The Choirboys (boyband)

The Choirboys are an English boyband, made up of cathedral choristers, so the members have only a brief time in the group before the inevitable voice-change. The first group comprised: Charles John "CJ" Porter-Thaw from Sheffield, Patrick Aspbury from Chelmsford, and Ben Inman, from Yorkshire. Porter-Thaw and Aspbury both sang in the choir of Ely Cathedral and Inman in the choir of Southwell Minster. In the summer of 2005, they were selected from cathedral choristers around the UK for a recording contract with Universal Classics and Jazz, and released their self-titled first album in November of that same year.

The album sold 100,000 copies in the first week, making it the fastest-selling classical debut album ever in the UK and earning The Choirboys a Gold Disc which was presented to them on the popular BBC children's TV programme, Blue Peter. It has since [http://www.kings-ely.cambs.sch.uk/default.asp?MIS=338&N_ID=176 gone platinum] and has to date sold over 750,000 copies.

After an intensive promotional tour of TV and radio stations, they performed at several events, including the Southwell Minster St. Cecilia Concert, the Ely Cathedral May Day Concert and charity concerts in major London venues such as the Royal Albert Hall.

A second album 'The Carols Album' was released in December 2007. However, by this time the members had changed with their voices and the new Choirboys are Andrew Swait, William Dutton and Bill Goss.

Original Members (2005)

Patrick Aspbury

Full Name: "Patrick James Aspbury"
Eye Colour: "Blue"
Hair Colour: "Blonde"
Birthday: "9 June 1993"
Choir: [http://www.cathedral.ely.anglican.org/music/ "Ely Cathedral Choir"]
From: "Chelmsford"
Patrick has now retired as a treble chorister from Ely Cathedral.

Ben Inman

Full Name: "Eskricke Francis Benedict Inman"
Eye Colour: "Blue"
Hair Colour: "Brown"
Birthday: "19 March 1993"
Choir: " [http://www.southwellminster.co.uk/choir/choir.htm Southwell Minster Choir"]
From: "Yorkshire"

Recorded as solo artist on the James Newton-Howard soundtrack for the remake of the movie King Kong (2005)Retired as a treble chorister from Southwell Minster on 21st January 2007. He won the [http://www.trebby.com/ Trebby Award] for 'best solo treble track' in 2007 for the track 'Fairest Isle' (recorded 2005).

Charles John (CJ) Porter-Thaw

Full Name: "Charles John Hamish Porter-Thaw"
Eye Colour: "Brown"
Hair Colour: "Brown"
Birthday: "11 December 1994"
Choir: [http://www.cathedral.ely.anglican.org/music/ "Ely Cathedral Choir"]
From: "Sheffield"

CJ has now retired as a treble chorister from Ely Cathedral.

New Members (2007)

Andrew Swait

Full Name: "Andrew Swait"
Eye Colour: "Blue"
Hair Colour: "Blonde"
Birthday: "2 October 1994"
Choir: [http://media.cheltcoll.gloucs.sch.uk/marketing/choirboy320.mp4"Cheltenham College"]
From: "Gloucestershire"

[http://www.andrewswait.co.uk Andrew] has featured as principal soloist in recordings by The Abbey School Choir - "Light of the World - Signum Records", available http://www.signumrecords.com/catalogue/sigcd068/index.htm here] . He has also featured in the CD "Landscape and Time", available [http://www.signumrecords.com/catalogue/sigcd090/index.htm here] by the Kings Singers, and appeared in the children's documentary [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?xml=/education/2005/12/17/edchoir17.xml"A Different Life"] about his life as a chorister. 2008 CD releases included: Songs of Innocence was released on the Signum Classics label, where Andrew was accompanied by the pianist Andrew Plant and joined by the counter tenor James Bowman. Herald Records released his solo album of choral music, directoed by Stephen Jackson of the BBC Symphony Chorus and accompanied by the Trinity Chamber Choir and Alexander Ffinch, organist. He also appeared on Anna Netrebko's Deutsche Grammophone SOUVENIRS recording.

Will Dutton

Full Name: "William Dutton"
Eye Colour: "Brown"
Hair Colour: "Blonde"
Birthday: "20 January 1995"
Choir: " [http://smch2.blizzzard.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=912&Itemid=85 St Mark's Church, Harrogate] "

He was awarded the BBC Radio 2 [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/events/youngchorister/ 'Young Chorister of the Year'] Award in 2006. He is the son of the famous former treble [http://www.boysoloist.com/artist.asp?VID=322 Paul Dutton] , and his younger brother Christian also sings in his choir. Will also is an excellent and modest violinist, and is a member of the National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain, with whom he was co-principal violinist this year.His most recent performance was in Italy on the island of Ischia where he sang Funiculi, Funicula extremely well with the National Children's Orchestra. His most favourite person ever in the whole entire world is HIMSELF and he has a number of other admirers including Anna Hughes, Nialah Chakravarti and Katie Dunn and a wierdo called Laura who didnt speak to him AND someone else who he is not allowed to mention.

Bill Goss

Full Name: "Bill Goss"
Eye Colour: "Brown"
Hair Colour: "Brown"
Birthday: "11 December 1994"
Choir: " [http://www.st-peters.york.sch.uk/st-olaves/ St Olaves's School, York] "

Discography

Albums

*The Choirboys (2005)
*The Carols Album (released UK 3rd December 2007)

ingles

*Tears in Heaven
*Ave Maria (released on the same CD as above, not on the album). The famous Bach/Gounod 'Ave Maria' sung by Ben Inman.
*Fairest Isle. This track, by Henry Purcell and again a solo by Ben Inman, was recorded but does not appear on any CD. However, it is available as a pay-to-download file from various sources (see below).

External links

* [http://www.thechoirboys.co.uk The Choirboys Official Site]
* [http://www.thechoirboys.org.uk Fan site, with extensive media content]
* [http://www.thechoirboys.org.uk/fairestisle.html Fairest Isle download sources]
* [http://www.cathedral.ely.anglican.org/music/the_cathedral_choir.html Ely Cathedral Choir]
* [http://www.southwellminster.co.uk/choir/choir.htm Southwell Minster Choir]
* [http://www.andrewswait.co.uk Official website for Andrew Swait]