Anthony Way
Encyclopedia
Anthony Way is an English chorister and classical singer who shot to fame after appearing as a chorister in a BBC TV series. He has since had success as a recording artist, with gold and platinum discs to his credit.
by the age of eight. His father worked as an officer at Wormwood Scrubs prison
. In 1990, the prison chaplain, the Rev. Ray Guymer, suggested to Way's father that young Anthony should go for a voice trial at St. Paul's Cathedral. Anthony passed the audition and was given a place at the Cathedral Choir School
at the age of nine.
At the age of twelve, he received attention for his portrayal of Henry Ashworth in the lavish 1995 BBC
mini-series based on the Joanna Trollope
novel 'The Choir' as a gifted young chorister whose voice saved a cathedral and its choir. The series comprised five one-hour episodes, and has since aired on America's PBS Network. Anthony was the prominent voice on 'The Choir' soundtrack, and was backed by the Gloucester Cathedral
Choir and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
. Released by Polygram
label "Decca
", the recording went platinum, selling 350,000 copies worldwide and spent 15 weeks at the top of the UK classical chart
. It was notably the fastest selling classical release since The Three Tenors
five years previously. Meanwhile in the UK Singles Chart
the album secured a No 3 spot, squeezing out Michael Jackson
. (The DVD
of the series was eventually released in March 2006, shortly after "The Choirboys" debut album became the fastest selling classical debut album ever).
In 1995, his record label released "The Choirboy," an amalgamation of classic and contemporary songs which was excluded from the UK classical chart
s. A court battle then ensued between Anthony's record label and the Classic Chart compilers that resulted in huge media controversy and saw Anthony splashed across the national press, propelling the album to gold status and taking total album sales to half a million. The chart compilers soon thereafter started a new classical crossover chart (in January 1996). From this album also came the hit singles "Panis Angelicus
" and "The Lord's Prayer" which both went gold or platinum within a short time of their release.
In the summer of 1995, Way and the choir played an important part in the "VE Day 50" celebrations: Firstly, St. Paul's Cathedral hosted the National Service of Thanksgiving that was broadcast live on British television; the day after in London's Hyde Park, the youngster confidently performed "Panis Angelicus" in front of an estimated crowd of 150,000 people including HM The Queen
and the rest of the Royal Family
. The event was broadcast live to millions of people on television worldwide and introduced the boy to a whole new audience.
By the summer of 1996, Anthony had risen to Deputy Head Chorister at St. Paul's. The choir was given the honour of serenading HM Queen Elizabeth
the Queen Mother
on her 96th Birthday.
Way recorded "The Choirboy's Christmas" with the English Chamber Orchestra
, released in November 1997. This album was recorded in London's famous Temple Church
, where chorister Ernest Lough
had recorded his version of "O For the Wings of a Dove" more than sixty years earlier, in 1929. It was reported that Decca spent an initial advertising budget of £300,000 in the run up to Christmas to promote his new album. By the following Easter
, the album had sold over 60,000 copies.
The choir also recorded two other albums at this time, "How Can I Keep From Singing?" and "Passiontide at St. Paul's" both of which featured a number of soloists, including Anthony on one track.
He went to Uppingham School
on a music scholarship, and in 1997 saw his last album release as a treble with its choir, during which time he continued to be in heavy demand for performances. On the release of his "Wings of a Dove", it entered the UK Classical music chart at No 3.
In May of that year, maturity took its toll on his signature treble voice forever. His final few concerts saw him perform in King's College Chapel, Cambridge
and at the home of the English Sinfonia in Stevenage
, where he performed tracks live from the album for the very last time alongside his old friend and "Choirgirl of the Year 1995", Tabitha Watling. To mark his retirement as a treble soloist, Decca Records released "The Best of Anthony Way" in 1998.
He has since starred as Tom Long in 1999's film version of Tom's Midnight Garden
, alongside Greta Scacchi
, James Wilby
and Joan Plowright
, filmed in the summer of 1997 on the Isle of Man
. The film won considerable critical acclaim on its release at the Giffoni Film Festival
in Italy.
Way currently lives in Chichester, West Sussex and is a member of Brighton
based band Last Days of Lorca. They regularly play gigs and recently completed a tour of the North of England. Their latest single was featured in the recent Danny Dyer film 'Jack Said'.
Biography
Way was born in London on 14 December 1982, and was a choristerChoirboy
A choirboy is a boy member of a choir, also known as a treble.As a derisive slang term, it refers to a do-gooder or someone who is morally upright, in the same sense that "Boy Scout" refers to someone who is considered honorable or conscientious.- History :The use of choirboys in Christian...
by the age of eight. His father worked as an officer at Wormwood Scrubs prison
Wormwood Scrubs (HM Prison)
HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs is a Category B men's prison, located in the Wormwood Scrubs area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, in inner west London, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service....
. In 1990, the prison chaplain, the Rev. Ray Guymer, suggested to Way's father that young Anthony should go for a voice trial at St. Paul's Cathedral. Anthony passed the audition and was given a place at the Cathedral Choir School
St Paul's Cathedral School
St. Paul's Cathedral School is a school associated with St Paul's Cathedral in London and is located in New Change in the City of London.The School has around 220 pupils, most of whom are day pupils, both boys and girls, including up to 40 boy choristers who are all boarders and who singing the...
at the age of nine.
At the age of twelve, he received attention for his portrayal of Henry Ashworth in the lavish 1995 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
mini-series based on the Joanna Trollope
Joanna Trollope
Joanna Trollope OBE , is an English novelist.-Life:Joanna Trollope was educated at Reigate County School for Girls followed by St Hugh's College, Oxford. From 1965 to 1967, she worked at the Foreign Office...
novel 'The Choir' as a gifted young chorister whose voice saved a cathedral and its choir. The series comprised five one-hour episodes, and has since aired on America's PBS Network. Anthony was the prominent voice on 'The Choir' soundtrack, and was backed by the Gloucester Cathedral
Gloucester Cathedral
Gloucester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the river. It originated in 678 or 679 with the foundation of an abbey dedicated to Saint Peter .-Foundations:The foundations of the present...
Choir and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
The Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra , one of Poland's premier musical institutions, was established in 1901 on the initiative of an assembly of Polish aristocrats and financiers, as well as musicians...
. Released by Polygram
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
label "Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
", the recording went platinum, selling 350,000 copies worldwide and spent 15 weeks at the top of the UK classical chart
UK classical chart
The UK Classical Charts are three record charts based on classical music in the United Kingdom: the Classical Artist Albums Chart, the Classical Compilation Albums Chart and the Specialist Classical Albums Chart...
. It was notably the fastest selling classical release since The Three Tenors
The Three Tenors
The Three Tenors is a name given to the Spanish singers Plácido Domingo and José Carreras and the Italian singer Luciano Pavarotti who sang in concert under this banner during the 1990s and early 2000s. The trio began their collaboration with a performance at the ancient Baths of Caracalla, in...
five years previously. Meanwhile in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
the album secured a No 3 spot, squeezing out Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
. (The DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
of the series was eventually released in March 2006, shortly after "The Choirboys" debut album became the fastest selling classical debut album ever).
In 1995, his record label released "The Choirboy," an amalgamation of classic and contemporary songs which was excluded from the UK classical chart
UK classical chart
The UK Classical Charts are three record charts based on classical music in the United Kingdom: the Classical Artist Albums Chart, the Classical Compilation Albums Chart and the Specialist Classical Albums Chart...
s. A court battle then ensued between Anthony's record label and the Classic Chart compilers that resulted in huge media controversy and saw Anthony splashed across the national press, propelling the album to gold status and taking total album sales to half a million. The chart compilers soon thereafter started a new classical crossover chart (in January 1996). From this album also came the hit singles "Panis Angelicus
Panis Angelicus
Panis angelicus is the penultimate strophe of the hymn Sacris solemniis written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi as part of a complete liturgy of the Feast including prayers for the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours....
" and "The Lord's Prayer" which both went gold or platinum within a short time of their release.
In the summer of 1995, Way and the choir played an important part in the "VE Day 50" celebrations: Firstly, St. Paul's Cathedral hosted the National Service of Thanksgiving that was broadcast live on British television; the day after in London's Hyde Park, the youngster confidently performed "Panis Angelicus" in front of an estimated crowd of 150,000 people including HM The Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
and the rest of the Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
. The event was broadcast live to millions of people on television worldwide and introduced the boy to a whole new audience.
By the summer of 1996, Anthony had risen to Deputy Head Chorister at St. Paul's. The choir was given the honour of serenading HM Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
the Queen Mother
Queen mother
Queen Mother is a title or position reserved for a widowed queen consort whose son or daughter from that marriage is the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since at least 1577...
on her 96th Birthday.
Way recorded "The Choirboy's Christmas" with the English Chamber Orchestra
English Chamber Orchestra
The English Chamber Orchestra is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and the ECO Ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall...
, released in November 1997. This album was recorded in London's famous Temple Church
Temple Church
The Temple Church is a late-12th-century church in London located between Fleet Street and the River Thames, built for and by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters. In modern times, two Inns of Court both use the church. It is famous for its effigy tombs and for being a round church...
, where chorister Ernest Lough
Ernest Lough
Ernest Arthur Lough was an English boy soprano who sang the famous solo O for the Wings of a Dove from Mendelssohn's Hear My Prayer for the Gramophone Company in 1927. The record became HMV's biggest seller for 1927, and made the piece, the choir and the soloist world famous...
had recorded his version of "O For the Wings of a Dove" more than sixty years earlier, in 1929. It was reported that Decca spent an initial advertising budget of £300,000 in the run up to Christmas to promote his new album. By the following Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
, the album had sold over 60,000 copies.
