Kathryn Keats

Artist Information

Biography

KATHRYN KEATS is a soulful singer and prolific songwriter.
You can find more about Kathryn's music and her life story, which has allowed her to be of service to many, in national and local media, including: The Oakland Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, Broadway World, Reader's Digest, NPR, The Gil Gross Show, The Montel Williams Show, and The Mancow Muller Show, NPR and Woman Magazine, UK.

Keats is co-writing and recording a new CD with acclaimed producer and drummer, Narada Michael Walden, Tarpan Records in Marin County, Ca. Walden says, "Kat is bringing the message of hope, light, love and faith to people's lives." Walden says. "I am proud of her and her divine mission."

Gil Gross, Host of The Gil Gross Show – KGO Radio, ABC "I have loved Kathryn Keats music from the day I first heard her sing, but even being a fan of her recordings did not prepare me for seeing her perform live. She is a great live performer holding her audience willing captives to each turn of a melody and the drama of every lyric. She more than sings. She inhabits a song and involves each member of the audience in its drama, joy or sorrow. There are performers for whom a performance is a night out. When Kathryn performs it’s a lifetime shared with us in a single evening. If you want to merely hear some tunes, there are many people who will do. If you want a real experience in music, there is Kathryn Keats.

Kathryn's current show, The Kathryn Keats Show, features a who’s who list of world-renowned musicians: Grammy-Nominated Bassist, Michael Manring; Album of the Year Winner, Trumpeter, Jeff Oster; Master Percussionist, Joe Venegoni; Guitar Virtuoso, Tom Lattanand; Critically Acclaimed Pianist, Kelly Park; Celebrated Flutist, Barbara Else; and from the Steve Winwood Band, Brazilian-born Drummer, Celso Alberti.

Kathryn Keats has played a variety of venues, including the renowned Yoshi's Oakland Jazz Club, the Bitter End and Symphony Space in New York City, the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles, the Plush Room and the Fairmont in San Francisco, as well as Mill Valley's premier showcase, the Throckmorton Theatre, Theatre on the Square, the Beacon Theatre, Great American Music Hall,The Mint, The Fairmont, to name a few.

Keats has been involved with music since the age of five, working as a teenager with such legends as Tennessee Ernie Ford, Loretta Lynn and Word Baker. She initially studied at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). Her studio work has included soundtracks and recordings for various media producers.

KATHRYN KEATS’ “After the Silence”, is available at www.kathrynkeats.com and Amazon; or download additional Kathryn Keats’ CD's at i-Tunes, Amazon and Rhapsody.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS OF THE KATHRYN KEATS SHOW …

MICHAEL MANRING – This Grammy nominated artist and Bassist of the Year winner is hailed by many as the world's leading solo bassist. www.manthing.com

JOE VENEGONI – Award winning composer, musical director, and master percussionist. He has received International critical acclaim on the Multiphase and Water Lily Acoustics record labels. www.myspace.com/joevenegoni

CELSO ALBERTI – Brazilian born drummer for such artists as Craig Chaquico, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Jose Neto, Stef Burns and most recently, the legendary Steve Winwood. www.celsoalberti.com

KELLY PARK – Former faculty member at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he received the "Mercer Ellington Jazz Masters Award" for his performance mastery of piano, vibes and drums. www.kellyparkmusic.com

Instrumentation

Kathryn Keats - Singer/Songwriter
Michael Manring - Fretless Bass
Joe Venegoni - Percussion, Harmonicas, World Percussion
Celso Alberti - Drums
Kelly Park - Vocals, Vibes, Acoustic Piano, Key Boards

Discography

Kathryn Keats, "After the Silence" 2007 Keats Publishing / BMI
"Make It Last" 2009 Keats Publishing / BMI "Into the Light" Keats Publishing / BMI "Slow My Mind Down" Keats Publishing / BMI
"Hold Me" / BMI "Going Home" "Every Time I See You" "Tender Highway" Ace of Hearts" "Mark" "Peephole" and more have been played on radio and the web.

