G4 splitting over 'boiling frustrations'

The classically-trained quartet, who became a soaraway success as 'popera' pioneers after being runners-up on The X Factor in 2004, are expected to announce the break-up officially today.

The Daily Mail can reveal that despite the group going on sell-out tours and releasing three platinum-selling albums, niggling personal differences between them have grown to prove insurmountable.

Tenor Ben Thapa told the Mail last night: 'We did not want to drag on for another couple of years, growing increasingly resentful of each other. We are still friends and we want to stay friends but we won't if we carry on in G4.'

The quartet have been living out of each other's pockets for the best part of five years after meeting at university, busking together, appearing on the ITV series, making and promoting three albums, then touring the world three times.

After a string of heated rows which have frequently verged on the physical, the four went to see their management company two weeks ago to say their fourth tour would be their final one.

Their record company tried to persuade them to make another album together, but they all decided they would be happier concentrating on their own solo projects.

Thapa, 25, said the decision to split was mutual and had been brewing for some months because of the 'boiling frustrations' of four very different individuals with conflicting personalities and increasingly divergent priorities.

Fellow group member Jonathan Ansell, 24, went into further detail: 'We would be bitterly fighting on the back of a limo, or rowing backstage then have to put on these fake smiles for the fans and carry on as if nothing was wrong.

'We would row over the most niggling little things - one of us not looking smart enough, or not having shaved properly. It's no secret that Mike (Christie, baritone) and I don't get on. I rub him up the wrong way and he rubs me up the wrong way.

'Most of the time, it's us two shouting at each other and the other two trying to calm things down.'

Thapa said: 'We want to look back on G4 with fondness rather than bitterness,' adding that he plans to take up a position as tenor with Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin and is hoping to become a professional opera singer.

He added: 'We have had a great two-and-a-half years. We've sold a million-and-a-half albums and will have done four sell-out tours, and we don't want to cheat our fans by not being able to give G4 110 per cent commitment. We were all friends before X Factor, we are still friends and we want to stay friends, but we won't if we carry on in G4.

'None of us regrets doing X-factor, but living and working together so closely has been extremely difficult at times. It's inevitable that you will get on each other's nerves when you can't make a decision without consulting three other people.'

A source said that, since the four do not boast boyband looks, they had not made millions from merchandising and branding.

'They are not Take That. They catered for a mainly mature audience. Their image does not lend itself to posters and T-shirts. Had they made many millions each, they may have stuck at it.' G4's upcoming-18-date UK tour, including a performance at the Royal Albert Hall, which starts on May 21 will now be their farewell tour to fans.

Their last date is on August 31 and Matt Stiff, 27-year-old baritone bass who hopes to become a music lecturer, added: 'G4, though fantastic, has been a hard slog and it will be nice to say Yes if I'm invited to do something on September 1 without having to worry about what the others think.'

Before appearing on The X Factor - where they finished as runnersup behind Steve Brookstein - the quartet used to entertain shoppers in Covent Garden. On a good day, G4's barbershop harmonies would earn them £150 an hour.

But while the cash came in handy for a foursome still studying at the Guildhall School Of Music And Drama, it was The X Factor that made them a household name.

Their eponymous debut album went to number one on Mother's Day 2005 and they recently released their third album, Act Three.

Ansell has plans to go solo and has signed to a new management company. Meanwhile Christie is working on writing a musical.