“Kate has an uncanny ability of turning three or four words into a breathtaking experience. Her vocal range and performance style is a combination that defies description.” Sir Tim Rice “Kate is a world class artist” - Isaac Hayes There is something truly spectacular about award winning singer and songwriter Kate Ceberano. Whether it’s her soulful voice, her charismatic character or exotic looks, she has become a household name, a woman with a reputation for being one of the industry’s hardest working. She manages to juggle an abundance of other roles outside of music from television appearances (Dancing with the Stars and It Takes Two) to motherhood (her daughter Gypsy is now 5) and still finds time to do what she loves most; and that is making beautiful music. It is this love the Kate Ceberano found she shared a musical connection with Mark Isham. After performing together recently in the US and forming a great musical bond, our Australian singer, songwriter, actor and multiple ARIA award winner and Grammy Award winner Mark Isham were joined on a quest based on their mutual love for “bitter-sweet, broken-hearted love songs” from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s; her first jazz album in 20 years. Both Mark and Kate set about listing their favourite songs from the era and found that they had many in common. One month later they recorded a beautiful album with Alan Pasqua, Tom Warrington, and Peter Erskine filling out the band on piano, bass and drums respectively. A whirlwind adventure in the studio resulted in 11 spectacular tracks, all recorded live, and full of love and longing. An album that could only be aptly titled, ‘Bittersweet’, joining the already long list of Kate Ceberano’s achievements. With five Platinum albums, four Gold albums and over 1 million albums sold in Australia alone. She has performed countless sell-out tours, starred in acclaimed feature films and hosted her own television show Kate & Friends. Kate’s bittersweet musical journey is set to continue. She first found fame with her funk band I’m Talking, a group that was managed by Ken West who went on to found the Big Day Out with partner Vivien Lees. The group’s album produced three top ten singles, went Platinum and won Best New Talent (1984) at the Countdown Awards. Kate won Best Female Vocalist (1985) at the Countdown Awards as well as Best Female Singer (1985) at the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) Awards. However after just one album, the group broke up and Kate went solo. It wasn’t until the late 80s that she started to gain reputed success for her soul, jazz and pop repertoire. “I get so frustrated with how I see people give up too soon in this industry,” says Ceberano who has been nominated for ARIA awards seven times, a figure only Kylie Minogue can match. “You can be dissuaded from wanting to continue in the music business, but you have got to weather out the hard knocks. My mother gave me the greatest compliment of my life when she said; the thing with Kate is that she recovers fast. And that is how you have to be. You just can’t give up; everyone is going to have an opinion about you. Everyone is going to love and hate you. You just have to soldier on.” Ceberano is the Victorian Ambassador for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Her role sees her help raise funds and awareness about an illness that affects many lives. “I like to be as involved as I possibly can in causes I feel strongly about,” says Ceberano of her appointment. “Yes I am a musician, but if I can do more to help others then I will.” Kate is also an ambassador for lingerie brand Playtex/Berlei, with the autumn campaign kicking off in May 09 and she has an ongoing relationship with Myer. “I am the voice of Myer,” she said with a giggle. “That’s my voice on the jingle ‘Myer, My Store’, so every time you hear it you can think of me.” 2007 saw the release of her ’salute to the 80s’, platinum-selling album titled ‘Nine Lime Avenue’. A tribute to a decade she holds close to her heart. In fact the album is named after her childhood street. “I grew up on nine Lime Avenue and spent all my teenage years through the 80’s listening to different music ad firing up my lust or a career in music. I’m so nostalgic about that period of my life and in many ways wished we still had that house. This album I guess was a collection of different songs connected to different memories from that time. We basically do songs that I used to listen to growing up in the 80s,” says Kate Ceberano who is vocally inspired by the likes of Nina Simone, Kate Bush and Chrissie Hynde. “They are songs that have had some relevant experience for me in my life especially as I was a teenager growing up. They are songs I used to listen to on my own or with my brother. They really inspired me to get out and get into a band. The songs are sleek and very roots driven.” The album Nine Lime Avenue was so very well received by the public that Kate decided to make the majority of her next album So Much Beauty in a similar vein, beautiful songs that she loves with three of them her own, one of those a duet with her ‘It Takes Two’ partner and friend, AFL star Russell Robertson. (‘Never Say Never’ to a Friend). “I like singing with him. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think he was a confident singer. I don’t like singing with non-singers generally. A show is a show, but an album is a whole work. I just loved what he did.” That album was recorded quickly with producer Richard Pleasance over three busy weeks, in between all Kate’s other professional commitments and motherhood. By contrast So Much Beauty is deliberately a relaxed in-house “lounge-room” effort, recorded by Kate with her long-term front-of-house mixer, Steve and the band she’d assembled to tour Nine Lime Avenue. Also enlisted to help out on the music direction and supervision for this album was rock legend, James Black. Kate is currently based in Melbourne and will be touring nationally in August. Her new album Bittersweet is out now. |
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