Andrew Johnston (singer)
Encyclopedia
Andrew Johnston is a British singer who rose to fame when he appeared as a boy soprano
Boy soprano
A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged voice in the soprano range. Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the more colloquial term boy soprano is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily...

 on the second series of the British television talent show Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent is a British television talent show competition which started in June 2007 and originated from the Got Talent series. The show is produced by FremantleMedia's TalkbackThames and Simon Cowell's production company SYCOtv. The show is broadcast on ITV in Britain and TV3 in Ireland...

in 2008. Although he did not win the series, he received a contract to record on the SyCo Music
Syco
Syco Entertainment, often known as simply Syco , is a global joint venture between Simon Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment focused on the production and exploitation of music, television, film and digital content...

 label owned by the Britain's Got Talent judge Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...

. Johnston's debut album, One Voice
One Voice (Andrew Johnston album)
One Voice is the debut album by British boy soprano Andrew Johnston, who rose to fame in 2008 after his appearance on the second series of Britain's Got Talent. The album was released on 29 September 2008 by Syco Music, Britain's Got Talent judge Simon Cowell's record label...

, was released in September of the same year, and reached number four on the British album charts. Although Johnston originally performed as a treble, his voice has since matured to tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

, and he is currently not recording, allowing his voice to develop.

Johnston was born in Dumfries, Scotland, and his parents separated when he was an infant. He and his mother moved to Carlisle, where they lived in "poverty". He became head chorister at Carlisle Cathedral, and was bullied at school because of his love of classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

. While some journalists have argued Britain's Got Talent producers took advantage of Johnston's background, others have hailed his story as inspirational. In 2009, he graduated from Trinity School
Trinity School (Carlisle)
-Admissions:It is a specialist language college for ages 11–18. It was the most sought after state school for 2008 with about 10 people wanting to go for every place.-Grammar school:Carlisle Grammar School was a boys' grammar school...

. Johnston continues to live in Carlisle with his mother, and is now home tutored. He attends lessons at the Royal Northern College of Music
Royal Northern College of Music
The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...

.

Early life

Johnston was born 23 September 1994 in Dumfries
Dumfries
Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth. Dumfries was the county town of the former county of Dumfriesshire. Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South...

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, the son of Andrew Johnston and Morag Brannock. Johnston's parents separated when he was eight months old, and from that time he lived with his mother in Carlisle, Cumbria, in the north of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. He attended Trinity School
Trinity School (Carlisle)
-Admissions:It is a specialist language college for ages 11–18. It was the most sought after state school for 2008 with about 10 people wanting to go for every place.-Grammar school:Carlisle Grammar School was a boys' grammar school...

 until he graduated in June 2009. Johnston has three older siblings from his mother's first marriage, including Daniel, with whom he has a strong relationship.

Carlisle Cathedral Choir

Johnston tried out for Carlisle Cathedral Choir at the age of six at the recommendation of Kim Harris, a teacher at his primary school. He was auditioned by the choirmaster Jeremy Suter
Jeremy Suter
Jeremy Suter was born in London. He was a chorister under Sir William McKie at Westminster Abbey. He attended Harrow and later spent two years at the Royal College of Music before going to Oxford as Organ Scholar of Magdalen College under Bernard Rose...

 and accepted into the choir at the age of seven. Johnston's mother, who had no previous association with the cathedral, described her feelings of being overwhelmed by emotion at having her boy singing in such a "stunning building among those extraordinary voices." His mother also described his busy regimen of practice four times a week and all day Sundays, saying that it took up all of their spare time. However, she said that the cathedral staff became like a family to her son, and that "it was such a lovely, safe, close feeling for him". Johnston, who attended Trinity School, was subject to abuse and threats from bullies which drove him to contemplate quitting the choir, but he was helped through the ordeal by his choirmaster and the dean and canons of the cathedral. By the time of his participation in Britain's Got Talent, Johnston was head chorister.

Johnston's performances with the choir included appearances in Hungary, Poland and Ireland. In September 2008, shortly before the release of his first album, Johnston embarked on a tour of Norway with the choir, performing at Stavanger Cathedral
Stavanger Cathedral
Stavanger Cathedral is Norway's oldest cathedral. It is situated in the middle of Stavanger, and is the seat of the Diocese of Stavanger.-History:...

 and Ulstein Monastery, among other places. The tour was conceived because the Diocese of Stavanger
Diocese of Stavanger
Stavanger is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers Rogaland. The cathedral city is Stavanger, and the bishop since 2009 is Erling Johan Pettersen.-History:...

 is connected with the Diocese of Carlisle
Diocese of Carlisle
The Diocese of Carlisle was created in 1133 by Henry I out of part of the Diocese of Durham, although many people of Celtic descent in the area looked to Glasgow for spiritual leadership. The first bishop was Æthelwold, formerly the king's confessor and now prior of the Augustinian priory at...

 through Partnership for World Mission. This was Johnston's last tour with the choir. Johnston features as head chorister on one of the choir's albums, The Choral Music of F.W Wadely, released in November 2008.

