After her support for gay marriage sparked a backlash from scores of fans, American singer Carrie Underwood has apparently turned her attention to winning Britons over to country music.

The 29-year-old country music star’s debut UK album Blown Away is out this week and she is set to perform her first ever British concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Underwood, who is married to hockey star Mike Fisher, stirred up a media storm after telling The Independent newspaper that she believed everybody should have the right to wed the person they love.

"As a married person myself, I don't know what it's like to be told I can't marry somebody I love, and want to marry," she said. "I can't imagine how that must feel. I definitely think we should all have the right to love, and love publicly, the people that we want to love."

At an event this week in London to promote her album, the Christian singer stood by her comments, saying: "No matter what happens in your life, something you do, wear, say, sing whatever – somebody somewhere is probably not going to like it too well."

The former pizza waitress has become one of America’s most bankable music stars since winning series four of American Idol in 2005 and landing a £640,000 ($1 million) record contract.

After winning five Grammys and selling 15 million albums, the Jesus Take the Wheel singer is now on a mission to bring country music to the UK.

"I'm so excited to come over here and perform for the first time,” she told The Sun newspaper in a web chat. "I don't really know why country music isn't popular in the UK but I'm hoping to change that.

"Country music is all about people, it's about how you live, it's not about pimped out limos and bling bling.
"It's about life and people that you know and stories you can relate to. That's what I love about it."