Matthew William Tansley Stiff (born 13 December 1979), formerly credited as Matt Stiff, is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

opera singer Opera is a form of Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a lib ...

and former radio presenter, best known as the former

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

singer with classical boyband G4.

Early life

Stiff began to play the

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

at the age of eight, but later made the transition to singing, after which he attended Franklin College, then studied

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

at the

University of Huddersfield The University of Huddersfield is a public research university located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has been a University since 1992, but has its origins in a series of institutions dating back to the 19th century. It has made te ...

where he gained his BMus (Hons) and MA in Musical Performance. While in Huddersfield, he took singing lessons with vocal coach Paul Wade who described him as "a great pupil".

G4

As a student at Guildhall where he studied for a

Postgraduate diploma fILE:Prédio Pós Graduação IMECC Unicamp.jpg, The State University of Campinas, as well as many Brazilian universities, offer Postgraduate courses in Brazil A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PGD) is a postgraduat ...

in vocal training, Stiff replaced bass singer Tom Lowe to become a member of G4 which also included final year undergraduates

Jonathan Ansell Jonathan Mark Ansell (born 10 March 1982) is an English singer, best known as the high tenor of the vocal group G4. Early life Influenced by his mother's tapes of Pavarotti and the Three Tenors, Ansell joined the West Sussex Boys' Choir condu ...

, Mike Christie, and Ben Thapa, who all started singing together to raise money and gain experience. In 2004 they later auditioned for the first series of ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'' and despite placing second, signed a £1.5 million record deal with

Sony-BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

. Their first album, titled '' G4'' was released in February 2005 and achieved double-platinum status. They went on to produce two more albums: ''G4 and Friends'' and ''G4 Act Three'' with combined sales in excess of 1.5 million copies. In 2007, after three years and three albums, G4 announced their split on ''

GMTV GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ''ITV Breakfast, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the Uni ...

'' due to disagreements within the band. Lead singer Ansell later admitted that the two of them had rowed the most.

Post G4

In 2008, following a schedule overhaul at Classic FM, Stiff re-joined the station as a weekend presenter (he had previously hosted another show with the other members of G4), after which he returned to Guildhall in 2009 for a Master of Music Opera course, graduating with a Distinction in 2011. He has since joined a number of opera companies including the British Youth Opera where he played Kecal in ''The Bartered Bride'' to rave reviews.

References

External links

Matthew Stiff
Music International {{DEFAULTSORT:Stiff, Matthew 1979 births Classical music radio presenters Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama G4 (group) members People from Grimsby Alumni of the University of Huddersfield Living people Operatic basses English opera singers Musicians from Lincolnshire