Katherine Jenkins

With her film star looks and flawless mezzo-soprano voice, former Welsh choir girl Katherine Jenkins – born on June 29, 1980 in Neath Wales - has become Britain's all-time best selling classical artist, and something of a national sweetheart. A graduate of London's Royal Academy of Music, the mezzo-soprano rose to prominence in 2003, singing at Pope John Paul's Silver Jubilee celebrations at Westminster Abbey and at the Sydney Opera, before releasing debut album Premiere (2004). Going on to duet with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Andrea Bocelli, Jenkins' mix of opera standards and pop interpretations scored a steady stream of top ten albums, offering an accessible way for the public to discover classical music. Regularly found performing the national anthem before Wales Rugby Union internationals, Jenkins embarked on a huge stage production with ballerina Darcey Bussell called Viva la Diva in 2007, before turning up as a mentor on the ITV show Popstar to Operastar in 2010. In 2012, she took part in the television show Dancing with the Stars in the US, coming second to footballer Donald Driver. She embarked on a tour with Il Divo and performed at the 60th Anniversary VE Day celebrations in Trafalgar Square. She starred opposite Alfie Boe in the 2017 English National Opera performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel and released her 13th album, Guiding Light, in 2018. The album eventually reached the Number 1 position, making Katherine Jenkins the first classical artist to have 13 Number 1 albums. The year 2020 was a busy one for Katherine Jenkins: she co-starred alongside Johnny Depp in the motion picture Minamata, she released her 14^th album Cinema Paradiso, and, at the end of the year, she issued the live holiday release Katherine Jenkins’ Christmas Spectacular on DVD and limited release in movie theaters.