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| Birth Name(s) : Katherine Jenkins |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Mezzo-soprano singer |
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Full Katherine Jenkins Biography
Katherine Jenkins (born 29 June 1980 in Neath, Wales) is an award-winning Welsh mezzo-soprano. Her first album Premiere made her the fastest-selling soprano of all time and she later became the first British classical artist to have two number one albums in the same year. She also stands as the first female artist to win two consecutive Classical BRIT Awards.
Jenkins has released four number one studio albums to date, with a fifth due to be released in November 2007. Her albums feature arias, popular songs, hymns and classical crossover music and she has performed in a large number of concerts around the United Kingdom and other countries, including the United States and Australia.
At school Jenkins received A grades in both GCSEs and A Levels and participated in productions such as Calamity Jane and Guys and Dolls. Two years after she had become a choir girl at her church, she shattered a chandelier whilst singing "O Holy Night" at Swansea's Brangwyn Hall. Jenkins' music talents continued to progress and she achieved Grade 8 distinctions in singing and piano.
Between 1990 and 1996 Jenkins was a member of the Royal School of Church Music Cathedral Singers, where she achieved the St Cecilia Award, which was thought of as a high accolade. Jenkins was also a member of the National Youth Choir of Wales for three years. She twice won the BBC Radio 2 Welsh Choirgirl of the Year contest, and won the BET Welsh Choirgirl of the Year. Jenkins was also awarded the Pelenna Valley Male Voice Choir Scholarship for the most promising young singer, and at the age of seventeen, she won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. At the Academy, she also studied Italian, German, French and Russian and graduated with honours. After entering a modeling competition, Jenkins was made the Face of Wales in 2000 and then decided to focus more intently on her musical career. Jenkins taught music to children prior to being signed by Universal.
In 2004, at the age of just twenty-three, Jenkins signed the largest record deal in United Kingdom classical recording history, reportedly worth £1 million.
Her debut album, Premiere which was released in 2004, lasted a total of eight weeks at the top of the classical charts, which made her the fastest selling soprano of all time. She soon became the first British classical artist to have two number one albums in the same year with Premiere and Second Nature, and she now stands as the only person to hold the number one and two classical album chart positions. Second Nature was later named the Album of the Year at the 2005 Classical BRIT Awards on May 25, 2005. This award is chosen by listeners of Classic FM.
Jenkins was also the first person to perform the Home Nations anthem "The Power of Four". She then began to appear regularly as the singer for the Welsh national anthem "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" at Welsh international rugby matches. As well as her appearances before Rugby Union matches, in 2004, Jenkins sang at the Rugby League Powergen Challenge Cup final between St. Helens and Wigan. Jenkins is now the official mascot for the Wales rugby team.
In April and May of 2005, Jenkins supported Irish tenor Ronan Tynan on his first US tour as a solo artist. At the Berlin stage of Live 8 in 2005, Jenkins sang the hymn "Amazing Grace". Her interpretation was partly a vocal solo; for the rest she was accompanied by a single softly played piano.Jenkins' third studio album Living A Dream (2005).
Jenkins' Italian-language version of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" ("L'Amore Sei Tu"), first performed live at Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire on August 28, 2005, was the first cut on Jenkins' third album Living A Dream which was released in 2005. When Living A Dream was released, she held the positions of one, two and three in the classical music chart along with her first two albums. Jenkins repeated the success of Second Nature with her Living A Dream album when she won the classical BRIT award for Album of the Year for a second time. She now stands as the first female artist to win two consecutive classical BRIT awards.
Jenkins sang "I Feel Love" in front of The Queen at the Royal Variety Performance on November 21, 2005, whilst wearing a flashing, multicoloured dress. She also performed at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, Norway on December 11, 2005.
Dame Vera Lynn has dubbed Jenkins the new "Forces Sweetheart", a nickname given to Lynn during World War II, for her visits to entertain troops after the Iraq invasion. In both 2005 and 2006, she spent Christmas entertaining troops in Iraq. Jenkins is also an ambassador for Montblanc pens and gifts.
In April 2007, Jenkins made her first appearance on the British young people's Sunday Times Rich List which ranked her as the eighty-third richest young person in Britain with an estimated wealth of £6 million. As of the end of 2006, she is estimated to have sold about 2 million records since her debut in 2004.
Jenkins has one sister. Her father, Selwyn Jenkins, died of cancer when she was a teenager, and she has remarked on missing him in her album liner notes.
She was in a relationship for four years with songwriter and former Worlds Apart boy band singer Steve Hart. However, they kept details of their relationship private, and were rarely seen in public together. Jenkins confirmed the couple had split in November 2006, so that she could concentrate on her career. |
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