Jonathan Antoine is an English classically trainedtenor. He rose to fame after appearing on the sixth series of Britain's Got Talent in 2012 as one half of the classical duo Jonathan and Charlotte. He subsequently went solo, and his debut album Tenore was released in the UK on 13 October 2014, his follow-up Believe being released on 19 August 2016.
Early life
Antoine was born to John, a police inspector, and Tracy, a housewife in Hainault, Essex. At the age of 11, he enrolled at West Hatch High School in Chigwell and met singing coach Jenny Ewington and head of music Ginette Brown. He stated that "I started having lessons with Mrs Ewington, and just took to it. It was so nurturing. She was inspirational, and she became a fantastic friend." Around the age of 13, after his voice broke, Ewington selected "Bring Him Home" from Les Misérables for him, which he performed at the 2010 Stratford and East London Music Festival, and was awarded Young Musician of The Year. He also sang "Ave Maria", which he performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London as part of the Rotary Youth Makes Music event in 2011. At 14, he auditioned for a junior place at the four major music conservatories in London and after being accepted at all of them, he chose the Royal Academy of Music. At West Hatch, Brown encouraged him into concert singing to help his shyness. "Jonathan came into his own," she said. "All the students would see him and say that he was the boy with the incredible voice." He first sang the duet "Time to Say Goodbye" with a friend, and Brown also asked him and Charlotte Jaconelli to sing "The Prayer" at her wedding in 2011. It was at this time that the duo Charlotte and Jonathan began.
Career
2012–2014: Jonathan and Charlotte
In 2012, an audition video was sent to the talent show Britain's Got Talent. They performed together in the Series 6 audition held in London, and their performance was broadcast on 24 March 2012. Performing as Charlotte and Jonathan, they sang "The Prayer". They participated in the semi-final which was held on 7 May 2012, singing "Caruso", written by Lucio Dalla. In the final, held on 12 May 2012, they appeared 11th, again performing "The Prayer", and received a standing ovation for their performance. The duo finished second to the dancing dog act Ashleigh and Pudsey. On 13 May 2012, the day after the Britain's Got Talent final, it was confirmed that Simon Cowell was in negotiations to offer them a £1 million recording contract with his record label, Syco. The pair were later offered a contract, and released their debut album Together on 24 September2012 in the UK and 30 October 2012 in the US. Their second album Perhaps Love was released on 14 October 2013 having switched from SyCo/Columbia Records to Sony Classical and was described as an album of covers that also contained classical songs and interpretations of modern songs.
2014–present: Solo career
In February 2014, the duo decided to split up after both were offered solo record deals. In a statement on their website, they said:
We have had the most exciting journey together ever since meeting at West Hatch High School in 2006 and are so happy for each other. To come second on BGT and sell over quarter of a million albums was beyond our wildest dreams. To now be offered our own solo record deals by Sony Classical is the most exciting thing ever and we are thrilled to be going back into the recording studio so soon. For those that voted for us, bought our CDs and saw us in concert – thank you. We hope to see you soon at our own shows. Love Jonathan and Charlotte.
Antoine performed in an album pre-release Balcony tour of the UK, which was followed by an appearance at the closing concert of iTunes Festival 2014, after having been invited by Plácido Domingo. He has also started a solo career in the United States and performed at the 2014 Muhammad Ali Celebrity Fight Night in Arizona, California, and Florida. His album Tenore was released in the UK on 13 October 2014. It contains a selection of classic songs as well as arias. The album was produced by music producer, Anna Barry, who has worked with Andrea Bocelli, Jose Carreras, the Kirov Opera and Andrew Lloyd Webber. One reviewer stated "Here is a new star on the vocal scene and his first solo album attests to his miraculous talent." Antoine announced in February 2016 that he would add two previously unreleased tracks to his list on Tenore available for international download through Amazon and iTunes on 4 March 2016 in time for Mother's Day in the UK. On 19 August 2016 Antoine released his second album Believe. It contains classical arias by Puccini, as well as a version of the classic Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah", and brand new music by British classical composer Chris Broom with whom he collaborated the song "A New Tomorrow". It received positive reviews on its release, with one by Robert Cummings commenting: "His voice is very versatile, sufficiently powerful and has a velvety, creamy sound that is quite unique". On 15 September 2018, Jonathan performed his first solo concert in the United States at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza California, in the Fred Kavli Theatre and in June 2019 he performed at the Winter Garden Theatre in Canada in a three-part concert entitled Beyond the Curtain where he performed Disney songs, American Songbook classics and Opera arias including performing "Nessun Dorma" publicly for the first time.
