Charlotte Church

Charlotte Maria Church (born Charlotte Maria Reed, 21 February 1986) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter from Cardiff.

In 1992, Maria married her second husband, James Church, who adopted Charlotte in 1999.

She has four siblings: two younger half-brothers, through her biological father, and two older adoptive siblings from her adoptive father's previous marriage.

Charlotte's musical break came at age 11 when she sang Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Pie Jesu" over the telephone on the television show This Morning in 1997, followed by her performance on ITV's Big, Big Talent Show in 1997.

Church also received a vocal scholarship to Howell's School Llandaff in Cardiff where she started in 1998, after leaving The Cathedral School, Llandaff.

With help from tutors, she was able to manage both performing and school work, and said in many interviews that she was "just like every other girl her age".

She left school at age 16.

As a classical music singer, Church sang in English, Welsh, Latin, Italian, and French.

She was then introduced to the Cardiff impresario Jonathan Shalit, who became her manager and negotiated a contract with Sony Music.

Her first album, Voice of an Angel (1998), was a collection of arias, sacred songs, and traditional pieces that sold millions worldwide and made her the youngest artist with a No. 1 album on the British classical crossover charts.

Church appeared on US Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) specials.

Subsequent to a request to sing "Pie Jesu" at Rupert Murdoch's 1999 wedding to Wendy Deng, Church appeared at Cardiff Arms Park, the Royal Albert Hall and opened for Dame Shirley Bassey.

It was later revealed the Murdoch and Church's management at the time persuaded Church to waive a $100,000 payment for singing at Murdoch's wedding in return for "good press".

Her 1999 self-titled second album also included operatic, religious, and traditional tracks.

One, the soaring and inspirational Just Wave Hello, was the centrepiece of a millennium-themed ad campaign for the Ford Motor Company.

The song's full-length video, featuring Church, won acclaim at the Detroit Auto Show and introduced her to new fans.

The track reached No. 31 in Britain.

In 2000, she released Dream a Dream, an album of Christmas carols.

It included Church's first foray into a more non classical, pop-influenced style in the title track Dream a Dream, borrowing the melody from Fauré's Pavane and featuring American child country singer Billy Gilman.

In 2001, Church added more pop, swing, and Broadway with her album Enchantment.

That year, Church made her first film appearance in the 2001 Ron Howard film A Beautiful Mind.

Celine Dion was beginning a concert engagement in Las Vegas and was not available to perform the film's end title song, "All Love Can Be", so composer James Horner enlisted Church and the song was rewritten for her vocal range.

Church also handled other vocal passages throughout the score.

In 2001, tabloid newspaper The Daily Star was mocked and criticised for featuring a picture of Church in a tight top with sexualised comments ("she's a big girl now ... chest swell!") next to a piece condemning Chris Morris' "Paedogeddon" episode of Brass Eye, a comedy spoof of current affairs shows.

In 2002, at 16, she released a "best of" album called Prelude, and took part in the Royal Christmas tour alongside Dame Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, marking the end of her classical music career.

Her next album, Tissues and Issues, would be a pop release.

In 2003 Church teamed up with trance music producer Jurgen Vries to sing vocals on his track "The Opera Song (Brave New World)".

She was credited on the records as CMC (her initials) as it was her first foray into pop music.

The song reached number three in the UK Singles Chart, Church's second highest-charting single and Vries' highest.

Church rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before branching into pop music in 2005.

In 2005, Church issued her first pop album Tissues and Issues. Four singles were successful in the UK with "Crazy Chick" reaching number two, "Call My Name" number ten, "Even God Can't Change the Past" number seventeen, and "Moodswings" number fourteen.

Although these were released in Australia as well, they failed to reach the same level of success there.

By 2007, she had sold more than ten million records worldwide including over five million in the United States.

She hosted a Channel 4 chat show titled The Charlotte Church Show.

Church released her first album in five years, titled Back to Scratch, on 25 October 2010.

Church is a soprano.

In recent years, Church has become engaged in political activism which has included support for the Labour party across the UK, and Plaid Cymru in Senedd elections in Wales.

Church is also a supporter of Welsh independence.

Church was born Charlotte Maria Reed in Llandaff, a district of Cardiff, Wales, to Maria and computer engineer Stephen Reed.

Her parents separated when she was two, and she was subsequently raised by her mother who brought her up as a Roman Catholic.