Hayley Westenra
In December 2007 it was announced Hayley Westenra was the biggest selling Classical artist of the 21st Century.
Hayley's debut international album PURE went straight in at No.8 in the UK pop album charts and No.1 in the Classical Charts, making her the fastest-selling debut classical artist of all time. The album turned GOLD in the UK in one week and has since hit DOUBLE PLATINUM.
PURE went on to be the best selling album of all time in New Zealand, becoming 12 times Platinum and spending 18 weeks in the pop charts. It also went Platinum in Australia, Gold in Hong Kong and made the top 10 national pop charts in 11 countries.
Along with her second album ODYSSEY, third album TREASURE, West Side Story and Celtic Woman Hayley has achieved combined sales of over four million albums around the world.
Hayley has performed for Her Majesty the Queen on a number occasions, President Bush and Tony Blair, Prince Charles, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and in July 2007 Hayley was asked to perform for the Dalai Lama.
Hayley is the youngest ever Ambassador for UNICEF. Her Bikes for Ghana’ campaign was a huge success and provided 6,000 bikes to help young Ghanaian girls attend school and find a better future. She has also been an Ambassador for Save the Children, Hong Kong, is a patron of the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre in Auckland, and is Matron of WEN (Women’s Environmental Network).
Hayley has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, Wembley Arena, Royal Albert Hall and Kensington Palace. Hayley will also be singing at the White House on the Fourth of July 2008.
Hayley has duetted with Andrea Bocelli, José Carreras and Bryn Terfel. She has also appeared as a special guest with the World’s leading orchestra’s including the Moscow Philharmonic, The Boston Pops and the RPO.
Hayley’s Film and TV work has been extensive. She took her first acting role on the US programme American Dreams where she played guitar and sang. In 2005 she recorded the theme for Al Pacino’s ‘Merchant of Venice’, two films for Disney, and Terrence Mallick’s motion picture soundtrack for ‘New World’. In July 2007 recorded the theme for the BBC’s six part drama series, ‘Jekyll’ (starring James Nesbitt) and for ‘Flood’ (ITV film starring Robert Carlyle, Tom Courtney, Joanne Whalley and David Suchet, due out this Autumn). Recently she has been asked to sing and play a small part in a major film due to be filmed in 2009.
Hayley has performed the relevant national anthems before many major sporting events, including Football (the FA Cup Final, The European Champions League), Baseball (the NBA in the US), Tennis (the Mercedes Cup in Los Angeles) – but her proudest duty is to sing the national anthem for her beloved All Blacks rugby team, who always win when she opens for them. She is now confirmed to sing at the 2008 games in the UK.
In Oct 2007 at the age of 20 years Hayley released her 2nd autobiography “In Her Own Voice”.
Hayley kicked off her 2008 with a tour that sold out in record time in New Zealand.
Whilst she was touring, Hayley was awarded Global Kiwis Young Achiever Award 2008. The Award was established to recognise a young Kiwi under the age of 35, at the start of their career, who has made remarkable achievements in their field of endeavour in the UK achieving recognition on at least a national scale if not on a European or global scale.
Hayley has recently been voted number 3 in New Zealand's annual Readers Digest listings for "Most Trusted New Zealander - Entertainer" She made it to number 22 in the overall most trusted New Zealander poll.
Hayley performed at and was nominated for Best Album at the Classical Brit Awards 2008.
Hayley's new album "River of Dreams" will be released on 27th October