Katherine Jenkins was born on 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.

Jenkins has recorded several number one albums which feature arias, popular songs, hymns and classical crossover music and 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 later went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music and taught music to children prior to being signed by Universal.

In 2004, at the age of twenty-three, she signed the largest record deal in United Kingdom classical recording history, reportedly worth £1 million.

In 2004, her debut album Premiere 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.

When Jenkins' third album, 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.

Her album entitled Serenade released in 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. On HMV's classical charts, the top four albums are all by Jenkins.