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Twitter
• CBS/KPIX News Feature
• Kathryn Keats
• Oakland Tribune
• Marin Independent Journal - Paul Liberatore
• Readers Digest Feature

Audio

• The In Between
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• Games with My Heart
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• My Life
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• A Thousand Years **
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• Lonely Won't Leave Me Alone
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• That's What She Told Me Short
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• Live On With Love
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• Tender HighwayCapital
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• I'm Caught EPK short Throckmorton Dec 17 Cuts Act 1
  Listen  
• MarkShort_MP3
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Video

Kathryn Keats - Lonely Won't Leave Me Alone at Yoshi's Jazz Club Oakland, Ca 2010

Photo Gallery

Press

• Singer Kathryn Keats Taking Back Music 2010 [+ Show ]
  

  She's also writing and recording a new CD with acclaimed producer Narada Michael Walden at Tarpan Re...She's also writing and recording a new CD with acclaimed producer Narada Michael Walden at Tarpan Records in Marin County. "Kat is bringing the message of hope, light, love and faith to people's lives," Walden says. "I am proud of her and her divine mission."
  

• At Yoshi's Oakland the Show Went On 2010
  

  As downtown Oakland erupted in protest, Kathryn Keats sang.

• Singer Kathryn Keats Featured CBS 5 2010
  

  Emmy award winning reporter and journalist Joe Vazquez features Kathryn Keats on CBS 5. 2010

• View from the Bay Kathryn Keats Feature Interview 2010
  

  Kathryn Keats on View from the Bay

• Readers Digest [+ Show ]
  

  Singer/songwriter Kathryn Keats delivers a powerful set of beautifully- written and recorded songs d...Singer/songwriter Kathryn Keats delivers a powerful set of beautifully- written and recorded songs dealing with life, love and survival.
  Check out Kathryn's amazing, chilling and inspiring story in the April, '07 issue of Reader's Digest Magazine. "After The Silence" marks
  the artist's first CD - an evocative and razor-sharp collection of ten impeccably-crafted and moving compositions.
  

• San Francisco Chronicle [+ Show ]
  

  Reclaiming an Abandoned Life Elizabeth Fernandez, Chronicle Staff Writer Sunday, May 20, 2007 ...Reclaiming an Abandoned Life
  Elizabeth Fernandez, Chronicle Staff Writer
  Sunday, May 20, 2007
  
  As she sat on the witness stand testifying against the man she loved, a man who'd tortured and humiliated her, Ellen Munger's eye caught his.
  He winked. In that gesture, Munger felt an iciness that cut to her bones.
  Kenneth Ford would never let her go.
  [Podcast: Emerging from 20 years of silence.]
  Not after the jury trial that found in her favor, not even after her batterer was sent to a mental hospital.
  Ford wanted her dead.
  He was schizophrenic. And he'd vowed to kill her, a promise he made repeatedly, demonically. "He wants to kill his girlfriend,'' said court records, "by cutting her in pieces and hanging the pieces in trees along the beach.''
  Once Ford was released from psychiatric lockup, once he was back out on the streets, Munger knew her life was in peril. There was only one thing for her to do. She had to wipe herself out of existence.
  With the help of the Alameda County victims assistance program, she legally changed her name and became Kathryn Keats. She cut ties to everyone she knew, apart from her father, sister and one close friend. And she gave up the highly promising career she'd launched as a singer. It was an excruciating loss.
  Later, when she married, she told her husband little about her past life. When they had two children, they, too, knew nothing of their mother's secret.
  Always she looked over her shoulder. And not for a minute did she stop wishing she could once again sing professionally.
  For 22 years, Ellen Munger did not exist.
  Then she learned that Ford had died.
  Now she's reclaiming her life at age 48.
  
