海莉出生于纽西兰基督城的一个歌唱家族，当她六岁时在学校圣诞节上演出时，被老师发现了她的歌唱天赋。她今年16岁，在New Zealand主修艺术，天籁版的美妙歌声，更是得到了歌剧首席女主角的赞赏和指导。天赋清亮无瑕的绝美嗓音，以及纯净无压的自然唱腔，让她小小年纪，即以奇迹般的天使之音，从南半球的冠军歌手，一跃成为国际歌坛最受瞩目的闪亮新星！一开始因为好奇好玩自行压制 CD ，到街头卖艺、赠送亲友，却令乡亲父老惊为天人、口耳相传，天使之音透过媒体逐渐传播开来，全纽西兰男女老幼无不为其歌声倾倒！于纽西兰发行的首张专辑，不但蝉联 4 周冠军，打败数字流行乐坛前辈，还轻松拿下销售三白金，纽西兰歌坛新小天后之名不胫而走。后由国际唱片大厂 DECCA 信心向全球推荐，人如其名、歌如其人的首张全球录音—「纯净」因此诞生，纯净大地—纽西兰的骄傲，现在全世界都听得见！
海莉出生於一个音乐世家。她的祖母是一名歌唱家，祖父是一名钢琴师，并会弹奏手风琴。她的音乐之路从六岁就开始了。当时在她就读的小学的一次圣诞演出里她扮演「最小的星」（the Littlest Star）一角色，并有一出演唱部分。在那次表演之後，一位老师发掘了她，联系了她的父母，并告之他们的女儿有著完美的天赋。（事实上，她被经常叫做「女乔诗·葛洛班」。） 海莉的老师鼓励她学习一件乐器以提升她的乐感。於是海莉便开始学习小提琴。在学小提琴的同时，海莉还练起了钢琴甚至录音，并在七岁时就能辨出音符。随後她开始了声乐学习，并燃起了对音乐剧的热情。到11岁时，海莉已经上台演出过不下40次了。 12岁时，海莉去了一间专业的录音室录制了《Walking in the Air》。这是一张分发送给家人朋友的初定碟。当时仅仅制作了1000份副本。在录完那张碟後，海莉就和她的歌手妹妹一起去基督城的街头演唱。 这一对姐妹吸引了一大群人驻足欣赏，其中一名女士问道她们是否曾录过歌。其实这名女士是一名CTV的记者，她还邀请海莉去电视台作表演。一个演唱推广公司看到了这个节目，便把海莉签约到了纽西兰环球唱片公司。 在此，海莉发行了一张以自己名字命名的唱片，其中包括一些很经典的曲目。之後又发行了一张圣诞大碟《My Gift to You》。
Born in 1987, Hayley Westenra hails from New Zealand. Classically trained as both a singer and as a dancer, she is a former member of the New Zealand Royal Ballet. Westenra's voice is an operatic instrument and she has performed with the New Zealand Opera and Orchestra. She made her recording debut at the age of 14 with a self-titled collection that took her country by storm. Universal International then released Pure, an eclectic and very engaging set of pop, classical, and sacred songs, which exploded all over the globe. Westenra's voice is unusually suited to popular music because, unlike other classical singers, she doesn't resort to using vibrato technique. Instead, her delivery is extremely clean and full, hitting notes effortlessly and letting them draw out naturally.
While critics have unfortunately compared her to Charlotte Church, Westenra's interpretive gifts lie in the same terrain as singers such as Kate Bush on one side (whose "Wuthering Heights" was Pure's first single) and Barbra Streisand on the other. After the runaway success of Pure, Westenra and her family moved to London, and she began nearly nonstop world touring in support of her album. She has performed at the British Classical Awards, guaranteeing her success in the U.K. Pure was issued in the United States in April 2004, and the music video for "Wuthering Heights" has garnered considerable play on VH1, underscoring well-received performances in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. In June 2004, Universal issued My Gift to You, a collection of Christmas and seasonal songs.