Helena Blackman
(October 2006)
Background information
Birth name	Helena Blackman
Born	(1982-12-10) 10 December 1982 (age 29)
Origin	Southampton, United Kingdom
Genres	Pop, Musicals
Instruments	Singing
Years active	2006 – present
Website	Helena Blackman

Helena Blackman (born 10 December 1982 in Southampton) is a British musical theatre actress best known for being the runner-up in the BBC1 Reality TV programme How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?. She trained at the Guildford School of Acting.

Biography[link]

On October 29, 2006, Blackman was seen as Gypsy Rose Lee in a production of Gypsy which was performed at the Wales Millennium Centre as part of the Cardiff International Festival of Musical Theatre. In December 2006, Blackman played Dorothy in an acclaimed run of The Wizard of Oz at the Haymarket Theatre in Leicester.^[1]

Blackman is a much in demand^{[citation needed]} cabaret performer at corporate events, she has recently been featured as a soloist in The night of a thousand voices at the Royal Albert Hall and in Tim McArthur's one-man show Sister Mary McArthur Comin' At-Cha! at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London.

In May 2007, Blackman was seen giving advice to contestant Ben Ellis in an episode of Any Dream Will Do and in July 2007 she appeared as a soloist in an episode of BBC Radio 2's long-running Friday Night is Music Night opposite Daniel Boys. Blackman recently toured the UK extensively as "Nellie Forbush" in a run of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific from 2007 - 2008.

On Christmas Eve 2007 Blackman was seen performing with Lee Mead and Connie Fisher and some of the other 'Maria' and 'Joseph' finalists in a BBC special 'festive' reunion show called When Joseph met Maria!^[2] - celebrating both the hit Andrew Lloyd Webber BBC shows - it was recorded earlier on December 2, 2007. The BBC show, HDYSAPLM, featuring Blackman, recently won a prestigious international Emmy Award in New York (2007) for best non-scripted entertainment.^[3]

From 10 February - 14 March 2009, Helena Blackman played the lead role of Helen in Stephen Sondheim's Saturday Night at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London ^[4]

On February 14, 2011, Helena released her debut album, The Sound of Rodgers & Hammerstein, consisting of classic Rodgers and Hammerstein material, as well as some of their lesser known gems. The album is available for purchase from iTunes,Amazon and Dress Circle. She also appears on 'A Spoonful of Stiles and Drewe' alongside several other West End stars, which includes songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.

From 5 to 31 December 2011, Blackman is appearing in the title role of Snow White at the Redditch Palace Theatre

Reviews[link]

Blackman has been reviewed by several print and web publications. The Times' Jeremy Kingston said of her performance in The Wizard of Oz "Helena Blackman's voice soars to the yearning high notes, and yet she is not afraid to sing in the softest whisper. Every word is clear and cuts to the heart."^[1] Alfred Hickling of The Guardian also gave Blackman praise in the role saying "She gives a sparklingly assured performance, marred only by the usual drawback of appearing at least 20 years too old for a pinafore dress."^[5]

The Stage said of her performance as Nellie Forbrush in South Pacific "...she exudes enthusiasm in the....numbers - especially the excellent Thanksgiving Follies scenes - and she looks perfectly 1940s."^[6] BBC Nottingham's Heather Hinchley also reviewed Blackman's performance positively saying "Without a doubt the star of the show was Helena Blackman".^[7]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Helena Blackman at the Internet Movie Database
• The Sound of Rodgers & Hammerstein

Lauren Samuels (born 26th March 1988) is an English singer/actress and was a contestant on the 2010 BBC UK TV series Over the Rainbow. Since appearing on the show she has gone on to appear in West End theatre, including playing the lead role of Sandy in Grease.

