I love the band G4 so much I legally changed my name to include the names of all its members

A woman from Lancashire has legally changed her name to include the names of all the members of her favourite musical group.

Christine Martin, a 64-year-old civil servant from Blackpool, has legally changed her name to Christine Christie Ansell Duncan Jai Martin in honour of her favourite group, G4, made up of Mike Christie, Jonathan Ansell, Duncan Sandilands and Jai McDowall.

Intrigued by such an impressive show of dedication, celebrity reporter Aimee Seddon sat down for a chat with Christine and two of the members of G4 - Mike and Jonathan- to hear the full story…

Why did you change your name?

Christine replied: “Because it's the boys 20th anniversary, I thought I had to do something that would last forever for me and I thought what can I do? Tattoo? No. I’ve got a new number plate as well, but I though no, I'm gonna do something different so I changed my name to their names, just so it's there forever.”

The super fan then added: “I’m glad I didn’t do it last year because with Lewis leaving that would have been awkward as he’s not in the group anymore! So I’m glad I waited until Jai joined - although I just hope there aren’t any other changes!”

Mike and Jonathan, when did you find out about the name change?

Jonathan answered: “We got a Whatsapp a few weeks back… and our jaws fell off. We were definitely taken aback. You caught us out with that one [Christine]. We’ve got a number of people with G4 tattoos; autographs and various faces and things embedded in ink indefinitely but to have a name change is an extra step forward and shows real support for the band and yeah, it's a mad thing but good for you!”

Mike responded by asking Chirstine: “But what made you come up with the idea... of the name because that is totally original to us, we've never come across it.”

Christine answered: “I just thought something different, something that no one else has done -not that I'm aware of anyway. It's set in stone now, your names will always be with me forever because you're in my name now and the way I worded it… I put your two surnames because ‘Mike’ and ‘Jon’ could be anybody so I thought no, everybody knows ‘Christie’ and ‘Ansel’; and ‘Duncan’ and ‘Jai’, if I put their surnames, it would have sounded like a firm… I love the new name, I've changed it officially, I'm just waiting for my driving licence to come back now, I can’t wait to see it.”

How did you decide on the order of the names?

A laughing Christine said: "I was gonna say my favourites! But I just put it in that order because it sounded better in that order. But I do a lot more with Mike* than what I do with the other members of the band and I just put it in the order that sounds okay.”

*Mike was Christine’s singing teacher for a few years.

What do your family and friends think?

Christine: “One friend’s fallen out with me, she thinks I'm stupid. I said ‘well, that's why I've done it as my middle names so that I don't use it in day to day life’ but she still thinks it’s totally stupid… but most of my real friends are delighted.”

How long have you been a G4 fan?

Christine, whose house is also decorated with various pieces of G4 merchandise, answered: “Twenty years… I voted for them when they were on X Factor and everything and then as soon as they started touring, I went to see about three or four [shows].”

How many times have you seen G4 live?

The civil servant said: “I've totally lost count. Totally lost count... I've seen them say 200 times.

"And in the early days, I never had a phone that took pictures... so over the past four or five years, I've got 1000s of photos and films which I will treasure forever.”

And have you met them in person?

Christine replied: "Oh yes, many times!”

When pressed later on for a number, Christine said “around 50 times but I’ve lost count”.

She also added: "Jai is the only member I haven’t met because he only joined G4 in December but I have actually seen him in a show produced by Mike called ‘The Magic of Dance’ but I’ll be meeting him first when I see G4 in Leeds*.”

*As part of their 20th Anniversary Tour.

Why do you like G4 so much?

Christine explained: “It’s my kind of music, opera but they’re singing pop songs so they ‘popera’ which means they make pop songs into a more opera style and I LOVE opera so they were absolutely perfect when I first saw them. No one had ever done it before so I was like ‘omg this is amazing’. As soon as I saw them, that was it.”

G4 are performing at Lytham Hall Proms, and bringing their 2024 tour to Lytham St Annes and Lancaster- are you going to see them again in Lancashire, Christine?

Christine responded: “Yes, I’ve got 18 tickets booked so far for this year, I haven't finished yet.”

