Katherine Jenkins Totally Explained

Everything about Katherine Jenkins totally explained

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 mezzo-soprano to date She also stands as the first female artist to win two consecutive Classical BRIT Awards.
Jenkins has released four classical number one studio albums to date, with a fifth album recently released on 19 November 2007. Her albums feature arias, popular songs, hymns and classical crossover music and she's performed in a large number of concerts around the United Kingdom and other countries, including the United States and Australia.

Background

At school Jenkins received A grades in both GCSEs and A Levels and participated in productions such as Calamity Jane and Guys and Dolls. Jenkins' music talents continued to progress and she achieved Grade 8 distinctions in singing and piano. She twice won the BBC Radio 2 Welsh Choirgirl of the Year contest, 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 had signed the largest record deal in United Kingdom classical recording history, reportedly worth £1 million. Universal Classics' marketing director has since said, "She is an utter professional, a wonderful singer and has a team utterly committed to her." 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 and sang with Bryn Terfel at the 2005 Wales-England Six Nations match at the Millennium Stadium. Her interpretation was partly a vocal solo; for the rest she was accompanied by a single softly played piano.
   In May 2005, Jenkins sang at Trafalgar Square to 15,000-strong audience to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of VE Day, and later helped to launch the Royal British Legion's poppy appeal at Covent Garden whilst wearing a dress made of 2,500 poppies.
   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 28 August, 2005, was the first cut on Jenkins' third album Living A Dream. When the album was released, she held the positions of one, two and three in the classical music chart at the same time along with her first two albums, The album held onto the number one position for nearly a year and reached number four in the pop album charts. She now stands as the first female artist to win two consecutive Classical BRIT Awards. She also performed at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, Norway on 11 December, 2005.
   Her fourth studio album entitled Serenade, released on 6 November, 2006, became number five in the charts and sold more than 50,000 copies in its first week. This ensured it was the biggest seller for a classical CD in Britain. Also in November, she performed live before The Queen at the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall and joined fellow Welsh singer James Fox in the final verse of "Anthem" from the musical Chess. On 23 December, 2006 Jenkins appeared as a guest and performer on ITV's Parkinson show, where she sang the Welsh national anthem informally during her interview and a Christmas song backed by the Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir and a brass band.

2007—present: Rejoice

At the start of 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's estimated to have sold about 2 million records since her debut in 2004. In July, Jenkins performed live on Saving Planet Earth on BBC One, to raise money for the BBC Wildlife Fund and later that month a special concert starring Jenkins was held at Margam Park in south Wales. It was entitled Katherine In The Park and saw Jenkins perform alongside Paul Potts and Juan Diego Florez. Jenkins extended a personal invitation to Potts to sing "Nessun Dorma" at the concert. On 12 August, 2007 Jenkins appeared on ITV's Britain's Favourite View where she nominated Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower peninsula to be voted as Britain's favourite view. She took cameras on a tour of the bay and commented on the great sentimental value the bay has to her: "I grew up on the edge of the Gower, but it was still a holiday place for our family. We’d go on weekend breaks to Three Cliffs Bay – six miles down the road! That’s how gorgeous it is." In September Jenkins catwalk modeled at Naomi Campbell's Fashion Relief event for charity in a Julien MacDonald dress which was then bought by Sir Philip Green for £10,000. On 21 October, 2007 she sang "Time to Say Goodbye" with Andrea Bocelli on the Strictly Come Dancing results show. In November 2007, she again sang at the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, and won classical performer of the year at the Variety Club Showbiz Awards. Her fifth album, entitled Rejoice, was released on 19 November 2007. The album contains a mix of classical and pop music in which some songs have been written specially for her. Two of the songs are written by Take That's Gary Barlow. The album entered the pop album charts at number three, beating the Spice Girls and Girls Aloud. Jenkins commented "I never imagined when I was a young girl listening to them on the radio that I'd outsell the Spice Girls and Celine Dion. It’s almost too much to take in. I can’t thank my fans enough for all their support." which include Madonna and Judy Garland. As part of the preparation for the show, Jenkins has learned to tap dance, spent eight hours a week in dance studios learning choreography, and running three miles a day to get fit. On 15 December Jenkins performed on The X Factor final with contestant Rhydian Roberts, performing the song "You Raise Me Up". She performed the Welsh National Anthem on 17 May 2008 at the 2008 FA Cup Final between Cardiff City and Portsmouth, becoming the first person to do this at an FA Cup Final.
Jenkins' autobiography, Time to Say Hello, was released on 28 January 2008, and was also serialised in The Mail on Sunday. Jenkins is also an ambassador for Montblanc pens and gifts. Being an ambassador for the company she's able to borrow their jewellery to wear to events, but in order to guard Jenkins and the expensive items, she's chaperoned by Montblanc bodyguards. She wore £6 million worth of Montblanc diamonds to the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in 2008.

Personal life

Jenkins has one sister. Her father, Selwyn Jenkins, died of cancer when she was a teenager, and she's remarked on missing him in her album liner notes.
Whilst Jenkins was studying at the Royal Academy of Music, at 19 years of age, she was attacked and nearly raped by a man who followed her off a bus after she'd enjoyed a night out with friends. When Jenkins was making the 2-minute walk to her London home, he sprang upon her and tried to drag her into an alley, but she managed to escape. On her first visit to Iraq in 2005, when travelling to Shaibah, the largest British base in Southern Iraq, the helicopter she was travelling in was targeted by missiles. Anti-missile flares were deployed and the group landed safely. She is currently dating Welsh television presenter Gethin Jones. Jenkins confirmed "Yes, it's pretty serious, but honestly I don't want to go into it very much. I like to keep my private life private and I don't want people to think that I'm trying to exploit the relationship. We are together because we like each other and not because we want any publicity from it."

Discography

Singles

"Time To Say Goodbye" (2005)
"Green Green Grass of Home" (2006) UK

Albums

Album	Year	UK Albums	UK Classical	USA	AUS	Notes
Premiere	2004	#31	#1	N/K	DNC	None
Second Nature	2004	#16	N/K	13	UK Classical Album of the Year
Serenade	2006	#5	N/K	DNC	None
From the Heart	2007	Import	Import	N/K	DNC	Import from China
Rejoice	2007	#3	N/A	N/K	25	None

Further Information

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