Barbershop quartet formed at uni gets through to second round of ITV’s The Voice

Friendships formed at Uni can bring about great things and whilst I’m still patiently waiting for the publishing rights to my Uni girls’ group chat, Ashley, Sam, Harry and Alex went next level and formed The Ashatones – a barbershop quartet – whilst at Leeds together.

Everyone loves a background story and theirs is pretty harmonious – a meeting of musical minds. Ex-JFS pupil Ashley says: “We met at Leeds over 10 years ago where we were all studying music – we were finishing our exams and leaving first year halls, singing five hours a day and just exploring our voices. People heard us rehearsing and it encouraged us so we formed The Ashatones, which is an acrostic of our names.”

Ten years on, the group is still going strong and was seen on TV singing competition The Voice last weekend. “A friend mentioned that a mate was involved in production for The Voice and we decided to go for it,” says Ashley. “The show has so much credibility in that it’s ‘pure voice’ – we have no sob story, we are just four best mates from Uni who love music. I actually had stage fright being in front of the cameras and don’t remember a thing – you can’t afford to drop pitch and lose tempo when performing live.”

Harry, who attended King Solomon school, concurs: “It was actually a terrifying experience!”

Their nerves were clearly not an issue as judge Olly Murs spun round in his chair with a decisive ‘yes’ to see who was behind the clever arrangement of About Damn Time by Lizzo. This being the first year a group was allowed to enter, did the guys see it as a ticket to stardom? “We’d flirted before with shows like Britain’s Got Talent but ultimately decided against applying,” says Ashley. “The thing with The Ashatones is that it’s a side hustle – we all have day jobs within the creative industry and so we act passively with opportunities. It’s such a big task to get together so when we really want to do something, like the (unofficial) 2022 World Cup anthem in support of Women’s Aid, we make it happen.”

Ashley is currently touring with stage show Mamma Mia, which came about at the same time as The Voice – that must have made for a tricky decision. “It was a chance-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a long-term contract and the boys told me I had to go for it,” he says

Theirs is a pretty niche style of singing for a bunch of millennials, but they have managed to give it a fresh look. Harry says: “We started singing classic barbershop songs because you have to learn the fundamentals, the right blends and harmonies. But it was boring to sing, so we did our own arrangements, like The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, lots of medleys – we wanted to push the boundaries so we explored Lizzo and Olivia Rodrigo, using our own skills as musicians to hone the arrangements to suit our voices.”

And with differing styles and personalities, who is the Gary Barlow of the group? “No-one is the boss,” says Harry. “Alex is the driving force at the moment with promotion – he does social media for a living.” Ashley says: “Harry is brilliant at music arrangements. I bring my skills as a musical director and Sam went to drama school so that really helps with our performance practise. There are no egos in the group.”

With a TV debut and a new website their audience is definitely growing, with fans wanting to know everything about these four lovely lads, so I endeavour to find out more about their Jewish roots. They both grew up singing in shul choirs and are members of an acapella group called the Ah Men Singers. Harry is also choirmaster at Central Synagogue, where they sing most High Holy Days. Ashley says: “The majority of our fanbase are friends and family, and we feel very strongly about not being silenced right now and connecting with our Judaism.  But we don’t want to get too political as a group – the aim is to just put out nice music right now.”

The quartet being half Jewish certainly had its appeal to fellow Ashatones Alex and Sam, with Harry recalling Alex’s 21st birthday – a Friday night dinner at Harry’s family home. “It was what Alex specifically wanted for his birthday – a bunch of Uni mates and old school friends at my mum’s house for a traditional dinner. It was a great night.” Ashley continues: “Jewish food just brings everyone together – challah is like crack to our mates!” And not everyone can say they had Friday night dinner at Harry Style’s house, because Harry’s surname is actually ‘Style’. “Nothing good has ever come from having that surname!” says Ashley. We were at Uni just when One Direction’s fame was rising and people would get hold of Harry’s phone number. He was getting calls from all around the world. It got so bad that he had to change his number.”

And with a potential influx of new fans from their tv performances, what is on the horizon for 2024? Ashley says: “We might do a public event early next year. We don’t really know how far this is going to go – we just want to ‘be in the moment’.”

But if this thing blows up will everyone pack in their day jobs? “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Our friendship comes first before the interest of the group.”

Friends before fame – the ‘voice’ of reason.

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