Charlotte Church: I waived Murdoch fee for 'favourable publicity'

Singer Charlotte Church waived a £100,000 (€116,382) fee to sing at Rupert Murdoch's wedding when she was 13, in exchange for a promise of favourable publicity, she said today.

Church, dubbed The Voice of an Angel, told the Leveson Inquiry she was asked to sing at Mr Murdoch's wedding to Wendi Deng in 1999.

In a statement she said she was offered a fee of £100,000, but was told if she waived it she "would be looked upon favourably by Mr Murdoch's papers".

The inquiry heard News International denied the offer was made but Ms Church today said: "I remember being told that Rupert Murdoch had asked me to sing at his wedding to Wendi Deng and it would take place on his yacht in New York.

"I remember being told that the offer of money or the offer of the favour, in order to basically get good press, to be looked upon favourably.

"And I also remember being 13 and thinking, 'why on earth would anybody take a favour over £100,000?'."

She said she and her mother were both quite "resolute" about accepting the money, but were urged by her management and figures from the record company into taking the option of the favour from a "powerful man" like Mr Murdoch.

"He flew us in on his private jet from LA to New York which was amazing," she said.

"We went on to his boat which had a grand piano and which I was amazed by and I sang at the ceremony."

The inquiry heard it was later claimed her performance was organised as a surprise for Mr Murdoch, but Ms Church said she understood the request to be specifically from him.

"I had been told by my management that he had specifically asked for me to sing 'Pie Jesu'."

She said she had raised the issue that it was a requiem - a funeral song - but was told Mr Murdoch specifically wanted it performed.

"He said he didn't care whether it was a funeral song and he liked that song and he wanted me to sing it, which I did."

In her witness statement, she said that accepting the waiver "failed", adding: "In fact Mr Murdoch's newspapers have since been some of the worst offenders, so much that I have sometimes felt that there has actually been a deliberate agenda.

"While newspapers such as Mr Murdoch's have not helped my career, they certainly damaged it.

"I do of course accept television and radio have been very significant contributors to my success. I have little complaint at the contact of those media organisations or the people they employ."