Music: Charlotte Church

Voice of an angel or tabloid disaster? Charlotte Church is back, and keen to show her true colours

A professional singer from the age of 11 she was branded ‘The Voice of an Angel’ before her 12th birthday, a description that came to haunt her as she quickly became a national celebrity and easy pickings for an increasingly cynical and unruly press, including the hacking of her voicemail. Church has subsequently stated that much of the media willed her to fulfill a narrative that involved this child star falling off the rails. She recently appeared at the Leveson Inquiry and said, “I’ve been made a caricature for so long, and this person portrayed in the tabloids really isn’t me. It’s not the person I am, and it’s had a massive impact on my career. As an artist, I find it hard to be taken seriously because my credibility has been blown to bits.”

Now as a mother-of-two she has turned her back on her highly lucrative career to, in effect, start over, plying her trade on a gig circuit normally reserved for up and coming ‘indie’ acts. Hence, her forthcoming performance at Brighton’s Green Door Store.

Her first album, The Voice Of An Angel, contained arias, sacred songs and traditional pieces and went on to sell an incredible ten million copies. But over time she moved into pop music, and in 2005 released the Tissues And Issues album. However, she wasn’t able to replicate her earlier success, and soon after the birth of her first child she moved away from performing and releasing records, accentuated by the birth of her second child in 2009, both fathered by Welsh rugby player Gavin Henson, from whom she subsequently split.

Although she released the Back To Scratch album in 2010, her meeting and subsequent dating of fellow musician Jonathan Powell finally sealed her decision to be more adventurous and really go back to basics, Powell helping her to make music that is more informed by her love of musicians such as Radiohead, Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens and Bjork.

She has performed for the likes of Pope John Paul II, Queen Elizabeth II, the Prince of Wales and Bill Clinton. But it really is back to basics for her – she recently performed a ‘comeback’ gig at the brilliant How The Light Gets In: Philosophy and Music festival in Hay-on-Wye, performing new tracks to just 150 people, with a full band behind her, all local musicians including Powell, and rehearsing in her garage….

Still only 26, it seems that we’ve only just heard the very beginning of what could well be an extraordinary career and life.

Thursday 2 August, Green Door Store, SOLD OUT