Classic FM's Choral Hall of Fame
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1. Aled Jones
The world's most famous choirboy, Aled Jones was lead soloist at Bangor Cathedral when he won the Cerdd Dant solo competitions for competitors under 12 at the Urdd Eisteddfod. His version of 'Walking in the Air', from the animated film 'The Snowman', reached No. 5 in the UK pop charts in 1985. Trivia fact for you: the version in the film was not performed by Aled, but by Peter Auty, a St. Paul's Cathedral choirboy!
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2. Aretha Franklin
The Queen of Soul honed her incredible voice in the choir of the New Bethel Baptist Church, Detroit where her father, Rev. Franklin, was famously a preacher. By the time she was fourteen, she had signed a record deal with Checker Records and featured on gospel vocal recordings of her father's sermons.
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3. Axl Rose
He is best known as the grungy frontman of American rock band Guns N Roses, but did you know that his love of music grew from singing in church and his high school chorus. He sang in church from the age of five and also performed at services with his brother and sister in the 'Bailey Trio'.
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4. Barbra Streisand
The multi-award winning diva of stage and film may well fill stadiums these days, but the young Miss Streisand was lucky to fill the concert hall of Erasmus Hall High School where she sang in the school choir with another famous ex-chorister - Neil Diamond.
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5. Emma Kirkby
Soprano Dame Emma Kirkby never intended to become a professional singer, instead enjoying singing for pleasure in choirs and small groups. She became a founder member of the Taverner Choir and has since made over a hundred recordings of choral works, from madrigals of the Italian and English Renaissance, cantatas and oratorios of the Baroque, as well as works by Mozart, Hayden and Bach.
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6. Gary Barlow
Take That's Gary Barlow is one of the most successful songwriters of the 1990s, penning no fewer than 25 hit singles during his career and winning the prestigious Ivor Novello Awards a record five times. But his first songwriting success was on the BBC Pebble Mill at One when he wrote the winning carol in 'A Song For Christmas' competition.
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7. Harry Christophers
The founder of one of the UK's most-loved choral groups, The Sixteen, Harry Christophers started out as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral before studying music at King's School, Canterbury.
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8. Jonathan Ansell
Now enjoying a successful solo career as a tenor, Jonathan joined the West Sussex Boys Choir when he was 8 years old, touring the UK with with the choir and singing at great venues like Arundel Cathedral.
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9. Katherine Jenkins
With a Sunday School teacher-mother it was inevitable that Katherine would become a member in the church choir in her home town of Neath, South Wales. She went on to win the BBC Welsh Choirgirl of the Year in 1993.
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10. Mick Jagger
These days he's known as a British rock'n'roll instituion, but the Rolling Stone is still proud of his church choir heritage: "I was always a singer. I always sang as a child. I was one of those kids who just liked to sing. Some kids sing in choirs; others like to show off in front of the mirror. I was in the church choir and I also loved listening to singers on the radio."
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11. Neil Diamond
Fresh the the Glastonbury stage, the American singer-songwriter is enjoying something of a revival these days. Back in the 1950s he attended Erasmus Hall High School in New York where he sang in the school choir with... Barbra Streisand.
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12. Whitney Houston
Along with her cousin Dionne Warwick and Godmother Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston's musical roots are deep within gospel music. She followed in her musical family's footsteps and was performing as a soloist in the junior gospel choir at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark by the age of 11, before being spotted by music mogul Clive Davis and releasing 'Whitney' - the biggest selling debut album of all time for a solo artist.
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13. Elin Manahan Thomas
The Welsh soprano won a choral scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge. She joined the Monteverdi Choir in 2000. She went on to sing with The Sixteen, Polyphony, Cambridge Singers and The Gabrieli Consort, as well as pursuing a solo career.
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14. Luciano Pavarotti
The late, great Pavarotti began singing with his father in a small local church choir when he was 9 years old before going on to win first prize at the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales in 1952 with the Choral Rossini, a male choir from Modena that also included his father.
