The Musical Career of Anthony Way

Anthony Way was an English chorister and classical singer who shot to fame after appearing as a chorister in a BBC TV series. He has since had success as a recording artist, with gold and platinum discs to his credit. He was born in London on December 14, 1982, and was a chorister by the age of eight. His father worked as an officer at Wormwood Scrubs prison. In 1990, the prison chaplain, the Rev. Ray Guymer, suggested to Way's father that young Anthony should go for a voice trial at St. Paul's Cathedral. Anthony passed the audition and was given a place at the Cathedral Choir School at the age of nine.[1]

At the age of twelve, he received attention for his portrayal of Henry Ashworth in the lavish 1995 BBC mini-series based on the Joanna Trollope novel 'The Choir' as a gifted young chorister whose voice saved a cathedral and its choir. The series comprised five one-hour episodes, and has since aired on America's PBS Network.[2] Anthony was the prominent voice on 'The Choir' soundtrack, and was backed by the Gloucester Cathedral Choir and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Released by Polygram label "Decca", the recording went platinum, selling 350,000 copies worldwide and spent 15 weeks at the top of the UK classical chart. It was notably the fastest selling classical release since The Three Tenors five years previously. Meanwhile in the UK Singles Chart the album secured a No 3 spot, squeezing out Michael Jackson. (The DVD of the series was eventually released in March 2006, shortly after "The Choirboys" debut album became the fastest selling classical debut album ever).

In 1995, his record label released "The Choirboy," an amalgamation of classic and contemporary songs which was excluded from the UK classical charts. A court battle then ensued between Anthony's record label and the Classic Chart compilers that resulted in huge media controversy and saw Anthony splashed across the national press, propelling the album to gold status and taking total album sales to half a million. The chart compilers soon thereafter