Background[link]

Samuels was born Lauren Bonner. She took the stage name "Lauren Samuels" after her older brother, Samuel.^[2]

Samuels was born with a condition that seriously affected her hearing, causing her to have to wear two hearing aids. However, her hearing completely returned to normal at the age of 18.^[3]

Samuels started ballet lessons at the age of two, began private tutorials at the Hinckley Speech and Drama Studio at seven and started singing lessons at thirteen.^[3]

Samuels studied BTEC National Diploma Performing Arts at Stratford-upon-Avon College^[4] and also studied at the Guildford School of Acting, graduating in 2009.^[5]

[edit] Over the Rainbow

Samuels was a contestant on the 2010 BBC show Over the Rainbow: a talent contest to find an actress to play Dorothy in a West End revival of The Wizard of Oz. Samuels made it through to the final eleven girls who would compete for the public vote through individual performances. Despite coming in the bottom two for votes on three occasions, Samuels made it through to the final, where she ultimately came third to runner-up Sophie Evans and winner Danielle Hope.

Solo performances[link]

Discography[link]

Samuels, along with the other two finalists of Over the Rainbow, recorded a version of "Over the Rainbow" with the intention of the eventual winner's song being made available for purchase shortly after the finale. Hope's recording was originally the only version released, but both Evans' and Samuels' versions of the song were ultimately made available for download on 6 June 2010.

Samuels also appears with the other contestants in a Wizard of Oz medley featured as a b-side on the CD single of Hope's "Over the Rainbow."^[14]

Stage[link]

Samuels' first major stage role was playing Wendy in a 2009/10 production of Peter Pan at the Curve, Leicester.^[15]

On 26 July 2010, Samuels made her West End debut as Sandy in the London production of Grease, replacing Siobhan Dillon.^[16]

Samuels played the role of Cathy in a production of the two-character musical The Last Five Years, which ran at the Tabard Theatre, Chiswick from 9 February to 5 March 2011.^[17]

Samuels played the role of Scaramouche in We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre in London from late 2011.^[18] Following this she starred as the title character in Vampirette the Musical at the Manchester Opera House in May 2012.^[19]

Personal life[link]

Samuels is dating West End performer Warren Sollars,^[20] who currently features in the London production of Mamma Mia!.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Lauren Samuels at the Internet Movie Database
• Over the Rainbow at the Internet Movie Database
• Over the Rainbow at BBC Online

Jonathan Ansell
English tenor Jonathan Ansell at Broadlands in Hampshire, England, in 2007.
Background information
Birth name	Jonathan Mark Ansell
Born	(1982-03-10) 10 March 1982 (age 30)
Origin	Bognor Regis, Sussex, England
Genres	Classical Easy listening Operatic pop Vocal
Occupations	Singer Tenor
Years active	2004–present
Labels	UCJ
Website	jonathanansell.com

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

Jonathan Ansell was born in Bognor Regis in 1982, where both his parents were primary school teachers. Influenced by his mother’s tapes of Pavarotti and the Three Tenors, Jonathan 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, to great acclaim. Jonathan stayed with the choir until his voice broke at the age of 16^[1] when he lost the ability to sing treble but after puberty found he had developed a high tenor voice instead.

He attended the Anglican Bishop Luffa School in Chichester. Achieved his Grade 8 as a treble at 13, he received his Grade 8 as a tenor at 17. He published a solo album in 2001 with his savings.

After a show-stopping performance of Love Changes Everything at a choral society concert in Littlehampton, his 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. Jonathan suffered from Glandular Fever from early September 1999 to mid-February 2000 and the audition was due during this period, luckily, they agreed to rearrange it.^[2] He worked with his music teacher Martin Elliott, with whom he'd had private lessons since he was 13, and went back to basics, gradually building up vocal strength. He won a place at the Guildhall two years later, and felt he had come home.^[3]

Whilst at the Guildhall Jonathan's singing teacher was Adrian Thompson who has a similar voice to Jonathan and he described their lessons as working together. At that time Jonathan tried his hardest at the academic studies but fell below the standard – he was diagnosed as dyslexic – and the Guildhall were not sure that he should stay, but he managed to convince them and was incredibly grateful.^[1]

G4[link]

Whilst he was at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama he formed the pop-opera boyband G4 with Mike Christie, Tom Lowe, and Ben Thapa, three other Guildhall students. Later, due to artistic differences, Tom Lowe resigned as bass, and Matthew Stiff took his place. Their name, G4, comes from the fact that they were all students at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and 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 the legendary Trevor Horn and Brian Rawling, reached Number One for Mother's Day weekend 2005 and sold over 245,000 copies in the first week. 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.

