Having a baby has turned my world upside down: Katherine Jenkins tells how the first six months of motherhood have changed her life
- Now six months old, Aaliyah Reign has had quite the musical education
- Accompanied Katherine, 35, to work recording her new album Celebration
- It is a tribute to the Queen for her 90th birthday this week
Katherine Jenkins was never going to be one of those pregnant women who directed the hi-fi speakers to her bump as Mozart blared in the hope of turning out a musical prodigy. She didn't need to be. 'My daughter got it live,' says the mezzo-soprano, recalling how her unborn child would kick madly when she started to sing.
'She got a lot of music in the early stages because I was on tour. I remember starting to warm up for the VE Day celebrations last year and I do sing fairly loudly, so she was obviously startled. She started to kick a lot.' Was it good kicking or bad kicking? She laughs. 'I have no idea. Over the months there was probably a lot of, "Oh shut up, Mummy!" going on.'
Katherine, 35, has recorded a new album Celebration, a tribute to the Queen for her 90th birthday
Now six months old, little Aaliyah Reign has had quite the musical education, having accompanied Katherine, 35, to work recording her new album Celebration, a tribute to the Queen for her 90th birthday, where she had the best seat in the house (a bouncy chair) and got the opportunity to listen to everything from God Save The Queen to Katherine's version of David Bowie's Heroes.
So which type of music gets Aaliyah excited? 'To be honest, nothing I sing to her goes down as well as The Wheels On The Bus or Old MacDonald Had A Farm,' she says. Does her Old MacDonald have an operatic twist? 'No! I do the silly version. She loves it.'
When we speak Katherine is very much in new mother mode, adjusting to the fact that her life has been, as she puts it, 'turned upside down - in the nicest possible way'. She conceived Aaliyah just months after marrying American film director and artist Andrew Levitas, and appears to have taken to motherhood like the proverbial duck to water. If she has experienced varicose veins, sleepless nights and that return-to-work fug, she's not sharing it today. Everything is even sunnier than normal in Jenkins World.
'I'm loving it. I'd hoped it would be like this. I'm a maternal person but you don't know how you'll feel. Now I'm in awe of so much of it - what the female body is capable of, how you suddenly know what to do, how to comfort, for instance. My husband and I are in our element.'
Aaliyah is an unusual name but it seems the couple agreed on it immediately. 'We wanted something positive, and a little unusual. It's a Middle Eastern name meaning "blessing" - which she is.' And Reign? Well, given her mother's royal connections that speaks for itself.
Katherine is living in New York, her husband's home (Andrew pictured above). She confesses her greatest fear is Aaliyah ending up with 'one of those transatlantic messed-up accents'
Katherine hadn't been entirely sure whether she'd return to work at all after having Aaliyah, and says she was quite shocked to realise she didn't necessarily want to be a stay-at-home mum. 'I thought I'd like to take a lot of time off, just to be with her, but what surprised me was that I also wanted to get back to work.' She talks about how her own mother worked when she was a child. 'My dad had retired and my mum was the breadwinner. Seeing her working instilled that sense of hard work and independence in me, the idea that you can be what you want to be. I want to be that good role model for my daughter.'
So she found herself back in the recording studio when Aaliyah was four months old - albeit with her baby at her feet. 'The lovely thing is that I was able to go back to work on my terms. I decided not to do long tours, and I'm more careful about the things I accept. But when I went back into the studio I took her along - she could nap while I recorded. I feel lucky I can do this and get so much time with her - she's the person I want to be with the whole time.'
Katherine is one of those enviable women who seemed to sail through pregnancy, looking increasingly radiant. But then, as she points out, we didn't see much of her in the about-to-drop phase.
'I didn't actually work in the latter stages,' she says, explaining that her job involves early planning. 'Performances are booked months in advance and I didn't know how I'd be physically. It would have been unprofessional to make bookings then cancel them.
