Katherine Jenkins

Katherine Jenkins is the stunning new face of pop-opera crossover — the Welsh-born mezzo-soprano has talent and glamour in buckets, whether she's belting out a familiar aria ("Nessun dorma"), or reinventing the Dolly Parton/Whitney Houston hit "I Will Always Love You" . . . in Italian. In 2005, she came to the world's attention with a performance of "Amazing Grace" on the Berlin stage for the Live 8 charity event. Jenkins takes on a football anthem, a Batman song, and more . . . in Next Steps.

Jenkins has become a true pop diva by applying her incredible voice to a huge range of material. She brings purity and grace to Seal's "Kiss From A Rose", does justice to Ennio Morricone's exquisite "Chi Mai" composition with "House of No Regrets", and captures the passion of musical standard "Don't Cry for Me Argentina". "Requiem for a Soldier" is a reminder of her regular Christmas stints entertaining the troops in Iraq.

Any aspiring mezzo-soprano super-starlet would walk backwards up Snowdon in a blizzard for a CV to equal that of the prodigiously talented Katherine Jenkins — multiple winner of Welsh Choirgirl of the Year; scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music; fluent in Italian, German, French, and Russian; the Face of Wales, no less, in 2000. Small wonder that, in 2004, she signed the biggest-ever U.K. record deal for a classical performer, making her an instant millionaire. And it's only been getting better since then. The Welsh national rugby team could have chosen a hyperactive bloke in a foam dragon costume as its official mascot — instead, it went for Jenkins. Wise move — the girl is golden.