Natalie Coyle

Early life and education

Coyle was born in Falkirk, Scotland, and brought up in Linlithgow until moving to Surrey at the age of 10 where she attended St Teresa's School for Girls.

After graduating from Sheffield University with a degree in music, Coyle was offered a place to train with Steven Maughan at the Amsterdam Opera House and later, with Jesús León in London. Her training led Coyle to secure a place in the opera Don Giovanni, performed at Woodhouse.

Music career

At the Classic BRIT Awards in June 2011, Coyle supported Il Divo when they won the Artist of the Decade Award at the Royal Albert Hall. Soon after, Coyle won a place with the Royal Choral Society with whom she has performed regularly, including her second performance of 2011 at the Royal Albert Hall, Carmina Burana. Additionally, Coyle performed on the live final of Britain's Got Talent with Jackie Evancho (finalist in America's Got Talent), to an audience of over 15 million. Throughout 2011, Coyle performed in numerous broadcast episodes of the BBC's Songs of Praise.

In 2012, Coyle was selected to take part in the Associated Studios' prestigious 4-month performance course, where she studied a broad range of musical genres which has helped to build on her classical roots and move into a classical-crossover style. While on the course, Coyle took part in numerous master-classes with directors, playwrights and singers such as Ché Walker, Graeme Danby, Michael England and Kate Golledge. The course ended with a performance at the Arts Theatre in London's West-End. At the end of 2012, Coyle performed, for the second year running, in Duke of York Square for the Prince's Trust at their annual event to switch on the King's Road Christmas lights. Coyle also performed at Attitude magazine's annual Christmas event at the Conran Shop, Chelsea. From the end of 2012 and into 2013, Coyle has joined Classic BRIT Award winners Blake on their UK tour.

On 7 April 2013, Coyle made her Wembley debut, singing the national anthem for the football league Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final (Southend v Crewe Alexandra), in front of over 50,000 supporters and live on SkySports1.

On 27 May 2013, Coyle performed the national anthem at Wembley for the second time for the npower Championship play-off final, which saw Crystal Palace beat Watford to secure a place in the Premier League. Coyle's performance was to a sold out crowd of 85,000.

On 24 August 2013, Coyle was invited back to Wembley for the third time, to perform for the rugby league Tetley's Challenge Cup Final. Coyle sang the national anthem and "Abide with Me" to a sold-out crowd of over 85,000 and live on the BBC.

Coyle made her debut performance for England on 9 November 2013, where she performed the England and Fijian National Anthems for the Rugby League World Cup England v Fiji match. Over 2 million people tuned in to watch the match which was aired live on BBC1.

Charities

Coyle has performed in aid of a number of charities including the Prince's Trust, Queen Elizabeth's Foundation for Disabled People, St Thomas' Hospital, St John's Hospice, London, and the Order of Malta Volunteers. Coyle is also heavily involved with the Children's Trust and Marie Curie Cancer Care. She has recently been appointed Patron of Breathe, a partner of Guy's and St Thomas Charity, the largest NHS charity in the UK.

In May 2013, Coyle performed for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust at the Nicky's Whisper Trophy Final at QPR's Loftus Road. MPs and celebrities including Alistair Campbell and Omid Djalili took part in the charity football match. Later that month, Coyle also performed at Reading FC's Madejski Stadium for Celebrity Soccer Six in aid of the charity campaign 'Hearts and Goals', supported by Fabrice Muamba.