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Back to Mike and Jonathan- would you say Christine is your biggest fan?

Jonathan replied “She’s up there, she’s at a lot of the shows" whilst Mike said “After what she’s done, yeah!”

Christine added: “The guys think of us as all equal, no matter how many times you go to gigs, no matter how many times you've seen them, they all treat us like we’re the best fan so they have no favouritism, which is brilliant.”

Are Lancashire audiences always as lovely as Christine?

Jonathan replied: “100 per cent, it’s one of the best regions, the audience go wild for us there and it's somewhere we've always performed so it's always fun. It feels almost like coming home whenever we're there.”

Mike added: “But I think Christine's gonna be such a celebrity now in the local area, people are gonna to be flocking just to meet her! They're gonna be in the audience going ‘where is she, where is she? Ask to have a photo with her, get something signed. You better practice your autograph Christine!”

Christine, what is your favourite memory of G4?

Christine: “Every tour for me is like the first one. It's like I've never seen them before, I'm so excited... But out of all the memories. My very first Christmas show. I just cried all the way through it. It was breathtaking. But there are so many special times.”

And G4- what are your favourite memories?

Mike: “There's so many incredible memories, but one that really sticks out for me is our first album when we were sort of new into the music industry and it went to number one and broke records. We couldn't believe we had a number one album so that was really special and totally blew our minds.”

Jonathan: “The Tower Ballroom is a very, very excitable venue for all of us. When we get there, and we've got the Wurlitzer [piano] to come out, we get that incorporated into the show, but the pièce de résistance still is tipped by the Royal Albert Hall. You're in the most insane space, the most incredible atmosphere and even before you enter the building, you're on a high and people travel from many many miles to come see the shows we've done there."

How does it feel to still have such a following 20 years on from your X Factor debut?

Jonathan replied: “We pinch ourselves every day that we're still able to share our music and still enjoy ourselves so much in doing so. We've certainly put our stamp on this new product, the new album is created and developed by us independently and the audience's appetite for that, having it still, is a dream. We're just thrilled and it's because of fabulous supporters like yourself, Christine, that are out there, coming and seeing our shows and engaging with us and it's incredible that we've stood the test of time for so many, so many years. Unbelievable.”

Mike: “And that's what's nice, you've got people that have been with us for the entire journey so they know everything that's happened and a lot of them have better memories than us because we're obviously doing a lot more shows than they are attending. So it's wonderful to reminisce about the different moments that people remember but also what I love is the fact we're always having people discover us for the first time. They perhaps moved abroad when X Factor was on, or they missed it or they weren't even born.

"Obviously the fans that we have with us all the time have enabled us to keep going this long, but it also enables us to carry on into the future with the new people that are discovering the music. That's a really special thing, and that really ties in with what Christine says, we don't see any fans as being more important.”

Are you excited for the 2024 tour?

Christine replied: “Yes! My first show is in four weeks in Leeds so I'm very excited.”

Mike commented: “From our point of view, yeah. It's really the highlight of the job for us to sing live in front of an audience. That's what we live for as singers and as humans. It's the most amazing feeling in the world and there's something so special about live situations where anything can go wrong at any minute, or something really, truly memorable and special can happen that night. It's totally unique to that occasion, which I'm sure Christine will relate to and that's why a number of people come to multiple dates because they do get a very different experience at the different shows."

Particularly talking about his excitement at bringing the tour to Lancashire, Jonathan said: “Yeah, anywhere near the sea excites me, I grew up in Bognor Regis on the south coast. I always get confused when I come to the Lancashire coast which way north, south, east and west is because it was always south is the sea. But yeah, I love it. I’ll have my fishing rods with me and I'll look forward to that and I can't wait to hit the arcades too - what more could you want!”

Jon and Mike, have you got anything you want to say to Christine before we go?

Jonathan said: “Thanks for showing your support. It's really incredible to have such wonderful support from you but then to go that extra step is amazing. So thank you very much, I look forward to seeing you when you come to Leeds.”

Mike added: “Yes thank you Christine Christie Ansell Duncan Jai Martin ... it is amazing to have your support and it's mind blowing for us. It really is incredible that people love what we do and enable us to do what we love, fundamentally.”