Britain's Got Talent

Johnston was entered as a competitor in the second series
Britain's Got Talent (Series 2)
The 2008 series of Britain's Got Talent was the second series of the show. Notable differences from the 2007 series the included the fact that the auditions visited Scotland and that there were 40 in the live semi-finals...

 of Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent is a British television talent show competition which started in June 2007 and originated from the Got Talent series. The show is produced by FremantleMedia's TalkbackThames and Simon Cowell's production company SYCOtv. The show is broadcast on ITV in Britain and TV3 in Ireland...

by his mother. He passed the first public audition, singing "Pie Jesu
Pie Jesu
Pie Jesu is a motet derived from the final couplet of the Dies irae and often included in musical settings of the Requiem Mass. The settings of the Requiem Mass by Luigi Cherubini, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Duruflé, John Rutter, Karl Jenkins and Fredrik Sixten include a Pie Jesu as an independent...

" from Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

's Requiem
Requiem (Webber)
Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem is a requiem mass written in memory of the composer's father, William Lloyd Webber, who died in 1982. Many thought it a surprising turn for such a populist composer as Lloyd Webber to produce a piece of "serious" music, being his first and to date only full-blown...

in a rendition that brought judge Amanda Holden
Amanda Holden
Amanda Louise Holden is an English actress and presenter. Among her roles are Mia Bevan in Cutting It, Sarah Trevanion in Wild at Heart, and the title role in Thoroughly Modern Millie, for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award...

 to tears and the audience to their feet in a standing ovation. Johnston was tipped as one of the favourites to win the show. Later, Johnston described his initial audition as daunting, saying that "it was scary singing in front of 2,500 people. I had never sang on stage before – then there was also Simon, Amanda and Piers
Piers Morgan
Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan , known professionally as Piers Morgan, is a British journalist and television presenter. He is editorial director of First News, a national newspaper for children....

." He won his semi-final heat on 27 May 2008, receiving the most public votes on the night and thereby qualifying for the final. He sang "Tears in Heaven
Tears in Heaven
"Tears in Heaven" is a ballad written by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings about the pain and loss Clapton felt following the death of his four-year-old son, Conor. Conor fell from a window of the 53rd-floor New York apartment of his mother's friend on March 20, 1991. Clapton, who arrived at the...

" by Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

; judge Holden told him he had "a gift from God in [his] voice." At the final on 30 May, he again sang "Pie Jesu". However, he finished in third place, behind the winner, street dance
Street dance
Street dance, more formally known as vernacular dance, is an umbrella term used to describe dance styles that evolved outside of dance studios in any available open space such as streets, dance parties, block parties, parks, school yards, raves, and nightclubs, etc...

r George Sampson
George Sampson
George Jennifer Sampson is a street dancer and actor from Warrington, England. He won the second series of Britain's Got Talent on 31 May 2008 at the age of 14.-2007 series:...

 and runners-up, the dance group Signature
Signature (dance group)
Signature are an English dance group which consists of British Pakistani Suleman Mirza and British Indian Madhu Singh. Their notable style of dance is British Bhangra and they frequently base their performances around Michael Jackson songs, such as "Billie Jean" and "Thriller"...

. Johnston later said that "I was upset. But when you see the talent that was there, it was an honour just to be in the final." The day after the final, Cowell's publicist Max Clifford
Max Clifford
Maxwell Frank Clifford is an English publicist, considered the highest-profile and best-known publicist in the United Kingdom...

 said that it was "quite possible" that Cowell would be signing some of the finalists, including Johnston. Johnston and other contestants then embarked on a national arena tour.

During his initial audition, Johnston claimed that he was bullied and victimised from the age of six because of his singing. When asked how he dealt with the issue, he stated "I carry on singing." There were claims in the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...

that the show's producers had deliberately overstated his bullying as a "sob story", suggesting that sympathy rather than his singing got him many of the votes. However, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

described his success story as "the stuff of fairytales", despite having been raised in "poverty". Johnston said he did not talk about being bullied because he was told to by producers, but "because I believed it would help people who were going through what I had gone through be stronger". Johnston has subsequently visited schools and elsewhere, to help other victims of bullying. He said "I want to use my experience of bullies to help other kids."

