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Hayley Dee Westenra (born April 10, 1987 in Christchurch, New Zealand) is a New Zealand soprano who has released 2 successful albums, one of which- Pure- reached #1 on the UK classical charts and has sold over 2 million copies worldwide.

Early life

Westenra is the daughter of Jill and Gerald Westenra and has two siblings, Sophie and Isaac. Hayley comes from a musically-inclined family; her grandmother was a singer, and her grandfather was a pianist and played the piano-accordion.

Her musical career began at the age of six when she was cast in the role of "the Littlest Star" in her school's Christmas play, with a singing part. After the show, a teacher who had seen Hayley sing approached her parents and informed them that the girl had perfect pitch. (In fact, she is sometimes referred to as a "female Josh Groban".) She encouraged Hayley to pick up a musical instrument to improve her abilities, and Hayley began to take violin lessons. Along with violin, she took up the piano and recorder, and learned to read music by the age of 7. She began voice lessons and discovered a passion for musical theatre. By age 11, Hayley had performed more than 40 times on stage.

At the age of 12, Hayley entered a professional recording studio to record Walking in the Air, a demo album done for friends and family; only about 1000 copies were made. After finishing her album, Hayley went with her sister Sophie, also a singer, to busk in the Christchurch streets (performed on sidewalks in order to get gratuity from passers-by). The pair drew a large crowd, and one woman asked the girls if they had ever recorded anything. This woman turned out to be a journalist with CTV, and asked Hayley to appear on air. A concert promotion company watched the show, and signed her to the Universal New Zealand Label. On this label, Hayley released a self-titled album of show tunes and light classical songs, as well as My Gift to You, a CD of Christmas music.

International success

Although her albums were quite successful in New Zealand, Hayley was virtually unknown worldwide until she landed a contract with the Decca Music Group and recorded Pure, a CD of classical, light pop, and traditional Māori songs.

Pure, her first album on the international market, enjoyed record-topping success. It became the fastest selling debut album in the history of the UK classical charts. Pure sold 19,068 copies in its first week alone, flew to Number 1 on the UK classical charts, and entered the UK Pop Chart at #8 (UK Chart data courtesy of The BBC). To date, over two million copies of Pure have been sold. Back at home in New Zealand, "Pure" has been certified 10x platinum, making Hayley the best selling artist (regardless of genre) in the country's history. source

Recently, Hayley has done a special concert for Prime Minister Tony Blair, President George W. Bush and Her Majesty The Queen. Hayley is also the youngest UNICEF Ambassador to date, once visiting Ghana to distribute bicycles to girls so that they could go to school. After releasing Pure, Hayley and her family moved to London, England, for a time, where she continues to live, although she has spent most of 2006 touring. Her family subsequently returned home to Christchurch, where she does her best to visit them when she can.

Hayley recorded the end-title song for Disney's movie Mulan 2. She took her first acting role on Episode 46 (Charade) as a Singer in the Lair on the TV show American Dreams (NBC) where she played the guitar and sang "Who Painted the Moon Black?". She also had a special air on PBS' Great Performances. This special was entitled, "Hayley Westenra: Live from New Zealand."

Westenra is the 2004 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards winner of "Highest Selling New Zealand Album" and "International Achievement Award" She's won two Japanese Grammies for her work (Song of the Year, "Amazing Grace" and Album of the Year, "Pure"). Also in 2004 she began her world tour of New Zealand, Australia, Japan and the UK. While she was preforming at the Sydney Opera House she received a rare standing ovation. She concluded 2004 with a successful Christmas tour of the East Coast of the US as guest soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Hayley began 2005 by being featured in the song Bridal Ballad that was recorded for the movie The Merchant of Venice.

Last year, Hayley released a new album called Odyssey, titled for her journey to musical success. A mix of classical, pop, Celtic, and new age, Hayley co-wrote and arranged some of the tracks on the album, which was released in the US on October 18. A more recent version of Odyssey was released in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2006. It contains sundry other tracks not previously included in the album.

Ending 2005, Hayley made an appearance on Kurt Browning's Gotta to Skate, which was aired on NBC on December 18 and where she performed with Andrea Bocelli.

More recently, she is featured on the thirteenth track of the soundtrack to the motion picture The New World. The title of this song is Listen to the Wind. She has spent the bulk of 2006 as of this writing performing as a supporting act for the pop-opera quartet Il Divo on a long worldwide tour, though in March she performed several solo concerts in the US as well. That tour officially ended in June, but was extended by six dates, unfortunately killing an opportunity for her to get home to New Zealand. She is now scheduled for several concerts in the UK and Germany through to the end of the summer. Rumors have emerged of further UK touring in the fall as well as of a possible West End appearance, but so far few details have been released and that could change very quickly.

In addition to her musical talent, Hayley has become noted for her kind and good nature. She frequently meets her fans after performances and is usually very good about signing autographs and conversing. In fact the title "diva" simply makes her break out into gales of laughter.

Discography

NZ Albums

International albums

  • Pure (2003) (the first release outside of the local Australian and New Zealand markets)
  • Odyssey (2005) (released internationally on the 8th of August in New Zealand; the US version was released on the 18th of October) #10 UK

Concerts

  • Live From New Zealand (2005) (also includes biographic information as a special feature)

Featured in

  • Russel Watson Live (2003)
  • Mulan II Soundtrack (2005)
  • The Merchant of Venice Soundtrack (2005)
  • "Lilo & Stitch 2" (2005)
  • The New World Soundtrack (2006)

Other appearances / performances

Sang the official UNICEF song " Children First " at the HC. Andersen jubilee in Copenhagen, Denmark, 2005. The song is a duet and was sung with Morten Harket, vocalist of the Norwegian band, a-ha.

External links

1987 births | Living people | Female singers | New Zealand musicians | Sopranos | Classical musicians | Crossover (music) | Contemporary pop musicians | Buskers | People with absolute pitch

Hayley Westenra

 

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