'As it turned out it was lovely to have that time with my husband before she arrived. We were totally prepared.'
It sounds like her fans missed a treat though, because Katherine was surprised to find her voice actually improved during pregnancy. 'Friends warned me my voice could change but I didn't really believe it. It's partly to do with hormones but more to do with where the baby lies - there's more weight there to support the sound.
It makes the voice bigger, fuller, more even in tone - more beautiful, basically. That was a lovely surprise. I thought pregnancy would make singing harder. Now I can see why singers want to get pregnant again and again.' So are we looking at a potential army of little Jenkinses? 'Well, I don't think 12 are on the cards, but I definitely want more.'
So how has motherhood changed her? Well, physically it hasn't. She seemed to ping back into her size 8 jeans overnight, although she didn't put pressure on herself. As she points out, though, her body is her instrument so it made sense to get back to the gym. I
t sounds as though the biggest change has been mental - she says she's permanently weepy. One of the tracks on her new album, This Mother's Heart, is about being a mum. Katherine says she blubbed while singing it.
'The words are about how being a mother means you're always there for your child. I found it incredibly emotional - especially as Aaliyah was with me.'
The album will feature a very Katherine-like rendition of God Save The Queen (one that knocks your socks off)
The song may be about all mothers, but it was written for one in particular - The Queen. Katherine's early return from maternity leave was tied to the Queen's 90th birthday celebrations: as well as the album, she'll sing at a gala hosted by Ant and Dec at Windsor Castle, which will air live on ITV in May.
The concert will tell the Queen's life story and feature a host of actors including Helen Mirren and Damian Lewis narrating parts of the show and introducing the acts including military bands from around the world. Some 900 horses and 1,500 people will perform.
'The song This Mother's Heart is very much about the Queen as a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother - and as the mother of the nation,' says Katherine. Does anyone think of the Queen as the mother of the nation? 'Oh, I think they do. She's that figurehead. She's an amazing role model.'
This year we haven't just got the Queen's 90th, but the Olympics, Euro 2016 football - Wales and England are playing each other. I wanted to tap into that feeling of national pride
It goes without saying that Katherine, a modern-day forces' sweetheart, is the Queen's No 1 fan. She can't remember how many times she's sung for Her Majesty ('but I get incredibly nervous every time'), but it's fair to say if there's a royal celebration you'll see Katherine there. The album isn't just about the Queen though, it's filled with songs that 'inspire national celebration' from the Welsh national anthem Land Of My Fathers to Jerusalem and Rule Britannia. 'This year we haven't just got the Queen's 90th, but the Olympics, Euro 2016 football - Wales and England are playing each other. I wanted to tap into that feeling of national pride.'
There are some less predictable additions to the album too. She's unsure how David Bowie fans will feel about her version of his classic Heroes - her own tribute to our military services. 'When I put it to the record company I said, "This might be the maddest idea ever", but it was played a lot after he died, and I do think it's a song that says everything about our armed services. I wanted to do an anthem-y version so we played around a bit with it.' There will inevitably be critics who hate it. 'Well, they don't have to buy it. They don't have to listen to it.'
More predictable will be a very Katherine-like rendition of God Save The Queen (ie, one that knocks your Union Jack socks off). So it's safe to assume that she doesn't buy into the idea (as expressed in that famous Billy Connolly routine) that we have the most boring national anthem ever? 'I don't think so. A great anthem is a song that sounds great when everyone joins in, and with God Save The Queen you can. It's got a defined rhythm, and the range isn't too challenging. Anyone can sing it.' Doesn't that make it boring for a singer like her? She laughs. 'Well no, because I put in the big, high note at the end. Not everyone can do that.'
What's interesting is that, for all her patriotism, Katherine is living in New York, her husband's home. But she confesses her greatest fear is Aaliyah ending up with 'one of those transatlantic messed-up accents', so perhaps a move back to Blighty will be on the cards soon.
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