Hayley Westenra

Hayley Dee Westenra (born 10 April 1987) is a New Zealand classical crossover singer.

Westenra was born on 10 April 1987 at Christchurch Women's Hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Her parents, Gerald and Jill Westenra, have two younger offspring, Sophie and Isaac.

Sophie is an academic and teaches law at Oxford.

Westenra's grandmother Shirley Ireland was a singer, and her grandfather was a pianist who also played the piano accordion.

She has Irish, Dutch and English heritage.

She began performing at age six in the Christmas play at her school, Fendalton Open Air School.

After the show, a teacher said she was "pitch perfect" and encouraged Westenra to learn how to play a musical instrument; soon after she learned to read music and play the violin, piano, guitar, and recorder.

She then began voice lessons and discovered a passion for musical theatre.

By age 11, she had performed more than 40 times on stage, and was often given male parts.

Westenra attended Cobham Intermediate School in 1998 and 1999, where a performing arts building was later named in her honour.

At the age of 12, Westenra entered a professional recording studio to record Walking in the Air, a demo album originally created for friends and family, with 70 copies made; they soon made 1000 more copies, and attracted attention from a journalist with Canterbury Television, who asked Westenra to appear on air.

Gray Bartlett, the director of a concert promotion company, saw the show and shortly after, she was offered a recording deal with Universal Records New Zealand.

On that label, Westenra, who in the meantime was attending Burnside High School, released a self-titled album of show tunes and light classical songs, as well as My Gift to You, a CD of Christmas music.

Following the success of her albums, she was offered and later received lessons from Malvina Major.

Westenra attracted worldwide attention when she signed with Decca Records and recorded Pure, a CD of classical, light pop, and traditional Māori songs.

Pure became the fastest-selling international debut album in the history of the UK classical chart, with 19,068 copies purchased in its first week alone, quickly reached No. 1 on the British charts, and entered the UK Album Chart at number 8.

Over two million copies of Pure have been sold to date.

In New Zealand, Pure has been certified 12 times platinum, making her the best-selling artist, regardless of genre, in the country's history.

Her first internationally released album, Pure, reached number one on the UK classical charts in 2003 and has sold more than two million copies worldwide, making it one of the fastest selling albums in her country's history.

She is one of the youngest UNICEF Ambassadors to date.

Westenra has sung in English, Māori, Irish, Welsh, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Portuguese, Latin, Japanese, Standard Mandarin Chinese, Catalan, and Taiwanese Hokkien.

Westenra met the cast of the series during a promotional tour of Japan in October 2003.

In 2004 Westenra recorded the end-title song for the Disney movie Mulan II.

They also featured her in the national Radio Disney music education tour for middle-school students.

Later that year, she was featured in the song "Bridal Ballad" recorded for the movie The Merchant of Venice.

Westenra was the 2004 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards winner of "Highest Selling New Zealand Album" and "International Achievement Award".

On 20 February 2004, Prime Minister Helen Clark awarded her for being the first New Zealand artist to receive the tenfold platinum status in the New Zealand market, where she held the number one artist position for 18 weeks.

She has won two Japanese Grammies for her work (Song of the Year, "Amazing Grace" and Album of the Year, Pure).

Her version of Amazing Grace was used as the theme song for the popular Japanese drama, Shiroi Kyotō (The White Tower).

Also in 2004, she began her world tour of New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the UK and the US, performing in a concert in November for Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Charles, Prince of Wales, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and President George W. Bush.

In her autobiography, she remembered feeling more nervous in an audition where she sight read to Andrew Lloyd Webber an unreleased piece that he had written.

After her world tour, Westenra recorded a live DVD, Hayley Westenra: Live from New Zealand, featuring duets with baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes and soprano Sophie Westenra in St. James Theatre.

David Horn, the producer of her live TV special, which aired on the PBS program Great Performances, said, "Her singing is so gorgeous, it's reminiscent of the great boy-soprano sound of Anglican church choirs."

She joined the Boston Pops Orchestra as guest soloist for their Christmas tour at the end of 2004.

On 5 September 2006, Westenra was named as one of the ten outstanding young people in the world by the Junior Chamber International, becoming the first New Zealander so honoured.

On 13 November 2006, she participated in the dedication of the New Zealand War Memorial in London, performing "God Save the Queen" and "God Defend New Zealand", the national anthems of the UK and New Zealand.

Three of Westenra's great-uncles served in World War II; one was killed.

In August 2006, Westenra joined Celtic Woman and is featured on their second major DVD/CD album, Celtic Woman: A New Journey, which was released 30 January 2007 and immediately hit the Billboard Top 200 music chart at number four.

She toured with the group in the United States in 2007, with scheduled appearances in 88 venues across the country; the tour ended in June.