[ ClassicalX ] Performing with Kath is Blake's Heaven

From casual jobs in London theatres to a Brit Award and now a major concert tour with opera star Katherine Jenkins, the four members of vocal group Blake have come a long way in just over one year.

The classically trained quartet's meteoric rise began immediately after they came together through social networking website Facebook early in 2007. Their first tentative performance went so well that inside two days they had a manager and a million pound deal with a major record label.

Within just a few months they had been asked to sing Swing Low for the England rugby team and their hugely successful self-titled debut recording had won the Best Album award at the Classical Brits.

Speaking to Go! earlier this week, group member Jules Knight says they have barely had time to catch their breath in recent months.

"It's been incredible, a total rollercoaster for us," he says. "Just over a year ago I was handing out flyers in Covent Garden, ripping tickets in the Piccadilly Theatre and doing all sorts of menial jobs. So it's very cool to be doing what we're doing now and to have achieved what we have."

Their concert alongside Katherine Jenkins on July 5 will be the fifth on a lengthy tour which began earlier this month. How have the shows been so far?

"They're going great," says Jules' colleague Dominic Tighe. "We seem to be getting a really great response from the audience and Katherine's been really welcoming to us. We're getting loads of support and compliments from members of the public so it's really good for us."

Are the boys enjoying spending time with the Welsh beauty?

"Unfortunately I think she is taken, but she's a great girl," says Jules. "She's good fun and we have a really good time with her. We're kind of intertwined with her show - we stay in the wings watching her and she's watching us."

We are speaking the morning after their show at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, a concert which included their versions of such varied tunes as Moon River, Jerusalem and Take My Breath Away.

"It was a really nice atmosphere, really cool," says Jules. "Three thousand people braving the British weather and sitting there with their coats on, trying to get over the fact that it was really cold."

Despite enjoying nights on the road, Sussex native Jules sees the Haywards Heath gig as the highlight of this tour.

"It's going to be a bit of a homecoming for me," he says. "I'm from Battle but I know the area. A friend of mine lives just down the road and she sent me a picture message the other day of one of the posters which is up in Haywards Heath town centre.

"I hope people will get behind the Sussex boy and come along."
By Oliver Frankham

Saturday July 5, gates open 5pm

Tickets £27.50 advance, £32.50 on the gate, under-16s £14

Phone 01444 255115 or visit www.itsmagic.org.uk

Source:East Grinstead Courier