Katherine Jenkins Puts Classical Twist On Queen’s ‘We Are The Champions’

Mezzo-soprano singer Katherine Jenkins sings Queen’s “We Are the Champions” like you’ve never heard it sung before.

On her 10th solo album, Katherine put a unique classical spin on her favorite anthems, including the Queen hit.

“It’s been such a brilliant, exciting year last year. It was a very happy year in my work life, my personal life and so I was looking for uplifting and happy songs for the album,” she told Access Hollywood on Wednesday. “Looking at anthems, I can’t think of a better sporting anthem than something like ‘We Are the Champions.’ Maybe not the obvious choice for a classical singer, but, you know, Queen is incredibly anthemic, works well with a symphony orchestra and I think that, you know, Freddie Mercury probably could have been a classical singer. He definitely had the range.”

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A great year it was, indeed! Katherine was awarded Officer of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in March 2014 and told Access all about receiving the honor.

“She gave me an Officer of the British Empire, which was for music and for my work with charity with going out to entertain the troops in places like Iraq and Afghanistan,” she explained to Access. “It was overwhelming. I was really, really humbled by it. I got to take my mum to Buckingham Palace. It was just unbelievable. I can’t quite believe that that happened.”

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Although Katherine didn’t get a royal selfie, she assured Access she walked away with a keepsake photograph and letter.

“Not a selfie, no,” she said. “It was actually Prince Charles that presented it with me on the day. And, so I have some really nice photos of him giving me the award and having a chat with me. But, you also get a big signed letter by Her Majesty, so that’s on the wall at home.”

But, that’s not all! Katherine also walked down the aisle when she wed writer/director Andrew Levitas in September 2014.

Katherine also told us about her experience recording her latest album – “Home Sweet Home” – at Abbey Road Studios, which was made famous by The Beatles.

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“It’s such an iconic music venue for the U.K. And you sort of go down the halls and you’ve got all the photographs of everybody who’s recorded an amazing album there. It definitely makes you up your game,” she said. “You think, ‘Gosh, I better be on good form and sing well today,’ but I did all the tourist things too. I had my photo taken on the zebra crossing and signed the wall and had my photo and, yeah, it was a really special place to make the album.”

She told Access how the history of the building motivated her to hit all the notes.

“I think it actually inspires you,” she continued. “We did it in the room where they film a lot of the big film soundtracks, a lot of the ‘Star Wars’ scores and things like that, and it’s really just an impressive place. You feel a great energy there and it inspires you to go on and make the best record that you can.”

Katherine earned the nickname “Welsh wiggler” when she competed on Season 14 of “Dancing With the Stars” in 2012. She and pro partner Mark Ballas placed second to NFL star Donald Driver.

After taking some time off from the ballroom, Katherine told Access she’d consider giving it another whirl if the show were to do an all-star season.

“I probably would,” she said despite the grueling rehearsal schedule. “As fun as it is, it’s really, really intense. I think by the end we were training something like 18 hours a day. And so I definitely needed a period of time to sort of, you know, get over it and regroup, but if I had to think about it, you know, for too long, gosh it was one of the best times of my life. Of course I would go back, but I’d want to dance with Mark.”

“Home Sweet Home” is available now.

— Paige Feigenbaum