Influenced by his mother's tapes of Pavarotti and the Three Tenors, Ansell joined the West Sussex Boys' Choir conducted by Arthur Robson, at the age of eight. He toured extensively with the choir to Florida, Germany, and France, performed in the Royal Festival Hall and sang many times in Arundel Cathedral. Ansell stayed with the choir until his voice broke at the age of 16 when he lost the ability to sing treble but after puberty found he had developed a high tenor voice instead.