"Canada's original bombshell." (According to recording artist Emm Gryner)
Three solo albums and a new compilation into her career, fans of Kathryn Rose are well acquainted with her artful, cerebral brand of sexy-sad-funny cinematic pop. Kathryn is considered a keen social diarist with a reputation for penning darkly atmospheric songs, her wicked sense of humour always at the ready.
Her supple voice is an emotive, elastic instrument, and Kathryn's reputation as one of Canada's top go-to singers also precedes her, live and in the studio with other artists and in film, television and radio. Her long, diverse music career has taken her to many unusual places. Kathryn’s various roles as a singer songwriter, recording artist, freelance writer, and voice-in-demand don’t just make her a busy person, but work together to fuel and fund her as an artist.
Raised in North Vancouver and her hometown of Toronto, Kathryn has been on the Canadian music scene since 1987. Affectionately known as KR to fans and friends, she releases her music on her own indie label Footlodgedindoor Music, originally founded in 1990 with previous band Wind May Do Damage. Her well received 1997 solo debut “Every Lurid Detail” (produced by David Kershaw) was recorded in Vancouver with most of Sarah McLachlan’s band and other west coast luminaries. Kathryn's graphic pose in the cover image created a stir. People either loved or didn’t love her defiant avoidance of a typica …
"Canada's original bombshell." (According to recording artist Emm Gryner)
Three solo albums and a new compilation into her career, fans of Kathryn Rose are well acquainted with her artful, cerebral brand of sexy-sad-funny cinematic pop. Kathryn is considered a keen social diarist with a reputation for penning darkly atmospheric songs, her wicked sense of humour always at the ready.
Her supple voice is an emotive, elastic instrument, and Kathryn's reputation as one of Canada's top go-to singers also precedes her, live and in the studio with other artists and in film, television and radio. Her long, diverse music career has taken her to many unusual places. Kathryn’s various roles as a singer songwriter, recording artist, freelance writer, and voice-in-demand don’t just make her a busy person, but work together to fuel and fund her as an artist.
Raised in North Vancouver and her hometown of Toronto, Kathryn has been on the Canadian music scene since 1987. Affectionately known as KR to fans and friends, she releases her music on her own indie label Footlodgedindoor Music, originally founded in 1990 with previous band Wind May Do Damage. Her well received 1997 solo debut “Every Lurid Detail” (produced by David Kershaw) was recorded in Vancouver with most of Sarah McLachlan’s band and other west coast luminaries. Kathryn's graphic pose in the cover image created a stir. People either loved or didn’t love her defiant avoidance of a typical beauty shot, but all agreed it made for a strong debut.
Her critically acclaimed 2001-sophomore effort “My Little Flame” (produced by Thomas Ryder Payne) led to a management and label deal with Kindling Music/EMI Canada/later Warner Canada. Kathryn appeared on the cover of NOW Magazine in January 2002, and was "Miss November" in their 2003 annual calendar. NOW also playfully named her "Best Jingle Singer" in their "Best Of 2002" poll, adding the category especially in her honour. She responded by writing the song "Jingle Queen" (hidden at her website if you look hard enough). "My Little Flame" was re-released in 2003 as an Enhanced CD featuring Ron Sexsmith on the closing track, and was nominated for Pop Album of the Year at the 2003 Canadian Indie Awards.
From 2005’s “Kathryn Rose” (produced by Thomas Ryder Payne), the song "One Person" made the International Songwriting Competition semi-finals and the video charted for 23 straight weeks on Bravo! Television’s Top 30 chart. The album's sleeper hit "Yellowknife" still generates the most fan commentary. A lot of people seem to like to sing it when they're driving. After this release Kathryn amicably left her label deal and the Kindling/The Management Trust fold in favour of returning to her fully autonomous "Footlodgedindoor" roots.
Kathryn’s newest release, "Something I Can Use" (February 2010; advance copies available November 2009) is a CD compilation culling from her three solo albums with old, new, live and re-worked tracks, and marks her third creative collaboration with long time producer Thomas Ryder Payne.
Highlights of her escapades in music:
• Kathryn is the mother of two small children, married to actor/writer/union activist David Macniven.
• She sits on the Board of CIRAA, is a feature artist in a touring symphony pop concert series singing and selling her albums to orchestra audiences across North America, and for extra fun, she has a stellar trio appearing at prestigious events with friends and fellow artists Melanie Doane and Emilie-Claire Barlow.
• She has sung on well over 60 albums of other well-known artists. (To see a list, go to the Listen & Look page of this website and click on Selected Credits near the top.) Both Sarah Slean and Melanie Doane covered a different song of Kathryn’s in the 2007 and 2009 editions of the acclaimed Art Of Time Ensemble's “Songbook” series.
• Gene Simmons held her in an embrace for five full minutes beside a hotel pool in Brisbane while she was singing backups on Sarah McLachlan's 2004 “Afterglow” world tour.
• Kathryn opened CBC TV Opening Night’s 2002 “Mordecai Richler: A Celebration” with the national anthem in English and French, then closed the star-studded show with a solo performance of Kurt Weill’s “Alabama Song/Whisky Bar”.
• She brought the house down singing her own songs as special musical guest at the 2008 ACTRA Awards at the Carlu in Toronto. At a 2009 NDP banquet she took the stage right after Jack Layton finished his job as auctioneer and host Luba Goy dressed Kathryn in her wedding veil to sing her crowd fave "I Married Myself”.
• While secretly pregnant with her second baby, Kathryn conquered morning sickness live on national television every week as a band member in the last season of “Canadian Idol”, singing backups not only for the competitors but also for guest stars Anne Murray and Sir Tom Jones.
• In November 2009 Kathryn recorded Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" as a duet with NHL star Claude Lemieux (he sings!) for one of his routines with Shae-Lynn Bourne in CBC TV's hit show “Battle Of The Blades”, doubling her Facebook fanpage fans in the two days following the broadcast.
See? Never a dull moment.
“One of my favourite singers in Canada.” –Recording artist Sarah Slean
