If you described Katherine Jenkins as passionate, genuine, professional and a lover of fish and chips, she would probably be rather pleased.

The Welsh songstress spoke about her album, her upcoming tour and what she loves about North Wales, as what she describes “the best year of my life” drew to a close.

Married to American artist and film maker Andrew Levitas in September, Katherine is celebrating 10 years since she released her first album, by releasing Home Sweet Home, a collection of her favourite tunes.

A 21-date UK tour next year rounds off the festivities, with trips to Venue Cymru in Llandudno (March 5) and an emotional finale at the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena on March 14.

“You know what, it’s actually going to be sad in a way,” she says. “By the time you get to the end of a tour you always feel sad. That’s when I will possibly get nervous as we are finishing on the one where my family will be there.”

Family is something she values. On BBC’s The One Show recently she failed to fight back tears as her mother and friends spoke about her in glowing terms from her home town of Neath.

“I got really emotional,” she admits. “I could hear my mother and everyone talking and then talking to her and them saying the nice things they said.”

All of which neatly brings us to Home Sweet Home, the title of her album. It’s definitely a reflection on where she came from and the tracks take her back there, so she says.

“The thing I was looking for was to return to my roots. They’re all songs that mean something. It’s been such an amazing year, the best of my life, I wanted everything to be positive and upbeat.”

Her current single Dreaming of the Days, taken from her album, is her favourite. From the pen of Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi, she had to seek special permission to put words to the original score (I Giorni).

It is perhaps a measure of her status in the music world he agreed, something he apparently never does.

“He is a modern day classical composer and I wanted to use one of his tunes. They kindly gave me permission to use it.

“The album is more a reflection on where I have come from. When I knew it was going to be my tenth album and I was back with the same label I started with, it’s a bit like everything has gone full circle.

“It’s a bit of a nod to home and I am incredibly grateful for it all.

“I would love to have seen the world through Maria Callas’s eyes or Mozart,” she adds. “He was a character, slightly crazy. His was a genius, with a passion for his music.

“I also think Maria Callas was an emotional performer. She had a tragic personal life and she was passionate. I’m definitely drawn to people who have moved me emotionally.

“I like songs that move me emotionally. If I am not affected how can I possibly pass that on to the audience?”

You get the sense being authentic is incredibly important for the former teacher, who got her break at the age of 23.

She says singing in choirs as a young “nervous” singer, she was allowed to develop and hone her craft. She learned to read music through that environment and she appreciates the solid start it gave her career.

“I am so grateful for those opportunities,” she reveals. “And I was lucky that my parents were not pushy parents, so I could develop without pressure.

“I’ve been very lucky that along the way it has snowballed. That gave me the opportunity to get my head around everything.

“I look at the X-Factor contestants and they go straight from normal life to stardom. I don’t think I could cope with that.”

When Katherine speaks about her craft she is passionate and engaged, when she discusses the froth of celebrity one senses she doesn’t take that side of things too seriously.

She laughs when asked when she first knew she had really made it, when she knew she was famous.

“My Mum rang me up and said I was a question on University Challenge. It was something like ‘what was the name of my fourth album’.” Cue more giggles.

She comes to North Wales in March so our attention turns to that. What does she like about God’s own country?

“It’s beautiful, it’s so gorgeous. My husband is American and I have told him how gorgeous it is and we are looking forward to it. And it has got the best fish and chips.”

Tickets for her Llandudno concert are available at: www.gigsandtours.com and www.ticketmaster.co.uk