Matthew Crane
Matthew Crane (born October 17 1992) is an English classical singer from High Halstow, Kent. He is currently studying at Gads Hill School, Higham, Kent, (the former home of Charles Dickens).
Matthew is the UK's Youngest Operatic Baritone.
Talent Shows
Matthew became the first Series Champion of BBC Two's Talent Show, "Let Me Entertain You", hosted by Brian Conley. He sang "Nessun Dorma" in the Grand Final on September 15, 2006. He was also asked back in June 2007, as a guest performer, to sing his winning song again.
Matthew has also auditioned for The X Factor 2007 and his audition was shown on ITV1 on Saturday, September 1, 2007 with Matthew singing "Nessun Dorma". Simon Cowell can be seen, on the show, looking very impressed with Matthew and saying, "I wasn't expecting that, quite extraordinary...without a shadow of a doubt, you are going through to the next round"; Matthew made it to the boot camp stage. (See Matthew's X Factor audition).
In a 14 month period, when he was aged between 11 and 12, Matthew entered 25 adult and junior talent shows and classical competitions, winning no less than 23 of them and placed in the other two.
LATEST NEWS:
On Friday 23rd November, 2007, Matthew became the first ever winner of the Grand Final of the "Actz Factor" Talent Show, (Adults Section), a county based competition, in Essex, but with people competing from all over the UK and abroad. This was held at the Circus Tavern at Purfleet, Essex, in front of a full house of 1200 people. Matthew's prize was £2000 and a silver trophy. (See Matthew's winning performance)
First Song Release
He recently collaborated with two of the UK's finest Rappers, The Firm and Ozmosis, to create a new and unique style of UK rap called "Hip Hopera". The song is called "Memories" and mixes rap with classical music and singing; Matthew's street name on the video is "Young Maestro". Two high profile music channels on the Sky network, Channel U and Fizz TV have recently put the song on their playlists and it has reached number 3 in their charts.
Due to the massive positive response and feedback from this first single, (almost 140,000 views on "YouTube"), work on a 2nd song is in progress and is due for release late December.
TV Appearances
From August 2006 to the present date, (14 months), Matthew has appeared over 40 times on four of the five main UK network channels, BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 and Channel 4, plus many other Sky channels, including, ITV2, More 4, Channel U, Fizz TV, etc. His total viewing audience, so far, exceeds over 100 million viewers in the UK alone. This is quite an achievement for a singer who hasn't even signed to a record label.
Celebrity Reviews
Matthew sang to Peter Andre and Katie Price at a book signing and was introduced to Peter's web designer who now manages Matthew's website. He, also, has many other sparkling reviews from well known musicians and singers in the industry including, Katherine Jenkins and Jools Holland who said, " I very much enjoyed listening to Matthew. He has a remarkable voice for such a young man. Perhaps what we might have imagined a young Caruso would have sounded like. Matthew has great talent and tremendous potential".
Matthew has also been featured in an article in the "Daily Express" in December, 2006 by journalist and TV presenter, Vanessa Feltz, who had watched Matthew live that month, at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon and reported on his "stirring" performance comparing him to the opera star Placido Domingo. (Click on this link for Celebrity reviews on Matthew's performances).