ANDREW FURZE

The Australian Boys Choir has helped shape my entire life. By 12 I was in the Performing Choir and, after two overseas tours in 1991 and 1993, retired a chorister and leader. Then I joined the Junior Consort and studied classical voice in VCE. Noel Ancell was my voice tutor. In high school I learnt bass and taught myself guitar, playing in bands around Melbourne. I found the theory grounding from the ABC made it much easier to pick up new instruments. I studied Music at Monash Uni, but rock and pop had taken over from classical music as my passion and I spent the remainder of my teens on band tours.

The first serious band I formed was Girl Friday with another old boy, Laurence Blain, on drums. We were signed in our first year and so started a career in rock music as support act, live on numerous TV shows and as a producer. I spent a year overseas working in studios in New York and London, honing my engineering skills. My next band, The Inches, was signed to Sony, got huge play on Triple J and toured extensively here and overseas. It was amazing how I leant on the vocal techniques from Choir to get me through fronting a band six nights a week!

At 30 I began working as a music/performance producer in television. I’ve held such roles on every major talent production in Australia including ARIA awards, MTV awards, X Factor and The Voice.

I’ve had an incredible career and worked with amazing people – and I doubt any of it would have happened if Mum hadn’t driven me down to that rundown church in Armadale back in 1988 to audition! There isn’t a day that I don’t utilise the skills drummed into me as a ten year old Junior Singer. Whatever I’m working on, Noel’s ethos, attention to detail and hard work in the pursuit of excellence informs how I go about it. Particularly, the rigorous music theory (which I hated at the time!) put me ahead of the game from the start.

But the most important thing the Choir gave me is my best friends in the world, Andrew Blain and Stuart Speirs. We met 25 years ago as primary school boys. I was best man at Andrew’s wedding and (if a girl ever manages to tie me down) they’ll be right next to me too. We’re all from different parts of Melbourne and different walks of life and I doubt we would ever have met if not for the ABC.