Kate Earl (born Kate Joy Smithson[4]) is an American singer-songwriter based out of Tennessee.
Kate Earl | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Kate Joy Smithson |
| Born | Anchorage, Alaska, U.S. |
| Origin | Chugiak, Alaska, U.S.[1][2] |
| Genres | Pop music, electro swing |
| Years active | 1998-present |
| Labels | Record Collection/Warner Bros. (2004–2007), Universal Republic Records (2008–2012), Downtown Records (2012–2015), BMG (2015–present)[3] |
Early life edit
Earl was born in Anchorage, Alaska. She has been married three times.[3]
Musical career edit
She began playing piano at four, sang in her church choir, and began playing the guitar when she was seventeen.[2] The young singer nursed the dream to lead a musician's life in between shifts at her parents’ small-town gas station in Chugiak, Alaska.
That dream became a reality when Earl moved to Los Angeles in 2004, where her talent was promptly recognized and led to a record deal with The Record Collection whose music was distributed by Warner Bros. Records. Her debut album, Fate Is the Hunter, was released in May 2005.[1] Earl officially changed her name to Kate Earl before the release of her second album.[5]
Earl left Record Collection in 2007, and signed with Universal Republic the following year. A self-titled album, Kate Earl,[2] was released as a digital download on August 18, 2009, and in physical copy on November 3, 2009.[1]
In 2012, Earl signed with Downtown Records. Her next album, Stronger, was released on November 20, 2012,[6] and was written and recorded with Brett Dennen, Blake Mills, and other well-respected Los Angeles musicians. The first single from the album, "One Woman Army", was released on September 18, 2012. Earl joined the Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox Twenty as the opening act during their Summer 2013 US and Canadian tour.[citation needed]
In 2014, Earl decided to go indie and self produce her next album, Ransom.[citation needed]
In 2015, Earl submitted two songs to the BBC Introducing programme, "Good Witch" and "We Promised", and was chosen, as one of six from 200,000 entries, to appear on the BBC Introducing Stage at that year's Hyde Park festival. She was soon signed to BMG Records in the UK, and changed direction into "proper jazz", original, old-school, authentic jazz, drawing on her childhood love of Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, and Big Band swing.[citation needed]
The first single taken from her 2017 album Tongue Tied is "Tongue Tied", which was nominated Radio 2's Record of the Week for the week starting Saturday February 25, 2017. The uptempo, syncopated, electro swing "Tongue Tied" uses a sample from "Disco Bob" by Professor Bobo and Bosko Slim. "Disco Bob" was used as the soundtrack of TV ads for Homebase.[citation needed]
Earl was announced as the opening act for Rick Astley on his UK tour starting March 2017.[7]
Earl performed on episode three of The Bachelorette (season 9). She sang two singles, Loyalty and One Woman Army,[8] from her album Stronger for Bachelorette Desiree Hartsock and her date Chris Siegfried.[9][10]
In 2023 Earl released Rise via Position Music [11]
Discography edit
Studio albums edit
- Fate Is the Hunter (2005)
- Kate Earl (2009)
- Stronger (2012)
- Tongue Tied (2017)
- Rise (2023)
References edit
- ^ a b c Kate Earl – Music Biography AllMusic
- ^ a b c Wilson, Sarah (April 2005). "Kate Earl". Interview. 35 (3): 62–65.
- ^ a b O'Connor, Roisin (August 7, 2017). "Earl Interview: 'I Want to Transcend Any Sort of Chaos'". Independent. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
- ^ "About".
- ^ Mendez, Michele (August 2, 2018). "Album Review: 'Tongue Tied' by Earl". CelebMix. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
- ^ Collar, Matt. "Stronger – Kate Earl : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
- ^ Hughes, Tim (March 16, 2017). "Be bewitched by magical jazz singer Earl – supporting Rick Astley at the New Theatre, Oxford". Oxford Mail. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
- ^ "The Bachelorette (TV Series) Episode #9.3 (2013) Soundtracks". IMDb. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ^ Wayne, Julia (June 4, 2013). "The Bachelorette Season 9 Episode 3: Hey La Hey La His Girlfriend's Back". Wetpaint. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ^ "S9 E03 Episode 3". ABC. June 1, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ^ "Rise by Earl". Position Music. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
External links edit
- Kate Earl at IMDb
- Kate Earl collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive