Charlotte Church (née Charlotte Maria Reed le 21 février 1986 à Cardiff) est une chanteuse soprano et présentatrice de télévision galloise connue internationalement depuis ses douze ans pour ses disques de musique classique. Elle s'est tournée vers la musique pop depuis 2005.

En 2007, elle avait vendu plus de 10 millions d'albums ; la plupart des ventes sont de ses trois premiers disques de musique classique.

Biographie

Church released an autobiography titled Voice of an Angel (My Life So Far) at 14. She released a second autobiography titled Keep Smiling in late 2007.

Church's personal life has often been portrayed in UK tabloid newspapers, inspiring the song "Let's Be Alone" on her album Tissues and Issues. At age 15 she was criticised for remarks she made about the behaviour of people in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks. At the Leveson Inquiry she stated that her comments were taken vastly out of context. In a 2006 interview with Davina McCall, she agreed being diplomatic was "not in her nature". In November 2011, Church testified before the Leveson Inquiry about the media intrusion into her personal life stating "I've been made a caricature for so long, and this person portrayed in the tabloids really isn't me. It's not the person I am, and it's had a massive impact on my career. As an artist, I find it hard to be taken seriously because my credibility has been blown to bits." On 27 February 2012 Church accepted £600,000 in damages and costs in settlement of a lawsuit arising out of the News International phone hacking scandal. She had claimed that 33 stories about her that appeared in the News of the World were the product of illegal hacking into her family's voice mail. After the settlement was announced in open court she made a lengthy statement in which she said, "I have also discovered that despite the apology which the newspaper has just given in court, these people were prepared to go to any lengths to prevent me exposing their behaviour. They are not truly sorry. They are just sorry they got caught."

The press devoted much attention to Church's relationship with boyfriend Gavin Henson, a Welsh rugby player. At the end of 2005, she bought a property in her native Cardiff—for a reported £500,000—which she later sold for £900,000. The couple then bought a manor with a 20-acre (8 hectare) small holding in the Vale of Glamorgan in the village of St. Bride's Major. The couple mentioned marriage on talk shows and in the press but put off marriage while Church was pregnant. In 2007, Church made another appearance on a British young people's rich list with Henson. They were ranked 49th-richest young people in Britain with an estimated joint wealth of £12 million. The couple bought a Princess yacht in spring 2008 for £800,000, named Sketchy, which is berthed at Swansea marina.

On 20 September 2007, Church gave birth to a daughter. On 11 January 2009, Church gave birth to a son. The Daily Mail reported on 31 May 2010 that Church and Henson had split up.

Church gave BBC 6 Music's John Peel Lecture at The Lowry in Salford in 2013, in which she criticised the music industry for what she described as a culture of sexism which pressures female artists to project a sexualised image of themselves.

Following Church's appearance at the Leveson Inquiry, she became increasingly outspoken on a number of political issues, which she has explained as growing out of her experience of Leveson as well as the Conservative victory in the 2015 general election. She is a member of media campaigning group Hacked Off. In May 2015 she joined a demonstration organised by the People's Assembly Against Austerity in Cardiff, subsequently addressing a crowd of 250,000 at a People's Assembly march in London the following month. At the 2015 Glastonbury Festival she chaired a conversation with two members of Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot. In August 2015 she performed the song "This Bitter Earth" outside the Shell Centre in London as part of a month-long protest organised by Greenpeace against Shell's pursuit of petroleum exploration in the Arctic. Church endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party in 2015.