Our top ten New Zealanders: Hayley Westenra

Hayley Westenra

* Hayley Westenra, Singer

You could say Hayley Westenra has had a big year, but staggering would probably say it better.

The diminutive Westenra has smashed her way through the record books to become the darling of not only New Zealand, but of Britain and America. Yet throughout she has remained - as has been remarked with some amazement by overseas interviewers - sweet and unassuming.

Her album Pure has gone platinum in New Zealand 11 times, meaning she has sold 165,000 albums. That is huge and makes her the biggest-selling New Zealand artist of all time.

She became the fastest-selling artist in Britain and the album is roaring in America, debuting at No 2 on the US Billboard classical crossover chart. All up, Pure has sold 1.5 million copies worldwide.

Westenra sang for the Queen, President George Bush and Tony Blair last year and this year she became the youngest ambassador in Unicef's history. Westenra has also been an ambassador for Save the Children.

She has sung with Jose Carreras, Russell Watson and this year, in a dream come true, sang with her hero, blind Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.

She won at the New Zealand Music Awards for international achievement and highest-selling album.

She has an official website, a fans' website and other websites. She is adored.

To top it off, at the age of only 17, she has had a biography written about her. But Hayley remains an unaffected Christchurch girl.

She is, as detailed on her website, keen on netball, swimming and indoor rock-climbing.

"Other than music, I also enjoy ballet dancing [she has performed with the Royal New Zealand Ballet], reading, watching movies, shopping and hanging out with my friends."

So although she is a global star, she is in many ways a typical New Zealand teenager.