All Angels

All Angels are a British classical/pop group consisting of Melanie Nakhla, Charlotte Ritchie, Laura Wright, and Daisy Chute.

They are the world's first female classical supergroup. United by their love of music, and by the freshness of youth, they form a unique vocal quartet for the 21st century, bringing a fresh new sound and a bright new look to classical crossover music, with a reperoire spanning clasical, choral, opera and pop.

Their heavenly repertoire includes favourites such as Schubert's Ave Maria, Barber's Agnus Dei and the Sancta Maria intermezzo from Cavalliera Rusticana, along with Delibes' Flower Duet from Lakme and Offenbach's Barcarolle, plus pop songs like Robbie Williams' Angels, Fleetwood Mac's Songbird or Sinéad O'Connor's Nothing Compares To You.

The four young girls known as All Angels released their first album at the end of 2006, entering the UK charts at #9. It was the UK's fast selling debut for a classical act and won them a platinum disc, besides being nominated for Classical Brit Album Of The Year award.

Later, they sang in front of the Queen at the Festival of Remembrance, made several tv appearances and released a cover of Robbie Williams song Angels, plus a revised version of their album with three bonus tracks, at the same time Daisy, Melanie, Charlotte and Laure continued studying and growing up.

Now, almost a year later, they are releasing a new album, Into Paradise, which comes with new masterpieces like Nothing Compares To You or Sancte Deus, that is an exceptional occasion to meet them.

November will be the month chosen for their first long running concert too at St James Church, Piccadilly.


Daisy Chute (17/08/1989)

Bubbly Scot Daisy began her performing career at 9 as Young Cosette in the touring production of Les Miserables. At the age of 13 she appeared in front of six million television viewers as the young Judy Garland in Stars In Their Eyes Kids, and made the first of many apearances on the Edinburgh Fringe. At 15 she recorded her debut album: she was encouraged by American jazz vocalist Mark Murphy, who compared her voice to a young Barbra Streisand, she hired a pianist, bassist and drummer and recorded her disc of jazz standards, Simply Jazz, in the dining room of her parents' Edinburgh home. The result impressed jazz veteran Humphrey Lyttleton so much that she became the youngest singer ever to be played on his BBC Radio 2 show. Daisy now studies at the Purcell School in Bushey, Herts, but her first love remains jazz: "All my life I've loved singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. But I also like listening to indie rock like Snow Patrol, Radiohead, The Killers and Razorlight". Daisy's opportunity to join All Angels came when she was singing at the Royal Albert Hall's School Proms with the Loretto Ensemble in November 2005 "I was wearing a kilt, with a chamber ensemble, and I slipped Howard Goodall my CD - because that's what you do!". Before long Goodall had hired her for his Channel 4 programme, How Music Works, he recommended her to Universal Music for All Angels. "I always knew I wanted to do something musical", she says, "singing was always the most important thing to me". Daisy has also graced the cover of numerous girls' magazines and books, appeared in several television and radio plays, and worked as a reporter for Newsround, covering the Smash Hits Poll Winners' Party.


Melanie Nakhla (29/12/1988)

Multi-lingual Melanie, from London, sums up the universal appeal of All Angels by her choice of influences. "My idols are Maria Callas and Ella Fitzgerald", she says, "because they both made every song their own every time they sang it". One of five children who all play instruments, Melanie has played violin from a young age and used to take singing lessons with all her siblings - "just like the Von Trapp family!" She loves romantic composers like Elgar and Debussy but like any teenage girl she enjoys pop as much as classical music: "I like the Kooks and Dirty Pretty Things but I also really enjoy operas like La Boheme and The Marriage Of Figaro, and a bit of dance music too". She completed her AS Levels, has played tennis and netball at county level and is learning to fly a Cessna two-seater plane: "I've flown over Jamiroquai's house - but I haven't spotted him yet!". She also plans to take A-Levels in French, Spanish and Economics and is looking forward to a gap year to improve her Spanish further by travelling in South America and to do some charity work. Well travelled, she already speaks French and Latin, thanks to family members spread all over the globe, and she has toured across Italy as head of her school choir. "There has not been a girl group of young girls like this before", she says, "so hopefully we will bring something new to the music and not just be another classical group of girls".


Charlotte Ritchie (29/08/1989)

Charlotte, from Clapham, south London, did not really discover classical music until she began revising for her exams. "My parents don't really listen to classical music", she admits, "but I began listening to Classical FM when I was revising for my CGSEs because a friend told me it was the best kind of music to listen to when you revise because it doesn't interrupt your studies". At age 11 Charlotte joined the National Youth Music Theatre and performed in a touring production of Pendragon in Japan, as well as appearing in summer productions in London, Devon and Edinburgh with NYMT and its successor YMT:UK. "I've done more acting than singing so far", admits Charlotte, who says her first love is musical theatre, and that she would like one day to tread the boards of the West End stage. To the envy of nearly all her friends, she appeared briefly as a student in Harry Potter: The Globet of Fire, and in 2004 played the lead in a short film The Open Doors with Michael Seen and Cheri Lunghi. "I love going out with my friends and listening to music - I love when people send me new bands - old and new - that I haven't heard of. At the moment I'm listening to Jeff Buckley, Counting Crows and a lot of Cuban music. And of course my brother's band Sevenball!". Charlotte appeared in The Pierglass, at the Young Pleasance Theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2006, and is also a big fan of musicals like Les Miserables, Miss Saigon and Blood Brothers "gritty things that are about more than show tunes". She says of All Angels: "Classical music always seems so far away from the mainstream but lots of my friends now listen to it. And I don't think it should be looked at in that snobby way. I think we are relatively normal so ti brings the music to a level everyone can access".


Laura Wright (17/06/1990)

The baby of the group, Laura only began taking singing lessons in 2003, but already by 2005 she had won BBC Radio 2's Young Chorister of the Year competition. After early musical experience playing the piano, Laura developed her musical side when she became a choirgirl at Framlingham College, where she has music and art scholarships. A regular soloist with the Suffolk Singers, Laura has sung as guest soprano in John Rutter's Requiem at St Paul's Cathedral, broadcast on Radio 2. Laura, who comes from Suffolk, likes to spend her spare time singing backing vocals for her favourite rock band A Personal Victory - fronted by her brother Seamus. That's when she's not cheering on her other brothers: Liam, who competes at national level in the decathlon and has his sights set on Olympic gold in London 2012, and Paddy, presidet of his university hockey team. Laura's favourite composer is Hans Zimmer, famous for his film soundtracks, and she enjoys listening to Alicia Keys, Jimmy Eat World and Coldplay. An all-round sports prodigy, she has represented her schools since the age of 10 in swimming, netball, athletics, tennis, hockey and rounders. She has represented East of Egland in javelin, and her county in hockey and athletics, and reached the national schools tennis finals with her school team. Laura is also a keen member of the Army Division of the Combined Cadet Corps holding the rank of Lance Corporal. She says: "This is an amazing opportunity and an amazing experience to have at my age. It is hard work but fun as well".