Katherine Jenkins
Biography
Katherine Jenkins' story sounds like a fairy tale: the Welsh choir girl who won a scholarship to London's Royal Academy of Music to study opera, was spotted by a big record company at the age of 23 and signed to a six-album deal.
From the age of four, Katherine knew she wanted to sing even though there was neither any classical music in the house nor any musicians in the family.
Aged seven, Katherine joined the choir of St David’s, Neath, where there was a high standard and hard work: two practices a week, two Sunday services - and Choir Club on Fridays. At the age of 10 Katherine won the Choir Girl of the Year competition.
By the time she was 17, with four A-levels under her belt and a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in the offing, Katherine was already a seasoned stage performer. In the last year of her studies in London, producer and songwriter Steve DuBerry, had the idea of recording a dance-track version of the 'Flower Duet' from Lakmé as a demo. Unknown to her, DuBerry’s management team set about passing it round the music business.
Meanwhile Katherine graduated and took a teaching diploma, with the plan to earn enough money to return to the Academy in a couple of years to do a postgraduate opera course. She continued to take singing lessons with her teacher at the Academy, Beatrice Unsworth.
Music
Katherine has been described as the fastest selling opera singer since Maria Callas. Nearly 100,000 people bought her first album, Premiere, which shot straight to the top of the classical charts. Its follow-up, Second Nature, largely inspired by requests from her fans, sold more than 350,000 copies and won her a Classical Brit Award, as did her third album, Living a Dream.
In early 2009 Katherine Jenkins moved to Warner Bros Records and in February she started work with world-class producer David Foster on her new album 'Believe'. The album, which was released in October 2009, sees Katherine take a new and bold direction.
In March 2010 Katherine gave a major tour of the UK, stopping at 11 arenas including the O2. See pictures of the O2 concert below.
TV Work
Katherine recently appeared on ITV's show Popstar to Opera Star. She joined Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón as a mentor to eight popstars. Read more here.
Katherine Jenkins on Classic FM
Listen to Katherine Jenkins on the Classic FM Magazine show - June 2008
Listen to Katherine Jenkins talking to Classic FM in March 2008
Listen to Katherine Jenkins talking to Classic FM in September 2007
2009 - Believe
2008 - Sacred Arias
2007 - Rejoice
From The Heart
2006 - Serenade
2005 - Living A Dream
La Diva
2004 - Premiere
Second Nature
