Record label risks €1.5m on 'angelic' schoolgirls

[drew]

Record label risks €1.5m on 'angelic' schoolgirls

CYNICAL, or just angelic? One of the world's biggest record labels is to spend more than €1.5m marketing its latest manufactured ensemble, four British public schoolgirls who have been given the name All Angels because, so it is said, they sing like seraphim.

With sales and recording contracts for the serious end of classical music close to collapse, the new line-up - like Opera Babes, The Choirboys and Il Divo before them - will be targeted at the populist classical crossover market.

There is, though, little manufactured about the girls themselves.

The teenagers, who won through auditions, are already such high achievers that plenty of other careers beckon if the new musical enterprise proves short-lived. Melanie Nakhla, 17, is training as a pilot and plays tennis and netball at county level. Charlotte Ritchie, 17, is a veteran of the National Youth Music Theatre. Laura Wright, 16, is the reigning BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year, represents her county in hockey, athletics and javelin, reached the national schools tennis finals and is a lance corporal in her school's Combined Cadet Force.

Daisy Chute, 17, already has a professional role under her belt. Steve Abbott, their producer/manager who expects their first album to sell hundreds of thousands of copies, said: "What is a manufactured group? I don't think you have to justify this sort of music. (© Daily Telegraph, London) The first album is to be released in November and its mix of classical and pop standards will be familiar fare for the crossover audience. The decline of serious music teaching in schools means that crossover releases are often the only way people get to hear classical music, says Abbott. The four Angels will be heavily promoted on radio and television. But they have different views of their futures.

NIGEL REYNOLDS

© Copyright Unison.ie

www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=44&si=1694797&issue_id=14689

[Jeff]

Since the record label has put so much money behind these young ladies, I just hope they stay together. They all have varied interests, one wants to be a pilot, another to go to university, and it wouldn't surprise me if a year or two from now one of them wanted to go their own way.

[roger]

Hi Jeff,

To be honest, I shared your concerns when I first read of their other interests and aspirations. We have to accept that it is a possibility that one of them may change direction in a year or two. My hope is that the huge success that we are expecting will put their other dreams into the category of a contingency plan. Meanwhile, let's enjoy them while we can.

Roger

[postscript]

roger said:

Hi Jeff,

To be honest, I shared your concerns when I first read of their other interests and aspirations. We have to accept that it is a possibility that one of them may change direction in a year or two. My hope is that the huge success that we are expecting will put their other dreams into the category of a contingency plan. Meanwhile, let's enjoy them while we can.

Roger

BUT as has been said somewhere and it may have been said literally in conversation at one or other gathering, are they not the same as the choirboys? It is a group by name and a group(ing) by nature. Mind you, I think it would be more difficult to replace any one Angel with another than it would be to replace a choir boy. If the choirboys are to continue it is inevitable they must find replacements by the nature of their aging. But hearing this loop in the background as I prepare a later than intended supper, the harmonies are superb and the voices so superbly balanced a replacement voice that will blend in is not going to be easy to find...but is a possibility.

Peter S.

[Joe]

Hi all,

I also thought of this. A music group is just that, a group. Being involved in so many young groups, I've seen groups change members...even singing styles...for different reasons.

Once All Angels are established, I hope that the group may be around for a good many years. If and when the time comes for another opportunity for any of the Angels, my only wish for the girls is to go after their dreams.

Here's something for discussion...do you think the record label could've have done things different and assembled a group a little younger; hoping to avoid possible group changes?

Joe

[Richard]

Hello Joe and everybody!

I sense a big difference in Universal's strategy with All Angels compared with the Choirboys. With the Choirboys, they assembled a trio of child prodigies, and the individual members will probably be replaced as they grow older. With All Angels they have chosen three girls who can be regarded as young adults, just as Hayley was when she launched her international career. They should be able to develop in the same way as Hayley, but whether they will stay together or pursue individual careers, only time will tell. For the moment, let's enjoy them and support them.

Best Wishes,

Richard

[postscript]

Hi Joe.

While 'The Choirboys' might arguably be a 'genre' (all choirboys sound alike--but that could be my ignorance or lack of appreciation) I think the key thing about 'All Angels' is the harmony of voices. That is more difficult to achieve and above all requires the stability of more mature voices, both in terms pf sound but also of maturity to control the altering voice as maturity progresses. After all, Hayley's voice we have noticed changing over the two years we have been following her intensively and she started at the 'All Angels' age--as far as I am concerned in noticing and following her.

Peter S.