  Ellen Munger was just 5 when she made a big announcement to her family: "I'm going to be a singer when I grow up,'' she said.
  Clad in patent leather shoes and a poufy dress, she'd performed for the first time -- "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'' -- at her grade school in Evansville, Ind. There on stage, she felt at home.
  For the next decade, she single-mindedly pursued music -- singing in school talent shows, nursing homes, the local theater; she also studied tap dance and ballet. The summer of her freshman year of high school, she performed six shows daily at Nashville's Opryland, the youngest on stage. She appeared several times on "The Mike Douglas Show."
  In her junior year, she was accepted to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, but less than two years later was sent home. "I wouldn't eat,'' she says. "I didn't have anorexia, I just didn't want to eat.''
  In 1975, just before her 18th birthday, she persuaded her parents to send her to New York. There, she studied music and won enough minor roles to help pay the bills. The following year, she auditioned for a radical theatrical production, "Let My People Come.'' The show called for onstage nudity. Munger was dubious, but signed on because she'd earn her Equity card.
  The show's musical director was Ken Ford, 13 years her senior. Munger was quickly smitten with the long-haired, green-eyed musician. "He was very talented, and he thought I was really gifted,'' she says.
  Before long, they were living together. Munger did a thousand performances of the show, living in Philadelphia and touring in the United States and Canada for five years. She and Ford also wrote four shows together; two were produced.
  Ford was a gifted musician, but during this time a psychosis was seeping in. He started hearing voices, would become agitated and paranoid. For hours he'd recite a series of numbers, believed that shadows on the wall were spirits.
  When he struck Munger the first time, he readily apologized.
  "I was in complete shock,'' she says. "I didn't know anything about mental illness or domestic violence. So I got ready for the show. I thought it would never happen again.''
  But it did, over and over, and each time she forgave and tried to forget.
  "I loved him,'' she says. "It is horrible to watch someone struggle with mental illness. Plus, my future was invested in our partnership. I decided I was going to save him from his demons.''
  Ford's mental illness worsened, and he developed various personalities. He used illegal drugs, had sudden flares of depression, anger, incoherence. The abuse became frequent, ritualistic.
  He'd sexually assault her, put her in the bathtub and urinate on her, tie her up and beat her with a belt, cut himself and smear blood on her, she says. Twice she left him, but he would pull her back in.
  "He was very good at seduction. He told me that I was the only one in his world that he'd ever loved, that he felt such a kinship with.''
  In 1983, the couple moved to Oakland, down the block from Munger's sister.
  There, for 54 days, Munger says, he held her captive, tying her up at times, feeding her tomato soup and forcing her to eat cigarette butts, threatening her and her family. Munger spent her days paralyzed by fear, convinced that if she tried to run, he'd kill her.
  Her concerned sister showed up, and promptly called police. That May day, Ford was taken to Highland Hospital in a straitjacket. He was later released after telling medical officials he'd go home to Pennsylvania to get help. Munger's family flew him back East. On Aug. 2, Ford called Munger from a Philadelphia bus station. He told her he was coming to get her.
  "Finally,'' she says, "I woke up and decided to fight for my life.''
  Her case was assigned to Leo Dorado, a young deputy district attorney.
  On Aug. 7, Ford showed up at Munger's sister's home dressed in a long white robe, white wig and no shoes. Forewarned, Oakland police took him into custody, returning him to the psychiatric unit at Highland Hospital. He was initially kept on a 72-hour hold, then on a 14-day commitment.
  
  Now an Alameda County Superior Court judge, Dorado sifts through a stack of yellowing documents in his chambers. When he became a judge in 1988, Dorado retained few files from his days as a prosecutor. But Munger's he kept.
  "I've never had a case like this before or since,'' he says.
  The task was unique for the felony prosecutor: to prevent a potential tragedy from occurring. The hospital had determined that Ford was sufficiently stable, and therefore was required to release him. At the time, it was not a criminal violation to stalk or make a threat of great bodily injury or death.
  Ford presented himself as an intelligent person, calm and well spoken, Dorado said. "But it was so clear what he was capable of doing and what he would do. The jury would have to understand the real danger he posed.''
  Dorado had just a few weeks to prepare his unprecedented case: a civil proceeding with a criminal standard.
  Numerous people filed affidavits attesting that Ford was dangerous and violently insane, including the director of the C.G. Jung Center of Philadelphia. Ford was fixated on Munger, they wrote, and vowed to disembowel her.
  "Domestic violence was not recognized by the law back then -- there wasn't a phrase for it," Dorado says. "It was a considerable hurdle not only to make the jurors understand, but also to empathize.
  "I didn't know if she would be strong enough to go through it, not just the dreaded cross-examination, but the formality of the courtroom, to tell in graphic detail about her abuse to 12 strangers.''
  The Superior Court trial lasted 31/2 weeks.
  "Every day I'd look at her and wonder if she'd hold up,'' says Dorado. "She's a very tough lady, a classic survivor.''
  Albert Wax, Ford's public defender, says Munger was a "very good'' witness.
  "She convinced the jury that he was a danger to her,'' says Wax, now in private practice in the East Bay.
  But for Munger, testifying was the hardest thing she'd ever done.
  "It was torture,'' she says. "This was a time of drugs, sex, rock 'n' roll. My father heard every word. All the things you'd never want your parents to hear, he heard. And I was in a room with Ken, trying to take his freedom in order to save my life.''
  The jury believed her. On Sept. 20, Ford was remanded into the custody of the state Department of Mental Health for treatment.
  "At least for the time being, she is safe,'' Dorado thought. "I hoped that over a longer time, he would stabilize. Still, it was an unresolved situation. I knew the mortal danger she was in."
  Ford's commitment was for only six months.
  
