Singer on her fairytale end to 2017 with a UK tour and second baby on the way

to a girl from Neath.’ We were like, ‘ What happens if this goes away?’ We genuinely thought it was a bit of a mistake.” Her first album, Premiere, became the fastest- selling classical CD of all time. She never looked back and has performed with the likes of Bocelli, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. She’s also a favourite of the Queen, performing at her 90th birthday celebration, and being awarded an OBE for services to music and charity. Having lost her father Selwyn to lung cancer when she was just 15, she has a close relationship with her mother Susan, who acts as her personal barometer. Katherine said: “I think the pressure comes from myself. I have never made an album thinking about what will be said about it critically and how will it be viewed in terms of sales success. “My mum has been very supportive but she has stayed out of it in terms of the business side of things.

“She has never been a ‘momager’ but she is very straight-talking, a typically Welsh woman. She will tell me what she thinks.” things for me. I had never done any theatre, never done a musical, never had to speak in an American accent.

“It was a completely new kettle of fish for me from being on stage and just being me. It’s a very different discipline – it was a lot of work upfront and I made sure I had different coaches for all the different aspects and worked really hard to be able to do it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

“I did find it emotionally hard in that in every show, the love of my life had to die in my arms. I wanted it to be as real as possible, to really feel that.

“It has given me the idea that if it was the right show, it would be something I would definitely want to do again.”

But first there’s Christmas, and it’s jingle bells all the way.