Shân Cothi was born and raised as the blacksmith's daughter in the tiny village of Ffarmers, Carmarthenshire, West Wales, and graduated in Music and Drama at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. She has been honoured with Fellowships from Aberystwyth and Lampeter Universties. In 1995, she won the prestigious Blue Riband Prize at the Abergele National Eisteddfod which prompted her to turn professional.

Shân has performed throughout the world in a variety of venues from the Wales Millennium Centre to Her Majesty's Theatre, West End, from the Albert Hall to the Kowloon Shanghai Hotel, Hong Kong and is renowned for her versatility as a performer.

Her career as a singer has spanned an incredible range of music styles, from opera to oratorio, music theatre to traditional Welsh songs and a host of contemporary projects working with respected musicians form different musical genres. Shân herself finds it sometimes difficult to explain this diversity. However, she believes it is indeed a natural instinct which enables her to be so passionate about performing and after many years of wondering which direction to take as a singer, has realised with the help of her wonderful coach Ian Baar, that this ability to change styles is indeed what makes her different in many ways from other performers.

In '98/'99, Shân was fortunate enough to be given her own self-titled television series for Channel four in Wales (S4C)  which ran for two successful seasons, won a BAFTA award and was nominated for the best music programme in the Montreaux Festival. Shân's big break came when she decided to audition for Cameron Mackintosh.

In 2000 she was delighted to be offered the role of the fiery Carlotta in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Phantom of the Opera' and performed the role for 15 months at Her Majesty's Theatre in the West End.

Among many other television appearances highlights include:

She has a wealth of experience as a presenter of numerous television and radio programmes including:

Shân Cothi is in great demand as a singer and has performed in many concerts worldwide:

Shân and Only Men Aloud! have been invited to perform together on several occasions and were proud to perform on the eve of the opening of the Wales Millennium Centre in a special event to honour Dame Shirley Bassey, Dame Gwyneth Jones, Sian Phillips, Alun Hoddinott, and Sir Richard Burton.

In 2005 she made her debut performance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the North Devon Festival and starred in a sell-out tour of Wales of the new musical 'Amazing Grace' by Mal Pope and Frank Vickery. She created the role of Mary Roberts for which she received rave reviews (Wales Theatre Company - director Michael Bogdanov). The production returns to the Wales Millenium Centre in Autumn 2006.

Shân has had an extremely busy year recording her debut album entitled 'Passione' with the National Chamber Orchestra of Wales under the baton of John Quirk, recently released in December. The album features international harpist Catrin Finch, the award winning male ensemble Only Men Aloud! and the wonderful sound of 2005 Cân i Gymru winners Serendipity. The album has just been released in the UK and her promotional video to 'Caro Mio Ben' can now be seen on Classic FM TV's playlist.

Recent engagements include:

Future engagements include:

Shân has just finished filming the second series of 'Con Passionate' for S4C (Channel 4 Wales) which is being broadcast on April 2nd on S4C and yes dangerous Davina Roberts is back on our screens in 2006.