United by their love of music, Melanie, Laura, Daisy and Charlotte combine to form a unique vocal quartet for the 21st century.All aged 16 and 17; All Angels bring a fresh new sound - and a bright new look - to classical crossover music, with a repertoire spanning classical, choral, opera and pop. Their debut album was one of the biggest selling Classical albums of 2006, and their latest special self-titled re-release has 3 new tracks - Nimrod, Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace and Pie Jesu.
Their repertoire includes favourites such as Schuberts Ave Maria, Barbers Agnus Dei (popularised in the film Platoon), and the Sancta Maria intermezzo from Cavalliera Rusticana. From the world of pop comes Robbie Williamss ode to his Mother, Angels, Fleetwood Macs Songbird, and Carole Kings Youve Got A Friend. The four girls were selected following an extensive nationwide search of schools, choirs and music schools. Each girl was picked for bringing a different quality to the group. FemaleFirst were able to have a chat with one of the "Angelic" crew - Charlotte - about being backstage at the Classical Brits, blokes and nose bleeds. Find out more of what she had to say below..
Record sales of your debut album were massive - have you been concerned about having to match that success with your subsequent material at all
Well weve got the special release and were hoping to record a new album in the summer. Its a pretty good concern to have I suppose - its better than saying "Oh were doing really badly, lets see if we can do better." But I think it is a hard thing to do definitely, especially as second albums are often much harder to achieve because people are expecting so much more. But I really do feel that we have developed.If we as a group agree that we feel that a song has been overdone before then well say and the record company will change it and well suggest another song. But part of it, is if youre going to do it do it well and justify yourself doing it. So youve got to have a reason for covering a song again. For example, with a song like Songbird which Eva Cassidy had done so beautifully. When it was suggested, we all loved the song and it meant so much to us and the people around us. When Laura and Melanie sang the verses when we sang it through, they just brought something a little bit different than Eva to it and I think thats part of the reason of covering songs. As long as you put your mark on it its fine.
You have sung hymns in your career, for instance "Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace". Would you describe yourself as a religious person
Erm - I would say that Im more of a spiritual person without trying to sound pretentious. I believe in God but not necessarily in a specific religion.
Some people in this country often see classical music as dreary and snobby. Why do you think that is
Yes. A lot of it comes from abroad. I think a lot of the best classical music has come from different countries - particularly Italy. Its all part of the culture, but its less so here. Part of the problem is that in the past much older people have always listened to it for some reason - just because its been more accessible for those that have been learning music for years and years. Its seen as this thing that only true experts and musicians can listen to when in fact it shouldnt be like that at all. Everyone should listen to it but I think it is becoming more accessible nowadays though.
You once played a Hogwarts pupil in one of the Harry Potter films. What was that like
Yeah - I was more of an extra in the background with that though. (Laughs) It was fantastic because I meet Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Ron (Rupert Grint). Im also a huge fan of the books - theyre the only ones Ive ever stuck to actually. There wasnt any serious acting going on in terms of what I was doing. I was only looking left and right (she laughs) but talking to them I was really pleasantly surprised at how nice and down to earth they were. You expect someone at that age to get harder....I certainly didnt expect them to be so friendly.For me Ive always loved acting and stuff alongside singing. At school Ive always done it and studied Drama. Its been such a big passion for me. As I get older it gets better because I feel more suited to certain parts. Id love to carry on singing and never give that up either but Im definitely hoping in the future that Ill do more acting.
The Harry Potter films obviously deals with the dark arts. If you could contact somebody from beyond the grave at a séance who would it be and why
Oh my Gosh! Id probably talk to my Grandpa, my mums dad because I never met him and he was really into film and television. He was one of the producers for the BBC so it would be really interesting to find out about that from someone who was around at the time. Sounds a bit soppy that doesnt it rather than having someone famous.Youve just been to the Classical Brits Awards this month and were nominated for Best Album. Were you very disappointed that you didnt pick up a gong?
Well to be honest, we were hoping to win but the chances were slim especially with someone like Paul McCartney, with so much fan power behind him. But the fact that we nominated was just unbelievable because weve only been around for sort of six months. Yet we were nominated and it was just mad to even think that we would be considered for such a big award. That was more of an award in itself. It was have been really nice to win of course but we also performed so in a way it really felt like we didnt lose at all.
