Katherine Jenkins refuses to speak for a day before her gigs

She told The Times: "I don't have alcohol, I drink loads of water and I stop going to noisy places so I don't overuse my voice. I want to stay focused.

"In the 24 hours before the show I won't speak at all. The voice is a muscle and when you whisper, you're still vibrating the cords and not getting the rest.

"I've got a six-year-old and an eight-year-old, and they find it hilarious that they can do whatever they like to mummy and I can't speak back, so the house becomes a big game of charades."

Katherine also says she has a series of superstitions before concerts, adding: "I do things in a certain order, silly things like putting my right shoe on before my left.

"I always stop by myself for a little minute and I say a prayer. I ask God and my dad to bless my voice and help me to remember my words, more of a comfort than a necessity."

Katherine's father was killed by lung cancer aged 70 when she was 15, and the Times profile on the singer says mention of it and the fact her interviewer's dad died when they were 12 made her burst into tears.

She said: "Life can go either way. It can be the reason that things unravel, or like in my case, my dad became a driving force.

"I'm trying not to cry - you know it's so silly because it's so long ago and now and again it just catches me.

"I've been without my dad longer than I was with him yet I think about him every day, every time I sing. I speak to him.

"He informs all my musical choices because if you've had loss, you're more drawn to emotional music. Music has helped me."

She added about how the disease that claimed her father's life has afflicted her relatives and husband: "Cancer is a big thing in our family. Andrew also lost his dad to cancer, I lost a best friend to cancer when she was just 32, my mother worked in breast cancer screening, my sister worked for Macmillan.

"At school my best friend's mum passed away to cancer within six months of me losing my dad."

Taylor Swift has watched Simone Biles' US Olympic Gymnastics Trials routine "so many times".

The singer, 34, paid tribute to the athlete, 27, after she used Taylor's 'Ready for It' track to soundtrack the start of her floor routine during day two of the 2024 try-outs.

She said on X after a clip of Simone's full routine was shared by the NBC Olympics and Paralympics: "Watched this so many times and still unready. "She's ready for it tho (three hand-clapping, gold medal, US flag and red heart emojis.)"

Simone started her routine to Taylor's tune from her 2017 album 'Reputation' while performing a triple-double - which, according to the commentator in the clip is the "hardest tumbling pass in the world".

The gymnast made history with the move when she became the first woman to do it during the US Gymnastics Championships in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2019.

Simone also ended her routine with Travis Scott's 'Delresto (Echoes)' track, which features Beyoncé.

Her performance in the event helped her finish in first place during the first half of the women's qualifying.

Simone has suffered setbacks during the beam event at the Target Center in Minneapolis - but her routines on the floor, the bars and vault helped her finish the first half of the women's qualifying in first place.

Taylor has been continuing to astound fans during the European leg of her 'Eras Tour', and is set to keep playing Dublin, Ireland, this week.

On Saturday (29.06.24), the singer told the audience at the city's Aviva Stadium her 'Folklore' had a strong connection to Ireland.

She added: "Folklore in general, it just belongs in Ireland. How I imagined the album world looking (was like) Ireland.

"Storytelling with lots of different characters - you guys have that on lock, too. "That's very Irish, the storytelling."

After Dublin she is due to play Amsterdam, where she is scheduled to perform three shows on Thursday (04.07.24), Friday and Saturday before taking her tour to Germany.