VOCAL harmony bands are big business — especially if the group are both easy on the ear and eye.
In the case of Blake, both of these factors most definitely apply.
Formed via the social networking site Facebook in 2007 the quartet, comprising Ollie Baines, Humphrey Berney, Jules Knight and Stephen Bowman, have seen their success soar and are now popular across the globe including countries such as China, Russia, America and the Philippines where they will be jetting off to tomorrow for a four-date tour.
I caught up with band member Jules Knight earlier this week to chat about the impending release of the band's fourth album, their UK tour and his friendship with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
"We're off to the Philippines on Sunday for four dates, lots of TV and radio interviews and to promote our third album Together," said the 30-year-old baritone.
"It's a really exciting time for us and we've been lucky to have success in countries such as China where we are also about to release our third album, and in Austria where our fourth album will be coming out."
Although it isn’t due out in the UK until September the currently untitled fourth album, is due in stores in America earlier.
"We have also been signed to David Letterman's record label in America and when we promote it we will be on his show," says Jules.
With five tracks written by Golden Globe and Grammy award-winning songwriter Diane Warren, and backed by Michael Bublé’s band, the boys are delighted to have such heavyweights in the industry involved.
"This album very different to our previous ones which were predominately covers of classic and pop favourites. This one is poppier and more contemporary. It has a very different feel to it.
"In the Philippines they love sentimental music and well-know songs. However, American audiences prefer more cutting edge and are very modern in their musical tastes.
“They seem to demand more — that's why the fourth album will be released in the States before the UK."
However, us fans here in Blighty need not worry, the fab four will be touring the UK in the summer with their Love Lifts Us Up tour and a date at Loughborough Town Hall on Saturday, June 23.
They will be performing some of the most uplifting and romantic songs of all time including She and Up Where We Belong.
"We are very open in our musical style but it is all about four voices singing together in musical harmony.
"One of the reasons behind our success is that our audiences, wherever they are from, have eclectic tastes. They like different types of music and are up for listening to Nessun Dorma one minute and U2's With or Without You the next.
Born in the Sussex, Jules gained an MA in Art History, studying at St Andrew's University and was friends with Prince William and his then girlfriend Kate Middleton.
"There was a group of about 20 of us who did history of art. One or two of us knew each other from school and had an amazing time. It was an incredible and idyllic four years. Lots of socialising and Will and Kate were a big part of that, living next door to me for a year."
Although the group was formed on Facebook, Jules and Ollie had known each other since they were eight and Ollie and Stephen studied together at the Guildhall.
Humphrey Berney joined the group in 2009 to replace original member Dominic Tighe.
"There was a lot of publicity in the way we got together. Facebook was very much in its infancy in the UK at the time and using the social networking site to form the band was really unusual. A truely modern way of getting together.”
In early 2008, their first album, the self-titled 'Blake' was nominated for a Classical BRIT Award and was named Album of the Year in May of the same year.
It was only the second time in nine years that the award for best album, as voted for by listeners to Classic FM, was won by a debut album, following Russell Watson's The Voice in 2001.
“It was a case of the right place at the right time. Two days after we first got together we got a record deal with the Universal Classics and Jazz label. People are sometimes looking at you and thinking 'will they survive? Are they any good?'
"You need to make a splash and assert your authority in the industry and fortunately, five years later, we are still going strong."
