Kate Thomas

Eclectic British singer-songwriter Kate Thomas grew up in a small town in Essex called Laindon, near a place nicknamed 'Alcatraz'. Feeling trapped in her early years, Kate would immerse herself in music, maps and languages. The family home was, 'small with woodchip on the walls', but it was warm and creative and the family would spend their time playing music together. The soundtrack to Kate's childhood was mostly jazz, with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra featuring prominently. Kate's grandad 'farvie' was also a well-known drummer in East London; playing regularly at Ronnie Scott's and at the Krays’ now notorious R&R club. Kate's early interest in languages continued unabated, leading her not only to sing Italian opera, on a chair, in a restaurant, in a place called 'Bas Vegas', but also to translate a love letter into Russian for a neighbour!

After university, Kate decided to discover the world she had studied for so long in books, travelling around Central Europe, Eastern Europe, through to Asia, Australia and New Zealand, with just a backpack and guitar in tow. When Kate returned, she trained as an Actor, after which she received two sizzling reviews in The Stage newspaper, one calling her a 'working class terror'. On leaving drama school however, this fair lady was continually led back to the stage, not to act but to sing. Kate has performed in many genres and languages over the years, including folk, gypsy, latin, jazz and blues; taking her, among other places, to France, Glastonbury and following in her grandad's footsteps, Ronnie Scott's.

Kate's life was then hit by tragedy with the sudden loss of her brother, an up and coming singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, in a tragic accident. Shaken by her brother’s untimely passing, Kate decided that life is too short to 'muck around' and did what she had always wanted to do, taking all the music that set her soul on fire to start writing her own. With her eclectic jazzy, gypsy, latin sound, Kate is currently being described as a ‘Latin Amy Winehouse meets a Gypsy Kate Bush’.

In April last year PRS for Music supported Kate to attend the ASCAP Expo in LA through the International Showcase Fund. Kate's track 'Ginger Beer' was recently featured on TV on London Live and in 2014, Kate was a finalist in The Battle of the Bands competition at The Boisdale. Kate has also played The Brentwood Festival on the bill with UB40 and last summer Kate was invited to play at the RARE Jazz Festival on the bill with Saxophonist and BBC Radio 2 broadcaster Leo Green.

Most recently Kate performed at Jumoke Fashola's 'Jazz Verse Jukebox' at Hoxton Hall. Kate is also the lady behind the “Sounds Like London” Spotify playlist that has garnered support across the board from grassroots artists through to the London Mayor of Culture.

Kate released her debut EP “The Lion's Raw” on 20 October 2017 and is now working with jazz and world fusion musicians so expect this debut to be an eclectic one. “The Lion's Raw” was launched at a well-known Jazz venue in central London. For an eclectic artist with a colourful background, what better place to launch this debut than at 'The Spice of Life', because, as the saying goes: “variety is, the spice of life”.