Katherine Jenkins

Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins is a celebrated performer who emerged in the early 2000s as Britain's all-time best-selling classical artist of the past 25 years.

Blessed with a warm voice and charismatic stage presence, Jenkins achieved wide recognition in 2003 after performing at Westminster Cathedral during Pope John Paul II's silver jubilee. Buoyed by that appearance, her 2004 debut, Premiere, hit number one on the U.K. Classical Album Chart. She has enjoyed both critical and commercial success since then, with six of her albums reaching the top of the U.K. classical charts.

Two of those albums, 2004's Second Nature and 2005's Living a Dream, also took home the Classic Brit Award for Album of the Year. While she remains a star in Britain, she is internationally recognized, and in 2012 briefly shifted away from music to compete on ABC's Dancing with the Stars where she finished as a runner-up. In 2014, Jenkins was made on Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to music and for her charity work.