How rich is Charlotte Church?

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated: 04:58 EST, 9 June 2010

In the latest in our series of celebrity profiles we look at how singer Charlotte Church went from a small town in South Wales to global stardom...

Singing sensation: Charlotte Church has made millions since bursting onto the celebrity scene

To many younger fans she may be known as a 'crazy chick', but it was Charlotte Church's squeaky clean image as a child singing sensation that set her on her way to global stardom - and the bank balance to go with it.

She now shares joint first spot - with Katherine Jenkins and Leone Lewis - in the Sunday Times Rich List 2010 Musical Millionaires under 30, with an estimated fortune of £11m.

Church got her big break at the age of 11 when she sang Pie Jesu down the phone on the television show This Morning.

She followed it up with a performance on ITV's The Big Big Talent Show.

With 'Voice of an Angel', the first of her four classically-themed albums, she was the youngest artist to top the British classical crossover charts, and total international sales for all four albums were in excess of 10m.

In addition, her pop-influenced fifth studio album, Tissues and Issues, went platinum, and spawned the number 2 hit 'Crazy Chick'.

However, Church became tabloid fodder with a succession of supposedly inappropriate boyfriends, late night drinking sessions and public arguments with her mother, and it was feared that her personal life would ruin her career (in particular, the effect of her fondness for cigarettes on her singing voice).

But Church then settled down and had two children with her long term partner, the Welsh Rugby Union player Gavin Henson. However, they confirmed in June 2010 that they had split, just a couple of months after announcing their engagement.

Among reasons cited by friends were that the rugby star couldn't deal with his fiancee reclaiming the success that launched her to fame in the first place, particularly with her comeback as a judge on the BBC 1 talent show Over the Rainbow.

The couple have now put their house in St Bride's Major, Glamorgan, on the market for £1.2m, which they bought jointly three years ago for £780,000.

She became famous for being a singer, but Church has since branched out, showing the sort of versatility as a celebrity personality that adds zeros to bank accounts.

The Charlotte Church Show ran for three series on Channel 4 between 2006 and 2008 and she has released two autobiographies.