Westenra is pure magic in British music charts

By REBECCA BARRY

Singing sensation Hayley Westenra made history yesterday when her album made the fastest-selling debut in the UK classical charts.

Pure, the first of five albums she will record for the world's biggest classics label, Decca Records, sold 20,000 copies in its first week, going straight to No 1 in the UK classical charts and No 8 in the pop charts.

The album beat first-week sales of albums by Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, Charlotte Church and Russell Watson.

The 16-year-old moved to London last year to record her international debut with Beatles producer Sir George Martin and has had invitations to play everywhere from the Classical Brit Awards to a party held by Victoria Beckham.

Recently she performed with Jose Carrreras and Bryn Terfel in Wales, was invited to perform at the Albert Hall in December and will appear on Michael Parkinson's Christmas show.

Universal New Zealand who discovered Westenra busking in Christchurch at 11, says her UK success will have a "snowball effect".

"Once this happens retailers, radio stations, record companies, promoters ... will start looking at Hayley and think, 'Wow, this girl is big'." said managing director Adam Holt.

"Russell Watson has sold something like a million records in the UK.

"It's hard to predict those sorts of numbers for Hayley as it's early days but that's the potential she's got."