Katherine Jenkins (born 29 June 1980 in Neath, Wales) is a mezzo-soprano.
At the age of 17 she won a scholarship to London's Royal Academy of Music where she graduated with Honours. After she was voted The Face of Wales by the Welsh public she supplemented her grant by modelling.
During 2003 she sang at a special Mass honouring the Pope's Silver Jubilee at Westminster Cathedral and a month later made her international debut at the Sydney Opera House as the special guest on the 'Max Boyce Down Under' show. This show was aired on BBC Wales on the eve of the Wales vs. New Zealand game and achieved a 40% share of viewing figures. Katherine then supported Aled Jones on his 2003 UK tour - another former Welsh chorister.
During the Rugby World Cup the 23-year-old rugby fan was the official Welsh team mascot and recorded the Welsh Rugby Team's Official Song
During 2004 Katherine went on tour as a special guest with Hayley Westenra. In May she was the first singer ever to perform both at the FA Cup Final and the Powergen Challenge Cup Final (Rugby League) in the same year. Both events took place in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. This was closely followed by an appearance at the Classical Brits 2004 which was broadcast on ITV1. Another tour as special guest on the Amici Forever eighteen-date UK tour during June followed and she gave many other open-air classical concerts throughout the summer including dates supporting Bryan Ferry and Cliff Richard.
Katherine embarked on a series of tour dates last Autumn: opening the newly built Riverfront Theatre in Newport in a concert conducted by Carl Davis with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, performing at the MEN Manchester, the new Wales Millenium Centre where she again teamed up with Max Boyce as his special guest, and the Royal Albert Hall for the Sargent Cancer Care concert.
With the release of her second album 'Second Nature' on 18th October 2004, just seven months after her first ever recording, Katherine has gone one better. Not only has she become the first mezzo-soprano to break into the pop chart in the top 20, she has also become the first artist to score two number ones in the classical chart in the same year and became the biggest selling classical artist in the UK.At the age of 23, she signed the largest record deal in United Kingdom classical recording history, with an undisclosed seven-figure deal.
2005 so far has seen Katherine performing alongside Eric Clapton, Jools Holland and the Manic Street Preachers, to name but a few, at the Tsunami Relief Concert which was held at the Millennium Stadium at the end of January.
Jenkins' album "Second Nature" was 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.
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