Blake (band)

Blake
Baines, Bowman and Humphrey with Shirley Bassey
Background information
Origin	United Kingdom
Genres	Classical, crossover
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Universal Classics and Jazz; "Blake Records"
Website	www.blakeofficial.com
Members	Ollie Baines Stephen Bowman Humphrey Berney
Past members	Dominic Tighe Jules Knight

Blake
Studio album by Blake
Released	5 November 2007
Genre	Classical crossover
Label	Universal Classics and Jazz
Producer	Nick Patrick
Blake chronology
Blake (2007) And So It goes (2008)

And So It Goes
Studio album by Blake
Released	29 September 2008
Genre	Classical crossover
Label	Universal Classics and Jazz
Producer	Stephen Lipson
Blake chronology
Blake (2007) And So It Goes (2008) Together (2009)

Together
Studio album by Blake
Released	12 October 2009
Genre	Classical crossover
Label	Blake Records, EMI
Producer	Nick Patrick
Blake chronology
And So It Goes (2008) Together (2009)

Blake is a British vocal group. Blake comprises three men whose friendship and musical careers date back to their school days. After reuniting via Facebook as adults they had recorded their first album in six months. It went to No. 1 in the UK Classical Album Chart, selling over 100,000 copies in three weeks, earning the group a Gold Disc. The album received the Classical Brit Award for Album of the Year in 2008.

Their second album, And So It Goes, peaked at No. 12 in the UK pop charts and No.1 in several classical charts around the world. During 2008 and 2009 the group undertook tours of Australia and Japan. 2009 continued with a tour, the creation of their new record label, Blake Records, and the release of their third album, Together. They finished 2009 with a 30-night tour in Scandinavia. In 2010 ‘Beautiful Earth’ was selected by the World Wildlife Fund as its Earth Hour Anthem, and their album Together reached No. 1 in the Australian Classical Charts and No. 1 in the South African Classical Charts. Blake took their ‘An Evening With Blake’ show to over 40 locations throughout the UK, performing to over 50,000 people. After being invited to Buckingham Palace twice during 2010, Blake released ‘All of Me’ in 2011 - written by Simon May.

Blake had over 90 live concert appearances in 2011. They had début tours of the Philippines and Russia and headlined the Henley Festival. They also performed for Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco. In 2012 the toured China and the USA for the first time and returned to the Philippines for 20 concerts there. In addition to long hours in the recording studio working on their fourth album, the group also found time for a performance at the Olympic Stadium in the run-up to the 2012 Games.

In 2013 Blake launched their fourth album Start Over in the UK and the USA. The year also saw performances at Wembley Stadium for the Rugby League Cup final, the group’s first play-listed song on BBC Radio 2 (‘So Happy’), tours to Indonesia and Trinidad & Tobago plus the launchof their first Asia-only album. Towards the end of 2013, the band launched two charity singles. ‘You Raise Me Up’ was recorded with the soprano Camilla Kerslake and the ‘Sing To Beat Breast Cancer Choir’, made up entirely of women affected by the disease, and was released in October shortly before a 20 date UK tour where Camilla appeared as their guest artist. ‘To The Sun’ was released in November and debuted live in Trafalgar square as the anthem for the launch of the Walking With The Wounded South Pole challenge in the presence of Prince Harry.

Blake are also ambassadors for certain charities, which include, amongst others, Cancer Research, The War Widows Association, The World Wildlife Fund, Clic Sargent, The Prince’s Trust, Variety (The Children’s Charity), MIND, Starlight, The Royal British Legion and Help for Heroes. The band continue to do much work for military charities, performing at the opening of the Bomber Command Memorial in London for the Queen and 5,000 veterans in the summer of 2012.