[1][2][3] After winning singing competitions in her youth, Jenkins studied at the Royal Academy of Music, modelled, and taught voice lessons.

She came to wide public attention in 2003 when she sang at Westminster Cathedral in honour of Pope John Paul II's silver jubilee.

Her father, Selwyn, who was twenty-three years older than his wife and took early retirement to look after his children when their mother returned to work,[8] died of lung cancer at age 70 when Jenkins was 15.

[7] Universal Classics and Jazz heard her demo and she was invited to an interview where she sang Rossini's "Una voce poco fa".

[11] Universal offered Jenkins a six-album deal,[11] the most lucrative in the United Kingdom's classical recording history, reportedly worth £1 million.

[16][17] Her fourth album, Serenade was released on 6 November 2006 and reached number five in the mainstream charts selling more than 50,000 copies in its first week, a record in the genre.

She made various TV appearances such as GMTV, Something for the Weekend and Piers Morgan's Life Stories on 24 October 2009 and on The Graham Norton Show on 2 November 2009.

She performed the theme from The Godfather, Parla Piu Piano at Children In Need Rock The Albert Hall with cellist Julian Lloyd Webber.

[25] Jenkins first came to public attention when she sang at Westminster Cathedral honouring Pope John Paul II's silver jubilee in October 2003 and then supporting Aled Jones on tour.

[10][12] At the Rugby World Cup in 2003 she made her Sydney Opera House debut as a guest of fellow Welshman, Max Boyce[11] and, in August 2004, her first USA appearance, supporting Hayley Westenra at Joe's Pub in New York City.

[13] On 22 January 2005, Jenkins sang in Cardiff at the Tsunami Relief Concert[13] and in April and May of that year supported Irish tenor Ronan Tynan on his first US tour as a solo artist.

[28] On 27 August 2005, Jenkins performed "Abide With Me" at the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff which was attended by 74,213 spectators.

[14][29] With the Blue Man Group, Jenkins sang "I Feel Love" in front of the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance on 21 November 2005.

[32] In July 2007, Jenkins gave a concert at Margam Park in south Wales, performing alongside Paul Potts and Juan Diego Flórez.

[34] In September 2007, Jenkins modeled at Naomi Campbell's Fashion Relief event for charity in a Julien Macdonald dress which was then bought by Sir Philip Green for £10,000.

[35] With Darcey Bussell she has appeared in a stage song-and-dance production, entitled Viva la Diva, paying tribute to stars[36] including Madonna and the late Judy Garland (who died in 1969).

On 8 July 2009, Jenkins performed at the opening ceremony of the Ashes Test Series at Sophia Gardens cricket ground in Cardiff.

She also participated in the 2013 U.S. Memorial Day Concert in Washington, D.C., singing a selection from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem and You'll Never Walk Alone from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel.

[43] On 1 December 2020, the Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular at the Royal Albert Hall was released as both a film in cinemas and on DVD.

[45] She describes the brand as an "eco-friendly" as the bottles are 100% plastic-free, with a 100 percent biodegradable seal made from wood pulp in Wales.

[46] On 16 March 2024, Jenkins made a pitch-side appearance before the Wales v Italy Six Nations Championship match to launch a canned Cygnet gin & tonic drink.

[47][48] On 23 December 2006, Jenkins appeared on ITV's Parkinson show, backed by the Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir and a brass band.

[50] She made a cameo appearance in two episodes of Emmerdale which saw 11.6 million viewers tune in to find out who killed popular character Tom King, who was murdered on Christmas Day.

Jenkins appeared in episode 3 of the fifth series of The Apprentice, performing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" as part of a private recital to winning team Ignite.

[citation needed] Jenkins started 2010 by appearing as one of two mentors on ITV1s prime time Friday night show, Popstar to Operastar.

Jenkins appeared as the featured singer on 11 April 2011 episode of ABC's show Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) singing "Con te partirò" (Time to Say Goodbye) and "O mio babbino caro".

[citation needed] On 23 October 2011, Jenkins appeared live on US television network, FOX from Wembley Stadium, performing "God Save the Queen" before the NFL game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Chicago Bears.

[60] During the show, she took part in a mind-reading trick involving a military band, and also assisted in a number of illusions including being levitated, vanished, guillotined and sawed in half.

[62] In June 2018, Jenkins performed ‘Never Enough’ from the film ‘The Greatest Showman’ at the Classical Brit Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

While Jenkins was studying at the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 19, she was attacked, beaten, and robbed by an unknown assailant who attempted to rape her but she fought him off.