Search - Charlotte Church :: Voice of an Angel

Those leery and weary of tasteless crossover need not shudder at the sight of this disc, which has sold over half a million copies in Europe. There's none of the softcore kiddie porn that came with Vanessa-Mae or the heavily packaged faux romanticism of Andrea Bocelli. (That of course doesn't necessarily mean that you'll want Voice of an Angel.) This 12-year-old Welsh soprano is so uncloyingly cute and has such an appealing personality (with just enough touch of cheek) that you'd almost rather have her as a dinner guest than on your CD player. Her small, attractive, sometimes unstable but always sincere soprano perhaps went to the top of the British charts because it clicks into the boy-soprano choir tradition so prevalent there, especially since many of the selections are sacred items such as "The Lord's Prayer" and "Ave Maria." And Church may pick up some fans thanks to the tail end of Celtic chic, with the Welsh folk songs and the rendition of "Danny Boy." But this promises to be yet another short-lived media phenomenon, rather than the beginning of a lengthy career. --David Patrick Stearns