The tenor Ben Thapa, who died on 8 September at the early age of 42, found fame as a core member of the pop-opera group G4, which came to prominence during the first season of the popular British talent show The X Factor in 2004. Educated at Hills Road College in Cambridge, where he showed early musical promise, Thapa went on to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester before entering the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London; he later attended the Wales International Academy of Voice. At the Guildhall he met the other members of G4: Michael Christie, Jonathan Ansell and Matt Stiff.