portrait of this blog's author - by Stephen Blackman 2008

Monday, June 11, 2018

CATHERINE HOWE


Now this is interesting and it is rare that we stumble across a voice we like that we have never heard of. The text from Plain & Fancy about Catherine Howe's album 'What A Beautiful Place' goes some way to explain this but ultimately it is well worth listening to and rewarding if you care for crystal clear singing, interesting songwriting and accomplished musicianship. Essentially English in tone and sound and none the worse for that. If anything might be accused of being a bit too 'nice', but on a sunny day here it lifts the spirits and fits with the weather and sunshine perfectly

Catherine Howe - What a Beautiful Place - The Rockasteria







Catherine Howe is a female English singer-songwriter. She began a successful acting career in the late 1960s, though has since gained a cult following on the folk music scene ('one of the great unrecognised voices...' - Record Collector 2007) as one of the highest-regarded performers of her generation ('Catherine Howe was a Kate Bush before her time... ' - Observer Music 2007) Catherine is an Ivor Novello award winning songwriter who has earned top-class reviews in all major music periodicals both in the UK and the US, including Folk Album of the Year from The Sunday Times. Following a gap of more than two decades, during which she raised her daughter and gained a first-class honours degree, Catherine Howe has returned to song-writing and recording, also giving occasional performances.(check out Youtube and there are some contemporary clips of her working live at The Tower of Song
Howe trained as an actress at the Corona Drama School in London. She commenced a successful acting career in the late 1960s, performing in contemporary television dramas such as Z Cars, The Wednesday Play, Doctor Who and Dixon of Dock Green. Howe went on to appear in Barney Platts-Mill's film Private Road. In 1970, Howe met Andrew Cameron Miller, an executive at Reflection, a subsidiary of CBS Records, and as a result recorded her debut album What A Beautiful Place at Trident Studios in London, in February 1971. Miller paired Howe with Bobby Scott, an American pianist and record producer who had previously co-written the the Hollies' He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother.




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