These celebrities discovered talent at a young age... in their choir.

Blake Lively

Putting a twist on the normal school choir, Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively sang in her school ‘show’ choir. We hope there were jazz hands involved.

Anne Hathaway

It’s no surprise that Anne Hathaway was in her school choir – her rendition of 'I Dreamed a Dream' in the Les Misérables film still gives us goosebumps. But did you know that she was an award-winning singer and performed at Carnegie Hall before she graduated high school?

Barack Obama

Is there anything this man can’t do? Apparently not. Barack Obama was a member of his high school choir and is rumoured to have a fantastic singing voice.

Hugh Jackman

OK, you could probably guess this one. Hugh Jackman has gone on from his school choir to be the leading man on Broadway and the big screen, most recently The Greatest Showman.

Queen Latifah

Queen Latifah shone bright when she was still at school. She played basketball, performed in the school musicals and sang in the choir.

Tina Fey

Tina Fey was another avid member of her school choir. She dabbled in sports too and was a member of the school tennis team.

Shakira

Would you believe that Shakira was actually thrown out of her school choir as her teacher didn’t like her vibrato? In hindsight probably not their finest teaching moment...

Avril Lavigne

Admittedly, Lavigne’s pop-punk image isn’t naturally associated with a church upbringing. But the ‘Complicated’ singer was brought up by strict religious parents, and first found her voice singing in a church choir in the Third Day Worship Centre in Kingston. As a teenager, Lavigne learned to play the guitar and write her own music, and gravitated towards country music before finding her niche in pop-rock.

Tina Turner

As a child, the soon-to-be ‘Queen of Rock ‘n Roll’ was thrown out of the church choir for her sassy singing style. Apparently, she also sang in a choir in Canada (though given our exceptionally polite mannerisms, I doubt we would have kicked her out).

Andrew Balfour

Composer Andrew Balfour was a ‘Sixties Scoop’ child, taken from his Cree mother as an infant in 1967, then adopted by a loving couple who shared their love of music with him. At an early age, he sang in the choir at his father’s church, All Saints’ Anglican Church in Winnipeg, which is where he learned to love early music.

Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond

Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond were in choir together at Brooklyn’s Erasmus Hall High School. Years later, when both of them were stars, the two recorded a duet of Diamond's song ‘You Don't Send Me Flowers’.

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