Faryl Smith

One minute, Faryl Smith was an ordinary schoolgirl with a talent, the next she was being told in front of a national television audience, “You are literally one in a million”. This is how 13 year-old singing sensation Faryl Smith sang her way to the final of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent and into Britain’s front rooms. It was an endorsement worth its weight in platinum with Faryl having now signed the largest record deal ever awarded to a schoolgirl.

Despite her youth, Faryl had already been through several tests of her nerve and ability before she faced the bright lights of Britain’s Got Talent.

When she was 10, she won thirteen awards at the Eisteddfod in her home town of Kettering, Northamptonshire, then took first prize in the 10-15 age group at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod and Faryl was honoured to become their ambassador too. In November 2007, she reached the final of the Festival 4 Stars in Glasgow.

In August 2012, Faryl added Villa Park to her list of big-name venues when she sang the National Anthem in front of 40,000 people, at the Community Shield football match between Manchester City and Chelsea.

In September 2012, Faryl had the honour of singing in front of HRH Prince Edward the Earl of Wessex, at the Duke of Edingburgh Cup prize giving dinner, Windsor Castle.

In 2009 Faryl was privileged to be able to sing with the greats including the legendary Jose Carreras at the Hampton Court Festival where she performed a duet and has also shared a stage with Placido Domingo at the 2009 Classical Brit Awards. Faryl sang at the 2009 FA Cup Final in front of around 400 million television viewers worldwide.

To round the year off, Faryl contributed to the Festival of Remembrance in front of millions of viewers and the Queen herself and was then lucky enough to be able to perform for her majesty again at the Royal Variety Show in Blackpool.

2008 was most certainly a year to remember for Faryl, but 2009 saw the young girl from Kettering breaking records with the release of her debut album, performing to crowds of over 80,000 and signing a second multi-million pound deal with Decca US, taking her incredible talent stateside.

Reaching the top 5 in the commercial album chart, Faryl became the fastest-selling classical debut album in chart history, surpassing the debut releases of classical music’s finest including Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, and also that of the ladies of classical including Charlotte Church, Hayley Westenra and Katherine Jenkins. Young Faryl has also become the only classical star to go gold with their debut album within the first week of release.

In 2010 Faryl was nominated for her first Classical Brit Award in both Best Album and Young Performer, the youngest ever performer to be nominated for two classical awards. Faryl was also awarded a silver clef Nordoff robbins classical award, the youngest ever to be awarded with a Variety Club Showbiz award.

She also went on to perform for the second year running at the FA Cup Final singing the National Anthem and Abide With Me in front of an estimated 450 million viewers.

Following these events, Faryl was invited to the Royal Academy of Music by Gareth Malone to help inspire younger people to learn more about classical music, which was aired on BBC 2. In the summer of 2010, Faryl was asked by Eammon and Ruth Holmes to sing at their wedding.

Faryl has had the privilege of singing at The Royal Albert Hall seven times so far…

2011 saw Faryl appear for the third time in front of HRH the Queen at the Epsom Derby. Also Faryl went back to Llangollen International Eisteddfod to perform with Russell Watson. She was also invited to perform at a vast range of prestigious charitable functions such as Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Also in 2011, classical singer, Rhydian asked Faryl to sing a duet with him on his TV series on S4C, which culminated a momentous year for one so young.

Faryl was honoured to be invited back to Windsor Castle to sing again for Prince Edward in 2014 and was also invited to perform at the Prince’s Trust Butterfly Ball in 2014. Faryl was accepted into several music conservatoires this year but continued to be available for bookings &, events and continued to be on tour with the International Harp Ensemble during 2015. Faryl once again sang at Wembley in 2015.

Faryl has performed the National Anthem a few times at Wembley for the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final, the Play Off finals this year and also the FA Community Shield match which were all aired on Sky Sports. She was honoured to have been invited to sing for Princess Anne at the Tower of London and continued to perform in lots of concerts around the country throughout 2015, including Exeter Cathedral and Rochester Cathedral.

In 2016, Faryl performed the National Anthem at Wembley for the Johnston’s Paint Trophy. Faryl was honoured to have sung for the sixth time at Wembley. Faryl was also on tour during 2016 with G4 on their G4-Back Together Tour.

2016 saw Faryl perform the National Anthems for the Rugby League games and the final. Also in 2016, Faryl sang for The City of London Police and The City of London Fire Brigade.

In 2017, Faryl was invited to Brussels to sing for the European Associations Awards. In April that year, Faryl was honoured to sing for the Global Retail Awards in Dubai. Faryl sang alongside Collabro in concert for Help the Heroes and was very proud to sing the National Anthem at all three English Football League playoffs.

Having sung at Wembley Stadium nine times herself, Faryl had the honour of being a judge and auditioning hundreds of people for one lucky person to sing the National Anthem at Wembley for the RFL Challenge Cup Final 2017.

Faryl was back at Twickenham in November 2017, to sing The World in Union and the National Anthem for the New Zealand v Barbarians match, to be aired on Sky Sports. Faryl, once again, shared the stage with Collabro and Aled Jones during 2017.

During 2018, Faryl was back at Wembley to sing The National Anthem ahead of The Carabao Cup Final between Manchester City and Arsenal. Faryl was back at Wembley again in April to sing The National Anthem ahead of The Checkatrade Trophy. In May 2018, Faryl will be performing at the Dubai Opera.