Katherine Jenkins

With her smooth, angelic voice belting out a blend of classical and popular music, as well as operatic arias, Katherine Jenkins deftly made her mark as one of Britain's most luminous and talented crossover artists. She was born on June 29, 1980 in Wales, England. By age seven, Jenkins' passion for pop music soon gave way to a love of all things classical, whereupon she began taking piano lessons and singing with a local choir.

Jenkins attended London's Royal Academy of Music, where she studied advanced level Welsh. While she was still a student, she was almost raped in London by a man who followed her off a bus. The then-19-year-old was reportedly returning home when her attacker sprang upon her and tried to drag her into an alley, but Jenkins fended him off and escaped.

After graduating with honors, she worked briefly as a freelance music teacher, a tour guide for the iconic London Eye landmark, and a model. Meanwhile, Jenkins steadily pursued her musical career with performances at several prestigious concert venues, including Australia's Sydney Opera House, London's Royal Albert Hall, and Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

In April 2004, Jenkins released her chart-topping debut album Premiere, a mix of old standards and traditional Welsh songs, and her modern interpretations of classic tunes by Handel, Bach, Erik Satie and others. In October of that same year, her sophomore release, Second Nature, earned the mezzo soprano many accolades, including an Album of the Year award at the 2005 BRIT Awards.

As classical music's newest singing sensation, Jenkins performed all over the world, including trips to Iraq in 2005 and 2006 to sing for the troops. On her first visit, missiles targeted the helicopter that she was riding in, but anti-missile flares were deployed and her group landed safely.

Jenkins continued to gain international fame as a crossover singer who performed operatic arias, pop songs, musical theater, and hymns in her sold-out concerts and on albums like Serenade (2006) and Believe (2009). She also made countless guest appearances on British TV shows like the long-standing drama "Emmerdale" (ITV, 1972- ), the reality singing competition "The X Factor" (ITV, 2004- ), and as one of the judges on "Popstar to Operastar" (ITV, 2010- ).

In 2012, Jenkins became a competitor on "Dancing with the Stars" (ABC, 2005- ), alongside former Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova and soul singer Gladys Knight.

By Candy Cuenco