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Charlotte Church (born '''Charlotte Maria Reed''' on February 21 , 1986 ) is a Welsh Pop Singer who rose to international fame in childhood as a popular Classical Singer . EARLY LIFE Church was born in at Llandaff , Cardiff , South Glamorgan , Wales . She was raised Catholic by her Welsh- Maltese mother, Maria, after her natural father, Stephen Reid, walked out on them when she was about a year and a half old, had her first taste of stardom when she performed " Ghostbusters " at a holiday camp in Caernarforn at the age of 3, and had to be dragged from the stage when she refused to leave. Her big break came at the age of 11 when she sang "Pie Jesu" on the television show ''Talking Telephone Numbers'' in 1997, closely followed by her show-stealing performance on ITV 's ''Big, Big Talent Show'' in 1998. This led to concerts at Cardiff Arms Park , Royal Albert Hall and the opening spot for Shirley Bassey in Antwerp . She only acquired her last name at the age of six when James Church, himself divorced, married her mother and adopted her. To this day the subject of her natural father remains a sore subject and she will not discuss him. CLASSICAL CAREER Charlotte was then introduced to the Cardiff-based impresario, Jonathan Shalit, who later became her manager, and negotiated a record contract with Sony BMG . Her breakthrough album, '' Voice Of An Angel '', showcased her unique voice in a collection of Aria s, sacred songs, and traditional pieces that sold millions of copies worldwide and made her the youngest artist with a No. 1 selling album to date. Church later appeared on numerous PBS specials and television commercials, most notably in the acclaimed ''Just Wave Hello'' campaign for the Ford Motor Company . The song appeared on her self-titled second album, which included another array of operatic, religious, and traditional tracks. In 2000, she released ''Dream a Dream'', an album of Christmas Carol s. Church has been represented in the press as an opera singer; but she has never sung in any opera performances, only recordings (and those of excerpts, usually edited and engineered to fit her range). However, up until 2001, she had recorded only two pop (or classical crossover songs) - "Just Wave Hello" and "Dream a Dream." In 2001 , Charlotte Church added some pop, swing, and Broadway to her classical repertoire with her album ''Enchantment''. That same year, movie-going audiences heard Church for the first time in the 2001 Ron Howard film '' A Beautiful Mind ''. Since Celine Dion was not available to perform the film's end title song, "All Love Can Be" (Dion was beginning her concert engagement in Las Vegas), composer James Horner enlisted Charlotte to handle the vocals, and the song was re-written to Church's Vocal Range . Charlotte also handled other vocal passages throughout the score. In 2002 , at the age of 16, Charlotte Church released a best-of album called '' Prelude '', to mark her departure from classical music. That year ended with her involvement in the Royal Christmas tour alongside Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, however, same had mixed success, as she was late to join it due to an alleged ear infection which prevented her flying, and the tour was dogged every step of the way by reports of her bad behavior, including snarling "Fuck this, I didn't agree to no meet and greet. Hello?" before storming off when asked to meet fans. Plummer and Andrews were not impressed by her at all. POP CAREER In 2005, she issued her first pop album '' Tissues And Issues '' and the first four singles have all been at least moderately successful in the UK with "Crazy Chick" reaching #2, "Call My Name" reaching #10, "Even God" reaching #17 and "Moodswings" reaching #14. Although these were released in Australia as well, they failed to reach the same level of success there, and in March 2006 it was announced that there would not be a US release of same nor any US release until a No. 1 hit was obtained. OTHER WORK In 2003 she also presented an episode of Have I Got News For You during which she was made fun of as she hardly understood any of the political stories. When she tried to remove points from Ian Hislop 's scoreboard, he quipped, "It's just like remarking GCSE papers, isn't it?" Acting work She made a cameo appearance on the CBS series '' Touched By An Angel '' and starred in the 1999 Christmas special of '' Heartbeat ''. In 2003 Church made her silver screen debut alongside Craig Ferguson in " I'll Be There (2003) " which he also directed, in the role of "Olivia," the daughter of a washed-up 80s rocker from a one-night-stand who just happened to be blessed with a wonderful singing voice. Despite two high-profile premieres in London and Cardiff, the film met with neither critical nor popular success, and was pulled from UK theaters within 10 days and only released direct to video in the US. CONTROVERSY Her first manager Jonathan Shalit was ultimately discharged from her representation by a letter faxed by Charlotte's mother. Although allegations were later made by the Church family of "inappropriate tactile conduct" on the part of Mr. Shalit nothing ever came of them. He subsequently sued for breach of contract and received a settlement believed to be worth 2 million pounds sterling or more, although the exact details were never released since one of the parties to the matter was a minor and such details were protected under UK law. Going forward all previous involvement of Mr. Shalit was downplayed by the Church camp, and he was even airbrushed out of a photograph in her autobiography. Church provoked some controversy with remarks on the title in 2002 at the age of 16. PERSONAL LIFE 2002 proved a watershed year for Church, as she split with her parents over the issue of her first boyfriend, Cardiff ne'er-do-well and part-time music producer Steven Johnson, at the time 18, moving out of the large house purchased in Cardiff with funds from her earnings. She was photographed smoking in June as she left his house, and it gradually emerged that she had developed a half-a-pack-a-day habit. At the end of 2003 she and Steven Johnson split, due to alleged cheating on his part, however Church did not stay single for long, as she began dating and then living with part-time hotel worker Kyle Johnson in February of 2004. This relationship was apparently stormier than that with Steven Johnson, as reports regularly reached the tabloids of Church and Johnson loudly arguing and fighting during nights out, with accounts of Church throwing her shoes at Johnson and attempting to bite an intervening police officer. This relationship ended in February 2005 supposedly painfully but amicably, with Church and Johnson remaining friends, but shortly afterward Johnson revealed graphic details about the couple's sex life, including both frequency and technique, and Church publicly punched him for doing so. In March 2005 , a topless photograph of Church was rumoured to have been stolen from the mobile phone of her boyfriend Gavin Henson , a Welsh International Rugby player, when he lost his phone on a night out in Cardiff . In interviews, Church said she was in her bra, not nude, in the picture. She said that a topless picture of her circulating around the Internet was a Fake . Recently, her ex-boyfriend Steven Johnson demanded Charlotte pay him £ 3m from her fortune to stop him from releasing his tell-tale book. His father promised the book would "hang the Church family" by revealing salacious details of Steven and Charlotte's sex life. Charlotte has yet to respond to this. Previously, her other ex had also sold stories of his relationship with Charlotte to the Tabloids . The book ultimately revealed very little that had not already been revealed. As it is, Church is a smoker, which is not a good look for younger fans - or for that matter - her voice. At the end of 2005 Charlotte and Gavin purchased a property in her native Llandaff , Cardiff for a reported £500,000. On March 31 2006 Henson, whom she has dated and ultimately lived with since ending her second relationship with Kyle Johnson, appeared on the chat show, ''Friday Night With Jonathan Ross'', where he said he hoped Charlotte would ask him to marry her, possibly indicative of the subordination of her career going forward to his. DISCOGRAPHY Albums
Singles ''Voice of an Angel''
''Charlotte Church''
''Dream a Dream''
''Enchantment''
''Prelude: The Best Of...''
''Tissues and Issues''
Guest appearance:
FILMOGRAPHY
QUOTES On Tony Blair :
On George Bush :
On Coldplay :
EXTERNAL LINKS
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