Hayley Dee Westenra was born on 10 April 1987 and is a New Zealand classical crossover singer and songwriter.
62 Facts About Hayley Westenra
2.
Hayley Westenra is one of the youngest UNICEF Ambassadors to date.
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Hayley Westenra was born on 10 April 1987 at Christchurch Women's Hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand.
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Hayley Westenra's grandmother Shirley Ireland was a singer, and her grandfather was a pianist who played the piano accordion.
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Hayley Westenra began performing at age six in the Christmas play at her school, Fendalton Open Air School.
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Hayley Westenra then began voice lessons and discovered a passion for musical theatre.
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Hayley Westenra attended Cobham Intermediate School in 1998 and 1999, where a performing arts building was later named in her honour.
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At the age of 12, Hayley Westenra entered a professional recording studio to record Walking in the Air, a demo album originally created for friends and family, with 70 copies made; they soon made 1000 more copies, and attracted attention from a journalist with Canterbury Television, who asked Hayley Westenra to appear on air.
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Hayley Westenra attracted worldwide attention when she signed with Decca Records and recorded Pure, a CD of classical, light pop, and traditional Maori songs.
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In 2004 Hayley Westenra recorded the end-title song for the Disney movie Mulan II.
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Hayley Westenra was the 2004 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards winner of "Highest Selling New Zealand Album" and "International Achievement Award".
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Hayley Westenra has won two Japanese Grammies for her work.
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Hayley Westenra met the cast of the series during a promotional tour of Japan in October 2003.
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On 5 September 2006, Hayley Westenra was named as one of the ten outstanding young people in the world by the Junior Chamber International, becoming the first New Zealander so honoured.
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Three of Hayley Westenra's great-uncles served in World War II; one was killed.
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Hayley Westenra toured with the group in the United States in 2007, with scheduled appearances in 88 venues across the country; the tour ended in June.
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Hayley Westenra co-wrote four of the fifteen tracks, and the album features singer Humphrey Berney.
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Hayley Westenra had plans to present the president with a petition to place a mandatory carbon cap on the United States.
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Also in 2007, Hayley Westenra's vocals were featured in the soundtracks of the movie Flood and the television series, Jekyll, composed by Debbie Wiseman, in the UK.
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In November 2007, Hayley Westenra successfully staged a Japan "Treasure" concert tour in Fukuoka, Sapporo, Tokyo, Sendai, Nagoya, Osaka, Yokohama, Hiroshima.
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In early 2008, Hayley Westenra provided guest vocals for the Mike Oldfield album Music of the Spheres, performing the vocal on the track "On My Heart" and its reprise.
22.
On 1 October 2008, Hayley Westenra recorded solo vocals on the CD Different Voice, composed and conducted by Debbie Wiseman and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with narration by Stephen Fry and lyrics written by Don Black.
23.
On 30 November 2008, Hayley Westenra was presented by Elaine Paige with the Variety Club Showbiz Awards 2008 Classical Performer of the Year for raising money to help sick, disabled and disadvantaged children and young people.
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Hayley Westenra recorded the album with Morricone's orchestra in Rome during the summer 2010.
25.
On 30 October 2010, Hayley Westenra staged a recital at the Shanghai Grand Theatre with international backing musicians in an East Asian concert tour.
26.
On Memorial Day, 29 May 2011, Hayley Westenra was invited to perform for the annual PBS special, the National Memorial Day Concert live in Washington, DC She performed the song "Pie Jesu" following the emotional story of a woman who had never met her father, who died in the Vietnam War, but got to know him many years later through a soldier who had fought alongside him.
27.
On 23 October 2011, Hayley Westenra performed the New Zealand national anthem "God Defend New Zealand" at Eden Park in Auckland before the final of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and performed the traditional New Zealand song "Now Is the Hour" to bring the event to a close.
28.
On 31 October 2011, Hayley Westenra was featured on Andre Rieu's classical music album And the Waltz Goes On with the vocal track "Dreaming of New Zealand".
29.
On 12 March 2012, Hayley Westenra attended a reception for celebrating the achievements of inspirational women today the event held by the Duchess of Cornwall to mark Commonwealth Day.
30.
On 22 April 2012, Hayley Westenra staged a debut concert at the Koncerthuset in Copenhagen and on 14 June, Hayley Westenra staged a concert with RTE Concert Orchestra and David Brophy at National Concert Hall in Dublin.
31.
On 30 November and 1 December 2013, Hayley Westenra staged a concert with City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir and the Hong Kong Treble Choir in Hong Kong.
32.
On 29 April 2014, Hayley Westenra was one of the performers at Classic FM Live in Royal Albert Hall London.
