Lea Michele

Famed for her starring role as diva Rachel Berry in the hugely successful musical television series 'Glee', Lea Michele made the natural step to pop stardom in 2013, reaching number four in the US charts with her album 'Louder'.

Born in The Bronx, New York, she was a child star who started out on Broadway at the age of eight playing Cosette in 'Les Misérables', also performing in productions of 'Fiddler On the Roof', 'Ragtime' and 'Spring Awakening' before landing her lead role on 'Glee' in 2009. Michele featured on several of the show's successful soundtrack albums and shared a high-profile relationship with co-star Cory Monteith. She made an emotional return after Monteith's death with her first solo single 'Cannonball', a soaring, glitzy pop piece written by Sia, while the album 'Louder' (2014) drew comparisons with the dance style of Katy Perry, the theatrical show tunes of Barbra Streisand and the emotional swell of Coldplay. Her 2017 follow-up 'Places' saw a more stripped-back approach with Michele returning to her musical theatre roots and stately, mid-tempo piano ballads written by Ellie Goulding, Linda Perry and Nathan Chapman. She released her third studio album, 'Christmas in the City', in 2019.