Katherine Jenkins – Believe

Universal Classics & Jazz heard her demo and she was invited to an interview at which she sang Rossini’s “Una voce poco fa”. Universal offered Jenkins a six-album deal, the most lucrative in the United Kingdom’s classical recording history, reportedly worth £1 million.

Six out of seven of Jenkins’s studio albums reached number one in the classical charts between 2004 and 2008, selling more than 4,000,000 copies.

After her first album, Premiere, made her the fastest-selling mezzo-soprano to date, she became the first British classical crossover artist to have two number one albums in the same year.

Her second album, Second Nature, reached number 16 in the UK pop charts.

Jenkins’s Italian-language version of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” (“L’Amore Sei Tu”), first performed live at Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire on 28 August 2005, was the first cut on her third album Living A Dream.

Her fourth album, Serenade was released on 6 November, 2006 and reached number five in the mainstream charts selling more than 50,000 copies in its first week

Her fifth album, Rejoice, was released on 19 November 2007 and included songs written specially for her, two tracks by Take That’s Gary Barlow.

On 20 October 2008 Jenkins released Sacred Arias, which was her last album with Universal Music and according to The Telegraph, Jenkins had signed the biggest classical recording deal in history, for $10 million (£5.8 million), with Warner Music.

Believe is Jenkins seventh album and was produced by David Foster (Michael Bublé) and recorded in Los Angeles.

Believe features a cover of Sarah McLachlan’s Angel, a reworking of Evanescence’s Bring Me To Life and a duet with Andrea Bocelli for the title track.

Other partnerships on the album come courtesy of Richard Marx, Chris Botti and André Rieu.

Other stand out tracks include Who Wants to Live Forever, No Woman, No Cry and my favourite, the theme from the Godfather movie.

This album is directed at the mainstream and for many of her loyal fans who have followed her career since her classical days; it may be one step too far.

For someone like myself who is not familiar with her classical past, then it’s a fine introduction to a very talented artist.

I really would believe if only Jenkins had included original material written by the lady herself – a talent that seems very rare within the today’s music industry.

Katherine Jenkins plays live at the Newcastle Metro Arena on March 6th 2010.

Star rating 7/10