Katherine Jenkins: ‘My mum instilled a strong work ethic in me’

I grew up in Neath, Wales, in a happy and loving household. My mum was the breadwinner as my father retired early, and she instilled a strong work ethic in me and my sister, Laura. Our parents read us bedtime stories (I loved Roald Dahl, especially Matilda and The BFG) and this remains an important tradition to me now I have my own children [Aaliyah, three, and Xander, 11 months]. I’ve been reading The Fairytale Hairdresser and  Rapunzel to Aaliyah since she was a baby.

I sang at my local church when I was young and entered singing competitions, then went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. I signed my first record deal when I was 23. After that, life was incredibly exciting and I felt lucky to have the career I’d dreamt of.

By the time I was 30, I was on a plane pretty much every day. (At that point I was on my seventh album tour.)  I loved to read while travelling, especially autobiographies like Jane Fonda’s My Life So Far – she is so honest about fame. I also enjoyed the biography Maria Callas: Sacred Monster about the famous soprano.

Nowadays I read a lot of books on nutrition, as I’m vegan. I had a friend, Holly, who sadly passed away from cancer at a young age but before she died, she decided to give up meat and go on a raw diet. I did it with her for solidarity and never went back to eating meat.

I’m often asked how I got my big break and for advice on how to get into the industry – my answer is to dedicate time to honing your craft and perform as much as possible, but mostly to just enjoy it. Music is there to be enjoyed. I decided to put the advice into a book so I wrote my memoir, Time to Say Hello, which was published in 2008.  Another thing I wanted to address in the book was the experience of losing a parent.

My father passed away when I was 15 so my mother took on the role of both mum and dad afterwards. Now that I’m a mother, I understand how hard that must have been for her.  I used to get a lot of letters from people who had also lost a parent, asking how I’d coped, and that’s why I decided to write about that too. Looking back, my mother was a pillar of strength for me and my sister. I don’t think I truly realised what that must have taken until I had my own children three years ago.

Since writing my memoir, so much has happened that I wouldn’t rule out writing another one. Whenever I’m out and about, I make sure that I write down funny anecdotes or document them in a voice memo. So at some point I will think about writing part two.

Katherine’s life in six books

Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence

This story about three generations of a family in the aftermath of a nuclear war utterly transfixed me when I was in school. Having re-read it recently, it’s still just as amazing.

The Private Lives of the Tudors by Tracy Borman

I love to geek out and read books about  the Tudors and court of Henry VIII – like  this fascinating non-fiction account of England’s most famous monarchs.

The Paper Dolls by Julia Donaldson

Every time I read this book to my  daughter Aaliyah, I choke up. It’s about a string of paper dolls that go on an adventure… but the threat of scissors looms.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Original, laugh-out-loud funny, and so emotional. It’s about a 15-year-old boy who has Asperger’s Syndrome and it shows how each person’s outlook on life makes them unique.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

This inspirational book is written by a French journalist who was paralysed with locked-in syndrome after a stroke. His courage in the face of adversity has always stayed with me.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

I couldn’t put this down – the imagery  and scene-setting is so vivid. It’s about  a woman living in Taliban-occupied Afghanistan in an abusive marriage.

Katherine Jenkins' tour An Evening With  Katherine Jenkins begins in Oxford on 26 April and continues until May