One Voice

On 12 June 2008 it was announced that Johnston had signed a record deal with Syco Music, a division of Sony BMG, and that his first album would be produced after the Britain's Got Talent Live Tour. After signing with Syco, Johnston made public appearances, including performing at Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

's birthday celebrations on 14 September, and at Carlisle United's Brunton Park
Brunton Park
Brunton Park is a football stadium and the home of Carlisle United F.C. It is situated in the city of Carlisle, Cumbria and has a certified capacity for the 2011/2012 season of 18,202. The ground opened in 1909...

.

The deal was reportedly for £1 million, and Johnston himself heard about the deal while on the Britain's Got Talent Live Tour. His debut album, One Voice
One Voice (Andrew Johnston album)
One Voice is the debut album by British boy soprano Andrew Johnston, who rose to fame in 2008 after his appearance on the second series of Britain's Got Talent. The album was released on 29 September 2008 by Syco Music, Britain's Got Talent judge Simon Cowell's record label...

, was released on 29 September 2008. It includes a cover of "Walking in the Air
Walking in the Air
"Walking in the Air" is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film of Raymond Briggs' 1978 children's book The Snowman. In the film the song was performed by St Paul's Cathedral choirboy Peter Auty...

", performed with Faryl Smith
Faryl Smith
Faryl Smith is a British teen mezzo-soprano who rose to fame after auditioning for the second series of the ITV television talent show Britain's Got Talent in 2008. She received praise throughout the competition, and although she was the favourite to win after the second round, she finished...

. The album was recorded over a six week period in London, and the track listing was chosen by Cowell. Johnston described the recording process as "brilliant", and that it was "really good – just to be in a recording studio and meet the different people." The album debuted in the British charts at number five, and finished the week at number four. The album was later certified gold, having sold 100,000 copies, and Johnston was presented a gold disc by daytime television presenter Penny Smith
Penny Smith
Penelope Jane Smith is an English television presenter and newsreader. She has worked on the breakfast TV show GMTV, for Sky News and for Classic FM.-Early life:...

. Critics responded positively to the album, with Kate Leaver, writing for the JoongAng Daily, saying Johnston "has truer talent than hordes of his musical elders" and that "the vulnerability of this One Voice makes for a haunting musical experience". After the album's release, Johnston became involved in the Sing Up
Sing Up
Sing Up is a UK Government funded national singing programme which aims to ensure that all primary school-aged children are able to access high-quality singing activities every day and that, over time, all primary schools should become 'singing schools'...

 campaign, appearing in schools around the country to encourage other young people to join choirs. In December 2008, Johnston made a guest appearance at Whitehaven
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line and the A595 road...

's Christmas fair, and performed at a carol service in Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...

. Johnston was also invited to turn on the Carlisle Christmas lights and perform at the celebrations. Mike Mitchelson, of Carlisle City Council, described Johnston as "one of our local heroes". In September 2009, he announced that he would be taking a year off from singing as his voice had broken, changing him to a tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

. He had previously performed as a treble
Boy soprano
A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged voice in the soprano range. Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the more colloquial term boy soprano is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily...

. He said "the tutors at [the Royal Northern College of Music] said they'll be able to train my voice up again. It's the same as it ever was, just deeper."

Personal life

Johnston now lives in Stanwix
Stanwix
Stanwix is a district of Carlisle, Cumbria in North West England. It is located on the north side of River Eden, across from Carlisle city centre. Although long counted as a suburb it did not officially become part of the city until 1912 when part of the civil parish of Stanwix became part of the...

, Carlisle, with his mother Morag Brannock, who worked for the Office for National Statistics
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.- Overview :...

 before giving up her job to support her son's career. He no longer attends Trinity School but now has a personal tutor. Johnston takes singing lessons at the Royal Northern College of Music
Royal Northern College of Music
The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...

, and intends to study there full time when he turns 18. Johnston said that he "had a lot of support from local people when ... taking part in Britain’s Got Talent", and was given a civic award for outstanding achievement by Carlisle City Council
City of Carlisle
The City of Carlisle is a local government district of Cumbria, England, with the status of a city and non-metropolitan district. It is named after its largest settlement, Carlisle, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Brampton and Longtown, as well as outlying villages...

 in March 2009.

Studio albums

Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

UK
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

IRE
Irish Albums Chart
The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically...

2008 One Voice
One Voice (Andrew Johnston album)
One Voice is the debut album by British boy soprano Andrew Johnston, who rose to fame in 2008 after his appearance on the second series of Britain's Got Talent. The album was released on 29 September 2008 by Syco Music, Britain's Got Talent judge Simon Cowell's record label...

  • Released: 29 September 2008
  • Label: Syco
    Syco
    Syco Entertainment, often known as simply Syco , is a global joint venture between Simon Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment focused on the production and exploitation of music, television, film and digital content...

     (#88697351872)
  • Format: CD
    Compact Disc
    The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

4 6
  • UK
    British Phonographic Industry
    The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...

    : Gold

  • External links

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