Jonathan 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.

Solo career[link]

Jonathan signed with new management Jonathan Shalit in 2007 and secured a £1 million, 5 album deal with Universal Classics and Jazz (UCJ) which is part of the Universal Music Group. He was offered an album deal by the three major labels, EMI, Sony and Universal.^[4] His first solo album with UCJ, Tenor at the Movies, was released on 18 February 2008.

For 5 Sunday afternoons from 17 February 2008 Jonathan Ansell presented The Great Movie Composers on ClassicFM coinciding with the release of his solo album.

On 24 February 2008, Jonathan's album Tenor at the Movies went straight to number 1 in the Classical Chart and stayed there for 3 weeks and reached Number 9 in mainstream charts making him the youngest tenor ever to top the Classical Charts.

Jonathan participated in a celebrity edition of Channel 4 show Come Dine With Me on 10 April 2008, along with fellow celebrities MC Harvey, Tamara Beckwith and Lynsey de Paul. Jonathan came in joint first place with MC Harvey, both of whom scored 21 points.

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

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

During June 2008, Jonathan 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.^[5]

In a Q&A session with the BBC's Last Choir Standing website, Jonathan 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."^[6] Jonathan made a guest appearance on Last Choir Standing (Results Show) on 3 August 2008 performing "Barcelona".^[7]

On Sunday, 17 August 2008, Jonathan 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 Hayley 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.^[8]

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 on Saturday, 30 August 2008.^[9]

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

Before his G4 days, Jonathan worked in Jersey with a Gilbert and Sullivan operatic society and during September 2008 returned to his roots by 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.^[10]

Jonathan performed alongside Hayley Westenra at Music on Fire! at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 18, 19 and 20 September 2008 - a stunning musical and firework spectacular organised by the Army Benevolent Fund to raise funds for veterans of current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.^[11]

The third series of The Alan Titchmarsh Show featured the start of a competition to find a soprano to sing alongside Jonathan in the A Night At The Opera tour^[12] on Monday, 1 September 2008. From the thousands of hopefuls who applied, 8 ladies were selected to sing in front of a judging panel of David Grant, Ruthie Henshall and Jonathan Shalit. The 4 successful ladies Rosie Bell,^[13] Rosie Havel,^[14] Olivia Safe and Esther Dee^[15] faced a public vote on 15 September 2008 and Olivia Safe and Rosie Bell won through. They sang with Jonathan Libiamo ne' lieti calici, the most famous duet from Verdi's La Traviata on 29 September 2008 and Olivia Safe won the public vote to appear in the tour of A Night At the Opera.

A Night At the Opera had its first performance at the Cardiff Millennium Centre on 30 October 2008 and toured 18 venues in the UK ending at the London Palladium on 23 November 2008.^[12] The show co-stars Silvia Colloca, Telman Guzhevsky, Anna-Clare Monk, Toby Stafford Allen and Olivia Safe. Jonathan describes A Night At the Opera as "All the big tunes that you know from the world of opera compressed into one show. It's not just a gala performance, there's also a narrative in it. All the characters are there and you go on a journey with them. It's kind of like the opera you normally go and see, but you know all of it rather than waiting two hours for the aria you recognise."^[16]

On Saturday, 8 November 2008, Jonathan performed at the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, he performed "Today Won't Come Again" with Hayley Westenra, composer Geoff Stevens, lyrics by Don Black and sang Here's to the Heroes composer John Barry, lyrics by Don Black, when the returning forces came into the auditorium.

During February 2009, Jonathan toured with Hayley Westenra in The Valentines Tour.^[17]

At the England versus Scotland Six Nations Rugby Match at Twickenham on 21 March 2009 Jonathan sang the English National Anthem at Twickenham. During Easter Week, 7 April 2009 Jonathan appeared in Dictionary Corner on Channel 4's Countdown.

