From ‘The Libretto’ – June 2011
Holly is a Welsh classical music singer from Duffryn, Newport, born 31 December 1988. A soprano, she has been likened to fellow Welsh performer Katherine Jenkins.
Caldicot Male Voice Choir and Holly have a long association going back to when, as a young girl, she sang at several concerts given by the choir. That link has been maintained and Holly recently sang with the choir at the funeral of the late Roy Shuck.
Her career is following a similar path to Jenkins and she has performed before the Wales national rugby union matches at the Millenium Stadium. She considers American tenor Mario Lanza her inspiration. Holyoake’s debut album, ‘Wings’ was self-released in 2002 with the catalogue number HRH1, and recorded when she was 14. In 2004 Holyoake performed with Hayley Westernra in Cardiff. She came to prominence in August 2005 when, aged 17, she won a gold award in the Open category of the World Championships of Performing Arts in Hollywood. She was the only person representing the UK – competing against accomplished musicians from 40 countries across the world.