Jonathan Antoine

Jonathan Antoine (born 13 January 1995) is a classically trained English tenor. He rose to fame after appearing on the sixth series of Britain's Got Talent in 2012 as one half of the classical duo Jonathan and Charlotte. He subsequently went solo, and his debut album Tenore was released in the UK on 13 October 2014.

Early life

Antoine was born to John, a police inspector, and Tracy, a housewife. Neither was a musician, but they soon understood that their son had a special vocal gift. When he enrolled at West Hatch High School in Chigwell at the age of 11, he began to hone this talent and he met two people who were to influence him greatly: singing coach Jenny Ewington and head of music Ginette Brown. “I started having lessons with Mrs Ewington, and just took to it," he explained. "It was so nurturing. She was inspirational, and she became a fantastic friend”.^[1]

At around the age of 13, Antoine's voice broke. As his new sound was settling, Ewington encouraged him to sing challenging numbers including "Bring Him Home" from Les Misérables, a song that brought him much attention at the 2010 Stratford and East London Music Festival where he earned the title "Young Musician of The Year"^[2] and to explore core-classical repertoire such as Bach/Gounod’s "Ave Maria" which he performed at The Royal Festival Hall in London, England as part of the Rotary "Youth Makes Music" event in 2011. At 14, he auditioned for a junior place at the four major music conservatories in London and was accepted at all of them. He chose to go to the Royal Academy of Music. At this time he also began to take guitar lessons. Back at school, Brown encouraged Antoine to sing in concerts as she thought it might help with his shyness. "Jonathan came into his own” she said, “All the students would see him and say that he was the boy with the incredible voice.^[3] Antoine himself slowly began to understand the power of his gift: "I sang the duet Time To Say Goodbye with my friend Stephanie, and there was absolute silence from the audience. It was wonderful – and then we got a standing ovation. It was then I thought: I can really do this." Brown asked Antoine and his friend Charlotte Jaconelli to sing "The Prayer" at her wedding in 2011.^[3] He suffered from depression with suicidal ideas brought on by constant bullying at school.

Career

2012: Britain's Got Talent

In 2012, Jonathan and Charlotte sent an audition video to the talent show Britain’s Got Talent. They performed together in the Series 6 audition held in London, and their performance was broadcast on 24 March 2012. They began the contest as "Charlotte and Jonathan" (though the order of their names was later reversed), and sang The Prayer. They participated in the semi-final which was held on 7 May 2012, singing Caruso, written by Lucio Dalla. In the final, held on 12 May 2012, they appeared 11th, again performing The Prayer, and received a standing ovation for their performance. The duo finished second to the dancing dog act Ashleigh and Pudsey.^[4]

2012–14: Together and Perhaps Love

On 13 May 2012, the day after the Britain's Got Talent final, it was confirmed that Simon Cowell was in negotiations to offer Jonathan and Charlotte a £1 million recording contract with his record label, Syco.^[5] The pair were later offered a contract,^[6] and released their debut album Together on 24 September 2012 in the UK and 30 October 2012 in the US. The pair worked with producer Graham Stack, who was behind the first three albums of X Factor popera stars G4. ^[7]

Jonathan and Charlotte's second album Perhaps Love was released on 14 October 2013 having switched from SyCo/Columbia records to Sony Classical and was described as an album of covers that also contained classical songs and interpretations of modern songs.^[8]

Early 2014: Jonathan and Charlotte split

In February 2014, the duo decided to split up after both were offered solo record deals.^[9] In a statement on their website, Jonathan and Charlotte said: "We have had the most exciting journey together ever since meeting at West Hatch High School in 2006 and are so happy for each other. To come second on BGT and sell over quarter of a million albums was beyond our wildest dreams. To now be offered our own solo record deals by Sony Classical is the most exciting thing ever and we are thrilled to be going back into the recording studio so soon. For those that voted for us, bought our CDs and saw us in concert – thank you. We hope to see you soon at our own shows. Love Jonathan and Charlotte'."^[10]

2014–present: Solo career and Tenore

Antoine's album Tenore (Italian for Tenor) was released in the UK on 13 October 2014. It contains a selection of classic songs as well as arias. The album was produced by music producer, Anna Barry^[11] who has worked with Andrea Bocelli, Jose Carreras, the Kirov Opera and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Antoine announced in February 2016 that he will add two previously unreleased tracks to his list on Tenore available for international download through Amazon and iTunes on 4 March 2016 in time for Mother's Day in the UK.^[12]

Antoine has completed a Balcony Roadshow tour of the UK, culminating in an appearance at the iTunes Festival 2014 at the invitation of Plácido Domingo. He has also started a solo career in America and performed at the 2014 Muhammad Ali Celebrity Fight Night in Arizona and in California and Florida.^[13]

19 August 2016 Jonathan Antoine released his second album "Believe" It contains classical arias by Puccini as well as a version of the classic Cohen song Hallelujah and brand new music.

Discography

Albums

References

External links

• official website
• The Jonathan Antoine Fan Site