  Munger saw only one solution: to go underground.
  The Alameda County district attorney's victim/witness assistance program helped her legally change her name to Kathryn Keats -- Kathryn because it was her grandmother's name and Keats because she liked the poet. She moved to a tiny apartment under Interstate 580.
  She quit singing, walked away from every facet of life she'd known.
  She got a paralegal degree from Samuel Merritt College, but wasn't really interested in that line of work. Briefly, she worked as a political canvasser, then for a few years as an assistant for famed photographers including Herb Ritts and Mary Ellen Mark.
  "I literally disappeared from the face of the earth as Ellen,'' she says. "I disappeared as a singer and composer and performer. No one who knew me knew who I was.''
  In 1989, while managing a San Francisco acting studio, she met actor Richard Conti. In 1993, they married.
  They had two sons, Andrew, now 12, and Lorenzo, 10. Keats spent their younger years as a stay-at-home mother. These days she shuttles them to swim practice and skate parks. The backyard pool at their home in San Rafael is the gathering place for the neighborhood kids. The family enjoys playing music together and making home movies.
  Until recently, her children didn't know her real name. Conti, too, didn't know much about her past.
  "There were times we'd be out and she would see someone she'd known as Ellen and it would freak her out,'' says Conti. "She'd abruptly say she had to go home -- she never explained why. Or if a car was parked too long in front of her apartment, I'd have to go check it out. She would also have major night trauma, she'd wake up crying and shaking. I didn't really push her on it. I felt she would tell me when she was ready. I'm kind of easy that way. I just was accepting.''
  Periodically, Keats phoned an acquaintance back East to ask about Ford, who eventually became a street person.
  In June 2005, she learned he was dead, apparently of lung cancer.
  For hours, she cried, relieved but sad. Then she walked, walked for miles thinking of loss, her own lost years, Ford's as well. She'd wanted to save them both, but in the end could save only herself.
  She started coming out, first to her family.
  "I was like, shocked, but I got over it in about two weeks,'' says her son Andrew with the equanimity of youth.
  "I didn't realize the enormity of it until Ken was dead,'' says her husband. "Since she got the monkey off her back, it has been wonderful and crazy. Watching her perform -- this is her life and for so many years it was taken from her.''
  She's completed her first CD, "After the Silence,'' which traces her journey. Eager to help other survivors of domestic abuse, she's headlining a May 23 benefit at the Fairmont Hotel on behalf of Partners Ending Domestic Abuse.
  She's reclaiming what was hers -- her identity -- but as Kathryn Keats, not as Ellen Munger; there's too much pain wrapped up in her real name.
  "For me the greatest lesson is do not give up your dream, not if you are 47 or 67 or 87. I had to stop my life for a long time, but no dream should ever be lost,'' she says.
  "Now I am back in music. I'm back in my real life.''
  
  Online resources
  For information on Kathryn Keats' CD, visit her Web site:
  links.sfgate.com/ZED
  
  Keats at benefit
  Kathryn Keats headlines a benefit for Partners Ending Domestic Abuse on Wednesday at the Fairmont Hotel. Cocktails are at 6 p.m., and dinner and the program starts at 7 p.m. For tickets and information, call (415) 626-8709.
  E-mail Elizabeth Fernandez at efernandez@sfchronicle.com.
  This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
  
  

• San Jose Mercury News [+ Show ]
  

  she's played a variety of venues, including the Bitter End and Symphony Space in New York City, the... she's played a variety of venues, including the Bitter End and Symphony Space in New York City, the Plush Room and the Fairmont in San Francisco, as well as Mill Valley's Throckmorton Theater. She also continues to perform at events that raise funds for and awareness about domestic violence, including delivering the keynote address at the Alameda County Day of Remembrance.
  She recently joined the board of directors of the nonprofit organization Chords for Change, which provides music therapy for residents at domestic violence shelters. She's also recorded a full-length CD, "After the Silence," available at www.kathrynkeats.com.
  Her songs can be downloaded at iTunes or sampled on her website. She's also writing and recording a new CD with acclaimed producer Narada Michael Walden at Tarpan Records in Marin.
  "Kat is bringing the message of hope, light, love and faith to people's lives," Walden says. "I am proud of her and her divine mission."
  

• Marin Magazine 2010
  

  Feature on Kathryn Keats and Music in this high end monthly magazine.

Setlist

Original Concert. Set List, Demo Recordings and Concert Footage available upon request.
Two Sets - including 15-minute intermission.
Genre: Original Adult Contemporary, Jazz, R&B.
Concert suitable for all ages.

Basic Requirements

Calendar