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On 24 August 2003, Hayley Westenra performed on the stage with opera tenor Jose Carreras and Bryn Terfel in front of the capacity crowd of 10,000 people from Faenol Festival in Wales.
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On 28 July 2004, Hayley Westenra joined American tenor James Doing and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra on the latter's annual Concerts on the Square in Madison, capital city of Wisconsin.
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In 2006 as a part of the Canterbury Festival, Hayley Westenra performed a concert with tenor Alfie Boe in Canterbury Cathedral.
36.
On 6 May 2007, Hayley Westenra was invited to the Crystal Cathedral as a guest performing "Abide with Me" on the Hour of Power, an American Christian television program.
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Hayley Westenra had performed there twice before, the first time singing "Amazing Grace" and the second time "I Say Grace".
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On 7 August, Hayley Westenra performed solo and duet with Malvina Major at St James's Church, Piccadilly among ChristChurch Cathedral Choir 2008 UK Tour.
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On 17 August 2008, Hayley Westenra participated in the tribute concert Lyrics by Don Black, which was held at the London Palladium and featured performances of Black's songs by a selection of guest artists.
40.
Hayley Westenra sang the duet Amigos Para Siempre, the score of which was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with Jonathan Ansell.
41.
On 7 November 2009, Hayley Westenra performed again at the Festival of Remembrance, singing "We'll Meet Again" at the Royal Albert Hall, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and Vera Lynn, who had made the song famous during World War II.
42.
In December 2009, Hayley Westenra performed with Faryl Smith and Camilla Kerslake in a special service for British troops serving in Afghanistan from St Clements Church, London.
43.
On 13 November 2010, Hayley Westenra performed for a third time at the Festival of Remembrance, singing "For the Fallen", a poem by Laurence Binyon set to music by Karl Jenkins.
44.
On 9 July 2011, Hayley Westenra was invited as a guest performer to Joseph Calleja's annual concert in Malta.
45.
On 20 September 2011, Hayley Westenra sang Laurence Binyon's "For The Fallen" on the service of the 90th anniversary of the Royal British Legion held at Westminster Abbey in the presence of The Princess Royal, Church of England members and family of Royal Marines.
46.
On 16 March 2012, Hayley Westenra was invited to perform and make the presentation to the winner of the Korean live TV show Operastar.
47.
On 28 April 2012, Hayley Westenra performed with Chinese tenor Din Yi and Nie Jian Hua on the 2nd Beijing International Film Festival symphony concert at Olympic Green accompanying by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
48.
On 27 July 2011, Hayley Westenra was announced as the voice of UK broadcaster ITV's coverage of that year's Rugby World Cup, with her special version of "World in Union".
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Hayley Westenra is active in contributing to charities around the world.
50.
On 26 November 2003, Hayley Westenra performed "Pokarekare Ana" and "Amazing Grace" on the 75th anniversary of the Royal Variety Performance show in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip on behalf of the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund.
51.
Hayley Westenra is the second youngest UNICEF Ambassador to date, behind Selena Gomez.
52.
In 2005, Hayley Westenra visited Ghana to publicise her project, "Bikes for Ghana", and actively helped with fundraising to purchase bicycles for young girls, allowing them to get to their schools from outlying surrounding areas.
53.
In 2006, a new Hybrid Tea Rose was named in honour of Hayley Westenra to raise charity funds for UNICEF.
54.
The Hayley Westenra Rose won the 2010 Rose of the Year Award and the best Hybrid Tea Rose Award.
55.
On 24 February 2007, Hayley Westenra took part in the HemiHelp "Children Helping Children" concert at Cadogan Hall, Sloane Square, London in front of 900 people, including the charity's patron Princess Alexandra.
56.
On 8 June 2007, Hayley Westenra performed in a fundraising concert for Bikes for Ghana at the Victoria Hall in Stoke-on-Trent.
57.
On 4 September 2008, Hayley Westenra became a patron of Royal New Zealand Air Force.
58.
Hayley Westenra has been the ambassador for Save the Children in Hong Kong.
59.
On 24 August 2012, Hayley Westenra staged a concert in the Gwyl Gobaith Music Festival in Wales to support for charities Cancer Research UK, Wales Air Ambulance, CLIC Sargent and HeadtoHeart.
60.
In Christmastime 2012, Hayley Westenra was featured on the album Starship Christmas Album along with Justin Bieber and others, to support Starship Children's Health.
61.
In 2013, Hayley Westenra married French-born Arnaud Sabard, who worked as a sound engineer during her tours.
62.
Hayley Westenra became engaged to guitarist Chris Gaelan McFarland in Los Angeles in 2019.