After finishing runners-up in the first series of ITV's The X Factorin 2004, opera boy band G4 hit number one with their debut album and went on to become the UK's top classical crossover act.

But being forced to live in each others' pockets as they toured and recorded their music meant the four college friends soon started arguing.

Before long the rows backstage had grown so big that they decided to call it a day. The four recently released a statement announcing they are to split after they have honoured their summer concert bookings - which include this year's July Festival at Newmarket Racecourse.

For Ben, who attended Parkside Community College, the reaction from the fans since the announcement has proved almost overwhelming.

"It's been amazing," he says.

"You don't realise the support that's out there for you until something like this happens.

"We've all got individual MySpace pages and we've been inundated with all kinds of messages from people wishing us well and expressing their disappointment. They are just so supportive and we're so lucky to have some of the best fans ever."

Although the boys have sold millions of albums and can demand massive sums to sing at major concerts around the country, they have also seen gradually diminishing returns in the charts. While their first self titled album went double platinum, the follow-up G4 and Friendsmanaged number six in the charts and last year's release Act Three failed to get into the top 20.

But Ben insists the reason behind the split is that they wanted to quit while they were ahead.

"It's been a mad two-and-half years," he tells the News. "We always promised that we would go out while we still felt we were enjoying it and while we were still achieving something.

"We've had an amazing run but we want to get out while we're not ripping each others' heads off and while we still get a buzz out of performing.

"There were arguments and that's a large part of it, but that's what happens when you get four guys who do a lot of growing up together. There are things you like about each other and there are things you dislike.

"When you realise that there are four people who have four very different dreams about what they want to achieve and how they want to do it you get to the point where life after the band becomes more exciting."

The band found that life on the road put a major stain on their friendship and eventually decided that, if they wanted to remain friends, they would have to find their own space.

"There were lots of low points and it got to the time when you think:

'You know, I don't need to do this any more'. We all got to that point at a similar time, which is a good thing I think, as with so many things in the group we came to an amicable decision.

"People say three years is the average life span of a band and now we've hit that three-year mark we can see how it happens. We've achieved so much but I think achieving more is beyond us as a group.

"We need to get away from each other and spend some time apart. We were trying to work out recently whether there is a single relationship you have with another human being that involves you spending as much time together as we do.

"If I was married to someone I would spend less time with them, it's ridiculous. We were just four drinking buddies from college who were thrown into this situation and it's mad that it's managed to last this long to be honest."

But while many fans may be saddened by the news of the group's imminent demise, Ben is excited about what his new found freedom will mean. With a priceless education into the ins and outs of classical music, performing and fame, he now hopes to go it alone.

"My ambition is to be a classical singer in my own right, that's what I've wanted to do since I was quite young and the past two-and-a-half years have given me so much life experience towards that. My two loves are classical music and singing, and to marry those two in my career is what I want to do.

"I'd love to be on an opera stage one day and I'd love to do ensemble singing. I'm going to take some time and get my voice to a position where I want to put it out there. In terms of classical music, I'm 25 so I'm still a baby.

"I just want to be judged on me as an individual. I don't want to be judged as Ben from G4 any more."

Ben ready for a marathon challenge

Ben has another tough challenge on his plate which is likely to take more out of him than even the most challenging Verdi aria - the London Marathon.

This Sunday he will be pounding the streets to raise money for the Mental Health Foundation. It's a cause he feels passionately about, as his mother Jenny suffered from clinical depression while he was growing up (Ben was placed in foster care at the age of 11, staying with the same couple until he was 16).

"This is my third marathon," he says. "I did the London marathon last year and the Dublin marathon in October. Hopefully I'm going to beat my time from last year when I did it in 4 hours 33 minutes.

"The Mental Health Foundation is a massively important charity for my family and lots of people I have come into contact with.

"It's something that means so much to me and I think you need that in your mind when you've run 15 miles and you've got 11 still to go - to find a cause that touches you is very important."

To raise extra cash he is auctioning off the shoes he will be running with on eBay along with several other items that have been donated.

"The auction finishes a day before the race but obviously I'm not going to hand over my shoes until I've run the marathon in them because they're my lucky shoes.

"I might put a bit of shoe spray on them so they don't smell so much."

Source:Cambridge Evening News