Katherine Jenkins
was born 29 June 1980 in Neath, Wales U.K. is an award-winning Welsh mezzo soprano. After winning singing competitions in her youth, Jenkins studied at the Royal Academy of Music, modeled and taught voice. She came to wide public attention in 2003 when she sang at Westminster Cathedral in honor of Pope John Paul II's silver jubilee. Since 2004, she has released numerous albums that have performed well on British and foreign charts. In both 2005 and 2006, her albums received Classic Brit Awards as Album of the Year. She has also been seen widely in concert, including concerts for British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan; she has also sung at sporting events, on television shows and in support of many charities. In Spring 2012, she competed on the US television show Dancing with the Stars, finishing in second place, behind NFL Super Bowl champion Donald Driver. Her first album Premiere made her the fastest-selling mezzo-soprano to date 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. 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. Katherine is the only artist in music history to simultaneously hold the number 1 , 2 3 & 4 position on the classical albums charts.