Jonathan Ansell is not your typical opera singer. He shot to fame in the UK in 2004 as part of opera boy band G4 who finished second in Simon Cowell’s X Factor.
And although they didn’t win the reality TV competition, they soon signed a £1.5 million contract with Sony BMG, their debut album hit the top of the UK charts and the young quartet helped to make classical crossover music popular among a broader audience.
But at first, Ansell said he and his band mates were distraught about coming second to Steve Brookstein.
“At the beginning of the show, at the first audition, we thought we would get nowhere, we thought maybe Simon would like us, but we weren’t right for that kind of show,” the 31-year old singer from West Sussex said.
But everything changed when they realised the audience supported them and there were millions of people voting for the group every week.
“The sad thing about coming second is, the winner gets roughed up, they get their performance with the big confetti canon and get their single released the next week, and the runner-up just disappears.
“In the previous weeks when you were a runner-up you were still on the telly, saying ‘I wish so-and-so all the best’ but if you come second, there’s nothing, which was very weird,” he remembered.
In the end losing at the grand finale was a blessing for G4.
“We could go away and record a great album and start off a bit slower, which was a great thing,” he said.
The group stayed together for three and a half years and released three albums before disbanding in 2007.
“On a farewell tour, we did a show at the Royal Albert Hall and we got the confetti canons for our last performance, so at last we had that moment of self-indulgence.”
Being into classical music and not into pop or rock wasn’t always easy as a youngster.
“I definitely wasn’t the coolest kid at school. My mum used to play the music of Maria Lanza and Pavarotti and we used to listen to it in the car and I was trying to sing along to it when all my friends were trying to learn the contemporary hit of the time.
“It definitely wasn’t cool and this unfortunately gave me some ridicule and bullying through school, but I joined the choir at the age of seven, so I had some like-minded people to rehearse with,” he said.
Ansell arrived in Auckland earlier this week to head on a tour through the country as part of The Seven Irish Tenors.
After recording with Hayley Westenra for his debut solo album they became good friends and her stories from home made him want to visit New Zealand.
“She definitely has sold the country to me and I am delighted that I finally get the chance, it’s just a shame that she’s not here with us to be the eighth tenor”, he laughed.
Ansell will tour with The Seven Irish Tenors New Zealand for the next two weeks and can’t wait to hit the stage. “I got Irish heritage, my mum’s side of the family is from Ireland, but as you can hear I am not Irish, but I do enjoy Guinness, which may be a good way of getting into it.
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“But ultimately it is a group that established itself in Dublin which changed its line-up many times over the years.
“It’s routed in one of the wonderful traditions of vocal trainings and song-styles of Ireland and it’s great to continue that – being directly Irish or not.
“Performing everything from the classics Danny Boy, You Raise Me Up to some wonderful Queen, Somebody to Love, Barcelona and Nessun Dorma –
