A SINGER from Salisbury who won the TV programme Stars In Their Eyes fifteen years ago has released a new album.

In a live final that was watched by14 million viewers, Nicola Kirsch impersonated the Greek soprano Maria Callas, singing Puccini's 'O mio babbino caro'.

It was the first time in the show's history that anyone had attempted to impersonate an opera singer.

She polled more than a third of the 1.3 million votes cast, beating her nearest rival, Matthew Shaw as ‘Meatloaf’, by 350,000 votes.

The bookies, not thinking that opera would be as popular as pop music, lost £2 million on her. Nicola was an overnight success and went onto sing at venues, including the Royal Albert Hall, Cardiff Millennium Stadium, Wilton House and St James’ Palace.

She said: "Despite the fact that my first album for BMG was nominated for a Classical Brit Award in 2001, and stayed in the top 20 of the Classic FM charts for three months, I was never happy with it as it did not show the full range of my vocal capabilities.

"I believe this album achieves that goal."

Nicola graduated from The Royal Academy of Music in 1973, travelling to Milan to further her singing studies under the guidance of legendary tenor and artistic partner of Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano.

But her dreams of a career were cut short after she suffered a nervous breakdown brought on by working in the highly competitive and stressful environment.

Returning home to Salisbury, she threw herself into organizing charity concerts under the auspices of the Salisbury International Festival.

During the nineties, she went back to Spain and Italy for brief periods, where she took up busking.

And it was while watching the Italian and Spanish adaptations of Stars In Their Eyes that she decided to enter the British version of the TV show.

The win came late in her life, as by this time Nicola had put aside her own singing ambitions and taken a part-time cleaning job in order to spend more time caring for her elderly mother.

Nicola's new album has been taken from a quote by the Head of Warner Classics Records at the time of her Stars In Their Eyes win who lauded her as 'the lost voice of a generation'.

To preview or buy a copy visit nicolakirsch.com. CDs are also available from The Collectors Room in Endless Street, Salisbury.