Welsh Rarebit

AS Britain’s most famous classical singer, Katherine Jenkins knows a thing or two about being in the spotlight.

A record-breaking, multi-platinum vocal phenomenon, the Welsh mezzo-soprano has done more than anyone else to make operatic music popular.

That success has come with riches and adulation, and has established her as a household name. Reputed to be worth £11m, the former choirgirl is among the country’s highest-paid young musicians, has sold something like four million albums and was the first UK classical artist to have had two number-one albums in the same year.

But, almost uniquely in the classical world, her position as national treasure has come at a cost – with impossible scrutiny from a public fascinated by this powerfully voiced, beautiful superstar.

So how does this former model and one-time ‘Face of Wales’, who last month publically split from her fiancé, former Blue Peter presenter Gethin Jones, 33, cope with fame?

“I know I am a celebrity, but it’s not something I have chased,” she says, relaxing at home in London, where she now spends most of her time due to recording and touring pressures.

“I have always just wanted to be a singer. I know I am more interesting as a celeb than as a normal person, but I find it strange. It’s fine, and I am happy to put things out there, but there’s a line. I am allowed a private life; I’ve always tried to keep things separate.”

So what is the worst part of being in the limelight? “When my family and friends get dragged in,” she says. “To a certain extent I chose to come into this and get a deal, with whatever that involves. My family haven’t.

“It is almost impossible for me to live a normal life, but I try to be as normal as possible when away from the spotlight.

“But if I was constantly worrying about it, it would spoil my life.”

She is referring, of course, to the lurid stories splashed all over the tabloids, about the experimental drug-taking during her student days. She admits, she felt hurt and betrayed at the response which threatened to eclipse her career.

“It’s something you have to learn to deal with,” she sighs, flinching at the press intrusion. “But it’s very trying.

“I’m not the celebrity type. I do a few key ‘red carpet’ things, but I find it all difficult. I prefer to be with friends.”

Those friends are the same ones she had, growing up in Neath, in industrial south Wales. But recognition as the country’s most famous mezzo-soprano has done little to change this down-to-earth Welsh lass.

“I have the same friends I had from my choir days, and they have not changed,” she giggles. “Like my family, they are happy I’m happy, but not overwhelmed. I’ll tell them I’m singing at the Royal Albert Hall and want them to come, but they’ll tell me they’ve seen me and have something else on – like a tennis match!”

A lot has happened since Katherine performed with the Royal School of Church Music Cathedral Singers – winning the highest award for female choristers.

She appeared with the National Youth Choir of Wales for three years, was twice named BBC Radio 2 Welsh Choirgirl of the Year, and took the crown as Welsh Choirgirl of the Year. Aged 17, she earned a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, where she graduated with honours and qualified as a music teacher.

In a world of instant pop stars, talent show celebrity and flash-in-the-pan chart success, Katherine, 31, is the real deal. A classically trained musician single-handedly sparking a boom in opera, religious, theatrical and classical-crossover – with sales outstripping pop, rock and R&B in appeal and album sales.

“It’s amazing to see classical compete with pop, but it’s all about the music.

“People have been challenged in how they think about classical music. Instead of just ‘that’s posh and not for me’.”

Yet she shrugs off any suggestion that she has single-handedly turned on the public to Verdi, Bizet, Puccini and Sartori, as well as her more mainstream repertoire. “There are so many reasons why it has become popular, but the image of the music has changed – as well as the people performing it.”

Though she does, reluctantly, concede her look may have helped. It has earned her a huge male following – and even seen her become a ‘Forces’ Sweetheart’ – twice playing to British servicemen in Iraq.

“I’ve always been girly and love dresses,” she says. “But I couldn’t have imagined in a million years anything like this would happen. I thought everything would have been more low-key. I never imagined the commercial side of it at all.

“For me now, though, it’s all about the touring. I love being in front of a live audience, travelling the world and singing with people I’ve always admired.

“That overshadows the sad things.

“There have always been a few people who want to knock me, but I don’t listen. I just focus on the positive.

“I know how lucky I am – it’s amazing to have affected people in the way I have.”

* Katherine Jenkins’ Daydream Tour comes to the New Theatre, Oxford on Saturday.

Tickets cost from £28.50 to £66 from atgtickets.com