From beauty queen to opera singer: soprano Angel Blue feels 'happy and blessed'

Ahead of her performance at Classic FM Live at the Royal Albert Hall, the superb young soprano reveals how her father inspired her to become a singer.

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Angel Blue was at a low ebb in 2007 following the death of her father - but her life was about to change forever. After meeting legendary tenor Placido Domingo, she was accepted onto the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Programme at the Los Angeles Opera and embarked on an operatic career.

"It was a bittersweet moment," she told Jane Jones, before her performance at Classic FM Live. But the singer feels "very happy and blessed that things have gone the way they have".

Blue's father was a major influence on her decision to become a singer.

"When I was a kid I always watched my father sing. He's the reason why I sing and I always felt that he was so happy doing it. And the joy that he felt was passed on to me and I think that's why I do what I do today," she says.

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Blue is not just a singer, however. The soprano plays the alto sax, the bass guitar and the classical piano. And she spent six years as a beauty pageant champion – mainly in order to raise funds for her education.

Now she's winning wide acclaim in the world's greatest opera houses. She has even played the two diverse parts of Mimi and Musetta in Puccini's La Bohème.

"Both roles suit my character," she says. "Maybe I'm a little strange in that sense."

And, when she performs, she believes her father's spirit is never far away. "I think he has the best seat," she tells Jane Jones.