Myleene Klass

Myleene Klass comes from six generations of classical musicians on her father's side: Myleene's grandmother was an opera singer and her grandfather left his violin to her which she later went on to play. Mylene Klass began to learn the piano and violin from the age of 4 and then the harp at 12. Myleene then took all her Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) exams in violin, piano and voice whilst still at school. She received an A grade in A Level Music, and became a Norfolk County scholar. Myleene's education was at Notre Dame High School in Norwich, before going to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama followed by the Royal Academy of Music's Junior Academy.

Before finding fame via Popstars, Myleene Klass toured providing backing vocals with the likes of k.d. lang, Michael Crawford and Robbie Williams. Myleene has also toured with Cliff Richard.In 1998, Myleene spent a short period as part of a reality show for Bravo TV channel, called The Doll's House. On 13 November 1999, Klass was also a featured back up singer for Cliff's ITV1 An Audience With TV special, appearing on stage with him for a rendition of the recent #1 single The Millennium Prayer.

More high profile work followed as Klass rapidly made her West End theatre debut in the smash hit show Miss Saigon. After her run in Saigon was completed, Myleene then first auditioned for the first pop reality show which would go on to make her a household name.

Myleene's big break came when in 2001 the ITV1 show called Popstars gave an opportunity for contestants to become part of a newly formed pop band. Myleene attended the auditions and successfully made it through several elimination rounds. She was then chosen as 1 of the 10 finalists and became a member of Hear'Say alongside Kym Marsh, Suzanne Shaw, Danny Foster and Noel Sullivan. To do so, Klass had beaten 4,000 other hopefuls to a place in the group. The rejected 5 contestants from the final 10 became the chart-topping Liberty X. Hear'Say's first single Pure and Simple was the fastest selling non-charitable record ever, selling 1.3 million copies. This record has since been beaten by Will Young, the first winner of Pop Idol, and his debut single Anything is Possible/Evergreen.

In total, Hear'Say had 2 #1 singles, a #3 single and a #6 single in the British charts, before splitting among a blaze of media headlines after a reported long term feud between Klass and Marsh. The feud resulted in Marsh leaving the band in 2002 and being replaced by Johnny Shental.

Almost a year after the Hear'Say break-up on 13 May 2003, Myleene Klass signed a 5 album deal with Universal Classics and Jazz. The first promotional single for the album had been recorded, and Myleene stated that she would be going into the studio to finish the album off for release in October. Promotion started with the release of the main promotional single Toccata and Fugue to TV channels and was the first ever classical piece to appear on British music television channel The Box.

Myleene's album, titled Moving On, was launched on the 20 October at Harrods, London. The launch included two performances (Toccata and Fugue and Moonlight Sonata), as well as a press photoshoot and a signing for fans who had come along.The album was described as "a refreshing collection of beautiful classical pieces" and included reworked versions of popular classical pieces such as Fauré's Pavane, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and Satie's Gymnopedie No.2.