Katherine Jenkins "has a word" with her late father before every performance.
The 35-year-old singer’s beloved dad passed away when she was just 17 years old, but she hopes he is still watching over her and asked him to "bless" her voice when she is ready to go on stage.
She said: "The last thing I do when I’m getting ready and standing in the wings is say a prayer.
"Then I’ll have a little word with my father. My dad passed away when I was 17, so I’ll often say, ‘Dad, bless my voice, bless my performance’.
"I’ve always felt he’s been with me, guiding me in my career. He was my biggest supporter. He’s the last thing I think of when I go out and sing."
Katherine – who has seven-month-old daughter Aaliyah with husband Andrew Levitas – credits her mother as the biggest influence on her career as she instilled her with a strong work ethic.
Asked her biggest influence, she told HELLO! magazine: "I would have to say my mum. She was the breadwinner of our family and my dad was the house-husband. He took early retirement and stayed at home to look after my sister and me.
"My mum has always instilled a strong work ethic in us, ‘Go out, be independent young women and do what you want to do’ and ‘It’s all down to hard work’.
"I’m really grateful to her because I do go out there and push myself sometimes and a lot of that is down to my mum.
"She’s also very normal. She’s a very grounded lady and never lets the craziness of my job get to any of us. She’ll say, ‘OK then, come on, load the dishwasher."
Katherine Jenkins speaks to her late father
