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Kate Nash
Background information
Birth name	Kate Marie Nash
Born	6 July 1987 (1987-07-06) (age 21) London, England [1]
Genre(s)	Indie pop, piano pop
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar, synth, keyboard, bass
Years active	2007-present
Label(s)	Moshi Moshi, Fiction
Website	KateNash.co.uk

Kate Marie Nash^[2] (born 6 July 1987) is an English^[3] singer songwriter based in London. She had a UK #2 hit "Foundations" in 2007, followed by the platinum selling UK number 1 album Made of Bricks.

Career

Nash started her career in 2007 and her music category is labelled 'pop/indie/other'^{citation needed}. Kate says "I usually create my music by looking through my diary, picking out creative words to express my life...and turn them into songs"^{cite this quote}.

Early years

Kate Nash was born in London to an English father and Irish mother^[4][5]; she grew up in Harrow, North London. Nash first became interested in music during her childhood. She learned how to play the piano at Sandbach School. She attended St. John Fisher School (in Pinner) and moved onto the St Joan of Arc Catholic School, Rickmansworth. She was taught guitar by teacher Louis Michelle. She studied Theatre at the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in South London. She auditioned at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School but was rejected, after which she fell down a flight of stairs, breaking her foot. During her recovery, she was housebound and unable to move, so her mum bought her an electric guitar. Nash used this time to focus on her songwriting: she began to write some new songs, finished old ones and decided that she would book a gig at a local bar in Harrow called Trinity on Gayton Road for herself, to showcase her songs. She subsequently decided to start a career in music. After several gigs, Nash uploaded her music to the social networking website MySpace. Nash found a manager for herself before proceeding to look for producers for her music.

Moshi Moshi Records

Nash's debut was a single—Caroline's a Victim/Birds—produced and recorded in Iceland by Valgeir Sigurðsson and released through Moshi Moshi in February 2007. The release was limited to 1000 copies, and was available on only 7" vinyl. Due to demand another 1000 copies were made and sold out. A video for the song was released and received airplay on MTV2. The video, directed by Kinga Burza. The B-side, "Birds", later featured on her debut album, Made of Bricks.

Fiction Records

In April 2007, Nash was signed to the Polydor offshoot Fiction Records.^[6] A month later, Nash was mocked through a parody of her song, "Caroline's a Victim" entitled "LDN Is A Victim". The song mocked Nash and Lily Allen, amongst others, for singing in a Cockney-drawl, despite their privileged backgrounds.^[7]

Nash's second single and first through Fiction Records, "Foundations", which she co-wrote with producer Paul Epworth, was released on June 18, 2007 and reached number two in the official UK Singles Chart.

Following "Foundations", Fiction announced plans to bring forward the release of Nash's debut album to August 6, 2007. The album, Made of Bricks, produced by Paul Epworth, included many of the tracks she had been performing on her two nationwide tours.

The album was leaked to filesharing networks days before its commercial release, and has received mixed reviews, The Independent describing it as being in "pole position for worst album of the year."^[8] The album reached number 1 in the UK charts.^[9]

During mid-2007, Nash performed at numerous festivals including Wireless Festival, Bestival, the Electric Gardens, Glastonbury, Latitude, Reading and Leeds, Oxegen and T in the Park. She made her official TV performance debut on Later with Jools Holland.

Nash features on rapper Kano's album London Town, in a song titled "Me & My Microphone". She is also featured in the song "Look What You've Done" from Lethal Bizzle's latest album, Back To Bizznizz.

Regarding the recording of a new album, Nash told NME that she had been inspired by The Supremes and has written a song called "Cat Song" in their honour.^[10] She is also set to release a duet single with Billy Bragg, a cover of The Shangri-Las "Give Storey A Great Big Kiss".

On 20 February 2008 she received a BRIT award for Best Female artist.

Personal life

Nash underwent heart surgery in 2005, for tachycardia.^[11]

Discography

Main article: Kate Nash discography

Awards

References

External links

• Official Kate Nash website
• Official French Kate Nash website
• Interview and Analysis by Joan Anderman for The Boston Globe
• NPR Video
• SuicideGirls Interview with Garrett Faber
• Concert photos of Kate Nash