MELANIE NAKHLA, 17, attends Wycombe Abbey School in Buckinghamshire.
The second oldest of five children, she lives in Shrewsbury, Shropshire with her mother, who is training to be a psychotherapist, and father, the CEO of a plastics company. She has played tennis and netball at county level, and learned to fly a Cessna two-seater plane. Melanie says: Our house was always full of music - songs from musicals as well as classical and jazz. All us children play an instrument and sing together, rather like the Von Trapp family. I was really proud to be chosen for All Angels and to be given such an amazing opportunity, but there are so many wonderful careers. I want to study French and Spanish at university and I'm about to fly solo for the first time. I'd love to get my pilot's licence and perhaps fly professionally.
Trying so many new things has been wonderful, but I'm anxious about staying on top of my academic work and taking enough care of my health in case my voice suffers. My parents are extremely supportive and keep a close eye on whether I'm under too much strain. I'd love every minute of being famous, but I'd have to learn to think more carefully about what I say and do.
Last month, we did an underwater photo shoot wearing white dresses. I jumped straight in the water and my dress shot up revealing more than I intended to the photographer.
CHARLOTTE RITCHIE, 17, won a scholarship to attend James Allen's Girls' School in London. She lives with her mother, an exhibitions administrator, and father, a company director, in south London. She appeared in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. Charlotte says: I didn't discover classical music until recently.
I began tuning into Classic FM when I was revising for my GCSEs. I think my talents lie as much with acting as singing. If I could perform on a West End stage in a musical or play that is respected as a serious piece of work, I'd die happy. I'd rather be successful than famous.
Free stuff would be good, but people make a lot of assumptions about celebrities. Doing something you're proud of is much more important.
I'd never let any of this interfere with my academic career, though. I'm determined to go to university next year to read English and Drama.
What's happened with me has been exciting for my friends, too. They all want to know who I've met and what shoes and dresses I've worn.
Lots of my friends listen to classical music and I don't think it should be looked on in that snobby way. We're relatively normal girls, so I hope we'll bring the music to a level everyone can access.
All Angels' single, Songbird, is released on November 6 and their album on November 13.
(c) 2006 Daily Mail; London (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
www.bibank.com/portal/story.asp?idstr=99679567
Whilst this is just news represented from Daily Mail, it does mean that customers in Northwest Alabama will be hearing about All Angels.