It was fantastic backstage - we had a bit of chat after our performance with Paul and he was really complimentary. It was so nice to speak to him; I was so excited just because Im such a fan of the Beatles and the whole generation he kinda represents such a lot. The idea that there are only two Beatles left. Its like a rare breed. (Laughs) We also met Sting. Im a huge fan and so is my dad - we love Sting.
You wore an outfit designed by the fabulous upcoming new designer Jacob Kimmie didnt you
Yeah we wore his dresses - I was really exciting because Ive never had a dress made for me. My dad was really funny about it afterwards - he asked whether it would look nice enough for a wedding dress and said I could save it for then as well. (Laughs)
You read all these things about fashion disasters at the Oscars and other big award dos. Have you ever ruined an outfit then
Yeah well that was a big worry for the Classical Awards. I practised walking in these high heels before we went and I couldnt walk in them. They were these really trendy, tiny heels, so luckily they let me wear my own simple black shoes and said they were fine. That could have been a disaster, me turning up on stage and falling over one of the giant columns or something.Oh Gosh - yeah Ive ruined one. The first time I ever did a play when I was much younger and I was sitting watching it. I was Alice in Wonderland and I was told I couldnt get anything on my dress at all. Then for some reason I got one of those out of the blue nose bleeds and I didnt notice! (Laughs) It went all over the dress and I got in so much trouble. I had to run to the loos and they got really angry. Im never really trusted with really, really nice outfits just cos I spill everything.
What shades and styles do you tend to go for when you go on shopping trips yourself
Well my mum is always telling me that I shouldnt wear pink or beige, because Im really, really pale, but I love blue. Ive also discovered that green is quite good - its a nice bright colour. Im really excited about this new wave of really neon colours going on in the all shops at the moment.
How often do you sort out your wardrobe
My problem is that I never clean it out and neither has the rest of my family. The 80s are coming back in now and its brilliant because my sister left behind loads of her 80s clothes. Also 90s stuff that seems to be creeping back in like leggings. So I dont ever throw anything out because I know it will become fashionable again. The only problem is if I grow out of it but I keep all my clothes usually.
I believe you are involved in a petition about Elgar and recently sang outside the Bank of England? What other issues make your blood boil
Yeah as you say it was basically because we were at the Albert Hall, singing Nimrod by Elgar who was a composer. It was the 150th anniversary of his birth and this year the Bank of England had decided to take him off the £20 note. We thought that was a bit of an outrage because it was his birthday, because we were representing him at the Classical Brits and it seemed a bit of an insult. So we did a little campaign. I dont know how much of an impact it had but it was good fun away. We kind of looked a bit silly with all these vans driving past and wondering what was going on, but it was good.Loads of things make my blood boil. One of the things weve mentioned. It may seem a bit petty and a bit hypocritical of me because up until recently I was a big musical snob. But musical snobbery - people that wont accept new music or listen to peoples music because of the way they dress say. Any kind of musical snobbery really annoys me because youve got to listen to all different types of music and not confine yourself to one. Thats one thing - especially young people.
When was the last time that you shouted at anybody
Oh Gosh! Thats really hard. Probably when my sister was back from Paris two or three days ago and we were sharing a bathroom. I shouted at her but it was in jest. It wasnt serious.
Saturday saw the Eurovision Contest - Are You a Fan
I do cringe a bit if Im honest at some of the songs. Like I was saying about musical snobbery - I do give them a chance and then decide if I like them or not. But I was really impressed by last years - I thought it was really cool that they pushed the boat out and had all the costumes and things and I was pleased they won. Im not a huge fan of Scooch - I think their song is catchy and I really do think they go for it. I keep seeing their music on the radio and TV and I really think theyre having so much fun. Its almost like theyre sort of joking around and I really like that because I think theyre not taking things too seriously which is always really important. Theyre good entertainers and dancers and their voices are good but the song just doesnt grab me. It would be nice to see England win at some point again though. Its good when people hold parties for it and its cool because it brings Europe together again. Theres a real feeling of competition but in a really healthy way.
Are you in a relationship at the moment
No, Im just too busy. My ideal man in two words would be..Johnny Depp (She Laughs)
The new version of "All Angels" is being released on May 14th and is available digitally now!