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Kat
has had a diverse life with different influences on her musicality. She
has had many piano lessons. She was the first woman golfer to compete
on the men’s team while she was a cadet at the United States Military
Academy at West Point among the third class of women. Maybe that is why
she has such a scratchy voice.(from being barked orders at and learning
to bark orders)Kat has a BA in Theater Arts with a minor in dance from
PLU in Tacoma, WA.
Kat has performed lead roles in many musical Theater Shows
including Velma Kelly in Chicago, and Sylvia in Two Gentleman of
Verona. Kat fronted a performance art rock bank called Kat & The
Rhythm Rats in Los Angeles, CA(venues include: opening for Chuck E.
Weiss at the Central (now the Viper Room) on Sunset Blvd. and the
famous Whiskey A Go Go), Kat fronted a blues band called Kat and the
7th Street Rats also in Los Angeles, CA (venues include: Mama Pajama’s
and Molly Malones.) She completed two extra semesters as a Music Major
at Los Angeles City College.
Kat wrote a lot of the music for and performed in the
Neo-Vaudeville Musical “Big Bad Bubba’s Bourbon Street Bar” in West Los
Angeles, CA created by the late Peter Walker.
She was Peter’s art apprentice for eight years. Kat owns her
own company called Local Color Design which books specialty
entertainment for events (Peter and she co-founded) Kat is among the
top caricature artists for events in the city. She has enjoyed drawing
many conventioneers from all over the world since 1996.
Kat is now singing the jazz standards she always loved
growing up and is very thankful for all the people, cultures, art and
music that have inspired her life in the past, and inspire her life in
the present.
In New Orleans, Kat’s most recent performance highlights
since
Hurricane Katrina (where Kat’s house, like so many others, took 6 feet
of water) include French Quarter Festival 2007 at 500 Bourbon St.,
Temple Sinai Gala, March 2007, Parkway Bakery and Tavern, the Lusher
Soiree at Tipitinas Uptown,
with Chris Rose as the emcee in December 2006, the Temple
Sinai Fundraiser, with Bruce Katz as the emcee in May of
2006, French Quarter Festival 2005 on the Whitney Bank
Stage, 400 Royal Street, and French Quarter Festival 2006 on the FQFI
stage, 700 Royal Street.
Kat has performed at Art
Openings, Private Parties, Conventions and even at Buffa's. She
was honored to perform at the Salute to the 8th District Police
Fundraising Festival in the French Quarter in November of 2004.
Kat is now singing the jazz standards she always loved
growing up. She incorporates the scat singing she listened to so much
of in one of her favorite singers, Ella Fitzgerald, whom Kat had the
privilege of seeing live in the mid 1980’s at the Folklife Festival in
Seattle, WA. Kat’s other musical influences are Mel Torme, Sarah
Vaughn,Billy Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Carmen McRae, George Gershwin,
and all the old Musical Theater Stars, such as Fred Astaire, Gene
Kelly, Julie Andrews, Ethyl Merman, Bob Fosse, Gwen Verdon, Chita
Rivera, Doris Day, Ann Miller, Bing Crosby,....(Kat used to get up in
the middle of the night when she was young to watch a musical on TV)
Local favorites are Germaine Bazzle, The Pfister Sisters and Cynthia
Owen.
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