Katherine Jenkins

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<a href="/biography/katherine-jenkins">Katherine Maria Jenkins</a> was born on June 29, 1980 in Wales.  <a href="/biography/katherine-jenkins">Katherine Maria Jenkins</a> is a <a href="/biography/katherine-jenkins">lyric mezzo-soprano singer</a> and composer. Known for crossing between genres, her musical performances span a range of styles, including classical, pop, musical theater, and hymnal music.

In her youthful years, <a href="/biography/katherine-jenkins">Katherine Maria Jenkins</a> won several singing competitions.  Jenkins studied at the Royal Academy of Music. She worked as a model as well as a music and voice teacher. In 2003, she came to the attention of a wider public when she performed at Westminster Cathedral to honor the silver jubilee of Pope John Paul IIe. Beginning in 2004, she has recorded a number of albums that have found success on British and foreign charts. For two years in a row (2005 and 2006), her albums were named Album of the Year at the Classic Brit Awards. She has also given many notable concert performances, such as singing for British armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. She also performed at numerous sports events, on television programs and in support of many charities. She took part  in the U.S. television show Dancing with the Stars in 2012, and won second place.

Education and early career

Jenkins was born in Neath, Wales, in the United Kingdom. She and her sister Laura were raised by their parents Selwyn John and Susan.

She attended Alderman Davies Church in Wales Primary School in Neath, Dwr-y-Felin Comprehensive School and Gorseinon College. She obtained A grades in her GCSEs and A Levels and performed in musical acts such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calamity_Jane">Calamity Jane</a> and Guys and Dolls.[7] She studied vocal performance, one of her instructors being John Hugh Thomas. Jenkins passed her Grade 8 examinations with distinction in both singing and piano.

Katherine Jenkins performed as a member of the Royal School of Church Music Cathedral Singers between 1991 and 1996. She received the St Cecilia Award, the highest RSCM award for female choristers. She performed as a member of the National Youth Choir of Wales for three years, twice won the BBC Radio 2 Welsh Choirgirl of the Year contest, and was named the BET Welsh Choirgirl of the Year. She was also the <a href="/biography/katherine-jenkins">recipient</a> of the Pelenna Valley Male Voice Choir Scholarship for the most promising young singer. At the age of 17 she was awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music, obtaining a diploma in music  graduating with honours.

Katherine Jenkins worked in a number of jobs, including as a freelance voice coach, and a tour guide on the London Eye. In 2000 she entered a modelling competition and was named the Face of Wales 2000. She then pursued a musical career. Universal Classics offered Jenkins a six-album deal, worth £1 million according to reports. This may have been the largest recording deal to date in British classical recording history.

Recording History

Six of Jenkins's seven studio albums reached number one in the UK classical charts between 2004 and 2008, selling a total of more than 4 million records. Her first album, Premiere, gave her the distinction of being the fastest-selling mezzo-soprano to date. Following this, she became the first British classical crossover artist to have two albums reach Number 1 in the charts in the same year. She is the first female <a href="/biography/katherine-jenkins">artist</a> to win two consecutive Classical BRIT Awards. Her second album, Second Nature, reached number 16 in the UK Albums Chart, and was awarded Album of the Year in the 2005 BRIT Awards.

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Jenkins's third album was called Living a Dream. It featured, as its first track, an Italian cover of <a href="/biography/dolly-parton">Dolly Parton</a>'s "I Will Always Love You" ("L'Amore Sei Tu"), first performed live at Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire on 28 August 2005. Following the release of this album, she achieved the unique distinction of holding the top three positions in the classical crossover music chart. The album kept the number one position for almost a year and also attained number 4 in the mainstream charts. Living a Dream won Jenkins the classical BRIT award for Album of the Year. This was her second time winning the award.

Jenkins released her fourth album, Serenade, on 6 November 2006. This album reached number 5 in the charts, selling more than 50,000 records in its first week, setting a record in the genre. Jenkins attained the distinction of having her albums occupy the top four positions on HMV's classical charts at the same time.

Jenkins released her fifth album, Rejoice, November 19, 2007.  The album included songs composed specially for her, two of which were written by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Barlow">Gary Barlow</a> of the band Take That.[18] The album reached Number 3 on the pop album charts, beating the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spice_Girls">Spice Girls</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls_Aloud">Girls Aloud</a>.

Jenkins released her sixth album Sacred Arias on 20 October 2008.  This was her last album released by Universal Music. On October 19, 2008, it was reported that Jenkins had signed the biggest classical recording deal in history, for US$10 million (£5.8 million), with Warner Music.

Jenkins released her seventh album, Believe, on 26 October 2009. This was her first album released by Warner Music. This album featured <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Bocelli">Andrea Bocelli</a> and other performers such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/André_Rieu">André Rieu</a> and <a href="/biography/chris-botti">Chris Botti</a>. She appeared on several television programmes including GMTV, Something for the Weekend and Piers Morgan's Life Stories on 24 October 2009 and on The Graham Norton Show on 2 November 2009. She sang the theme from The Godfather, Parla Piu Piano at Children In Need Rock The Albert Hall with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Lloyd_Webber">cellist</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Lloyd_Webber">Julian Lloyd Webber</a>. In December 2009, she sang a cover of Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life" at The Royal Variety Performance and again at A Concert for Heroes at Twickenham Stadium in September 2010. On 23 May 2010, she went to Argentina to perform Parla Piu Piano in the popular Argentinian show <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susana_Giménez">Susana Giménez</a>.

In 2011, Jenkins released the album Daydream. In 2012, Jenkins released This is Christmas, an album of yuletide-themed songs.

In 2014, Katherine Jenkins signed to Decca Records, and released the album Home Sweet Home.

In 2015, Jenkins performed spoken word vocals to the track "A Perfect Life" on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Wilson">Steven Wilson</a>'s album Hand. Cannot. Erase.

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