Jonathan was nominated for the Classical Brits 2009 "Album of the Year" with Tenor at the Movies.^[18]

On Monday 30 November 2009, Jonathan launched the This Morning's Christmas Choir.^[19] This is a Virtual Choir brought together via individual viewers posting unaccompanied video clips of their singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas on YouTube. Participants should download the music and lyrics, record the song listening to the music on headphones and then post the video to The Morning page on YouTube. Jonathan will be leading the choir and picking viewers to take part in the final virtual choir performance live on This Morning on 23 December 2009. On 3 December 2009, some video clips were broadcast to show viewers what This Morning are after for their Choir.

In 2010, Jonathan made his musical theatre début as The Man in the Bill Kenwright touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman's Whistle Down The Wind. Opening at the Liverpool Empire on 20 January, Jonathan performed an intensive eight shows a week for the entire eight month UK tour.^[20]

Jonathan played Boemer and 2 other characters in the 2010 National Tour of Lark Rise to Candleford directed by Joe Harmston^[21] starting at the Theatre Royal Windsor in September 2010.

On 16 March 2011 Jonathan announced the dates for the Jonathan Ansell and Friends Tour starting in June 2011.^[22]

Jonathan will be playing the role of the Prince / Beast in a national tour of "Beauty and the Beast" for New World Productions in April and May 2011

In January 2012 Jonathan launched a new album project through Pledge Music, The album will be a mix of pop/rock covers and classics.^[23]

Philanthropy and charity[link]

Jonathan has long been a supporter of Breast Cancer Care because his father's twin sister Brenda died from the condition. He participated in the London Triathlon in 2007, performed at their London Fashion Show and Carols by Candlelight Service as well as donating his winnings from Who Wants to be Millionaire and Come Dine with Me.

In Oct 2008 Jonathan and Christchurch soprano Hayley Westenra took to the streets to sell poppies at Waterloo Station to support the Royal British Legion.^[24] On 12 Nov, Jonathan duet "Today Won't Come Again" with Hayley Westenra in the Royal Albert Hall for the Annual Festival of Remembrance and was broadcast by the BBC.^[25]

In April 2009 Jonathan was appointed as an Ambassador for the charity Breast Cancer Care. Jonathan’s first role as Ambassador was to participate in the JPMorgan Asset Management Round the Island Race on 20 June 2009.^[26]

Jonathan was the benchmark flyer for the Worthing International Birdman challenge where contestants attempt mechanically unaided flight off the end of Worthing pier. On a JustGiving website,^[27] Jonathan said: "The thought of leading the way as the benchmark flyer in front of 25,000 people is obviously terrifying, but it is going to be a lot of fun and, most importantly, a brilliant opportunity for me to raise funds for Breast Cancer Care, a charity that is very close to my heart." ^[28] He managed 16.04 metres, sporting a Mr Incredible-style pink hairdo.^[29]

Personal life[link]

In an interview Jonathan spoke about how he looks after his greatest asset; his lyric tenor voice.^[30]

"I'm not one of those fussy singers who won't be in a car with air conditioning, eat dairy products or go out drinking. I treat my voice with respect, but I also give it a level of abuse, so that it's actually resilient as well. If I'm slightly under the weather I can still perform well. Whereas, if I'd been wrapped in cotton wool and something happened I'd get paranoid. I've trained my voice to deal with the bugs and the smoke and everything else."

Jonathan wears a ring on his right hand. Its history is that a friend made it in a silver-smithing class at school and gave it to him. He then bought the one he now wears as a present to himself when G4 signed their first record deal.^[31]

After meeting her in a London club^[32] Ansell proposed to former Quizmania host Debbie King on stage at the end of his final show of A Night at the Opera at the London Palladium on 23 November 2008. The couple married on Sunday 30 August 2009 on the 40th floor of 30 St Mary Axe. On 14 May 2010, Ansell announced he and King were expecting their first child.^[33] King gave birth at 02:00 on 24 November 2010 to Siena Valentine Ansell.^[34]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Tenor at the Movies
• Forever
• Intimate Sunday

References[link]