The choir also recorded two other albums at this time, "How Can I Keep From Singing?" and "Passiontide at St. Paul's" both of which featured a number of soloists, including Anthony on one track.
He went to Uppingham School
Uppingham School
Uppingham School is a co-educational independent school of the English public school tradition, situated in the small town of Uppingham in Rutland, England...
on a music scholarship, and in 1997 saw his last album release as a treble with its choir, during which time he continued to be in heavy demand for performances. On the release of his "Wings of a Dove", it entered the UK Classical music chart at No 3.
In May of that year, maturity took its toll on his signature treble voice forever. His final few concerts saw him perform in King's College Chapel, Cambridge
King's College Chapel, Cambridge
King's College Chapel is the chapel to King's College of the University of Cambridge, and is one of the finest examples of late Gothic English architecture, while its early Renaissance rood screen separating the nave and chancel, erected in 1532-36 in a striking contrast of style, has been called...
and at the home of the English Sinfonia in Stevenage
Stevenage
Stevenage is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England. It is situated to the east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1, and is between Letchworth Garden City to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south....
, where he performed tracks live from the album for the very last time alongside his old friend and "Choirgirl of the Year 1995", Tabitha Watling. To mark his retirement as a treble soloist, Decca Records released "The Best of Anthony Way" in 1998.
He has since starred as Tom Long in 1999's film version of Tom's Midnight Garden
Tom's Midnight Garden (film)
Tom's Midnight Garden is a 1999 family fantasy film directed by Willard Carroll and starring Nigel Le Vaillant, Marlene Sidaway and Serena Gordon. After going to stay with his uncle a boy is disappointed that he doesn't have a garden he can play in. However, he discovers a secret garden that only...
, alongside Greta Scacchi
Greta Scacchi
Greta Scacchi is an Italian-Australian actor.-Early life:Scacchi was born Greta Gracco in Milan, Italy, on 18 February 1960, the daughter of Luca Scacchi Gracco, an Italian art dealer and painter, and Pamela Carsaniga, an English dancer and antiques dealer...
, James Wilby
James Wilby
James Jonathon Wilby is an English film, television and theatre actor.-Early life and education:He was born in Rangoon, Burma to a corporate executive father...
and Joan Plowright
Joan Plowright
Joan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier, DBE , better known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English actress, whose career has spanned over sixty years. Throughout her career she has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award and has been nominated for an Academy Award, an Emmy, and two BAFTA Awards...
, filmed in the summer of 1997 on the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
. The film won considerable critical acclaim on its release at the Giffoni Film Festival
Giffoni Film Festival
The Giffoni International Film Festival is the largest children’s film festival in Europe, and possibly the World. It takes place in the little Italian town of Giffoni Valle Piana in Southern Italy, close to Salerno. Over 2,000 children attend the festival from 39 countries around the world...
in Italy.
Way currently lives in Chichester, West Sussex and is a member of Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
based band Last Days of Lorca. They regularly play gigs and recently completed a tour of the North of England. Their latest single was featured in the recent Danny Dyer film 'Jack Said'.
Solo albums
- The Choirboy (Permanent Records PERMCD 41, CD) 1995 - With the St. Paul's Cathedral Choir and The Bach Choir [UK platinum album]
- The Choirboy's Christmas (Decca 455 050-2, CD) 1996 - Featuring St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, London
- Wings of a Dove (Decca 455 645, CD) 1997 - With the Choir of Uppingham School (mixed choir)
- The Best of Anthony Way (Decca 4605722, CD) 1998 - with the St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, London
Singles
- Panis Angelicus ( 448 164-2, 3-track CD Single) 1995
- The Lord's Prayer (Permanent Records CDS PERM 26, 4-track CD Single) 1995
- Panis Angelicus (Permanent Records CDSPERM 26, 3-track CD Single) 1996
Recordings as featured artist
- The Choir, The (Warner 925 668, CD) 1995 The Soundtrack to the Television Mini-Series
- How Can I Keep From Singing? (EMI 569 620, CD) 1996
- World Of Boy Soprano (PolyGram K.K. (London) POCL 4373, CD) 1996 Japanese Compilation CD of music on the Decca Label from 1951-1996.
- Passiontide at St. Paul's (Hyperion CDA 66916, CD) 1997 St. Paul's Cathedral Choir
- Ultimate Carol Collection (Decca 4588632, CD) November 1997 - King's College Choir, Cambridge
Films and videos
- The Choir (Film/TV) 1995, (DVD March 2006) IMDB
- Tom's Midnight GardenTom's Midnight GardenTom's Midnight Garden is a children's novel by Philippa Pearce. It won the Carnegie Medal in 1958, the year of its publication. It has been adapted for radio, television, the cinema, and the stage.-Plot summary:...
(MGM/Vine 21393, DVD) 1998 IMDB