Biography
From an impressionable age, Kathleen Williamson thought that music was the way we ought to converse with one another. Listening, observing, absorbing; she began learning, playing, singing and writing until eventually her own melodies threatened to entertain her, and only her, unless she developed the means to share them with other folk.
Born in England to an artistic mother and a guitar-playing engineer father, and with a brother born two and a half years earlier, Kathleen and her family migrated to Brisbane, Australia before moving to Sydney�s leafy north-west three years later. As a young girl, Kathleen took ballet, tap and jazz ballet classes, recorder, saxophone and piano lessons, joined school bands, choirs, theatre and dancing groups. Kathleen started classical singing tuition at the age of 14, moving into jazz and musical theatre in her late teens and early twenties. Musical influences were varied and many, including everything from Jimi Hendrix to Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Ella Fitzgerald; lots of jazz, folk, funk, blues, pop, rock and soul music was played throughout the house.
The musical relationship with her brother, John Phillip, started in childhood when the two kids made up songs together to record them on a cassette recorder, with John playing guitar and Kathleen singing. Not much has changed today, only the recording equipment and perhaps the calibre of the material. They still argue like brother and sister.
It was around this time that Kathleen really developed her poetry and journal writing, which was inevitably to lead her into lyric writing, evident in the strong focus, choice and abundance of words in her songs. The addition of her dancing feet and singer�s heart quickly developed into an enviable combination by any singer-songwriter�s means.
It is this versatility and eclecticism that has seen the frisky singer-songwriter collaborate with hip-hop artists The Herd, making an appearance as a featured vocalist on their first album and also appearing on Abi Tucker�s second album, �One December Moon�. As a member of the Jubilation vocal group, she has shared the stage with Evermore, Delta Goodrem, Jade MacRae and David Hobson.
In December 2008, Kathleen recorded her debut album, �Little While�, featuring nine songs that have survived the journey so far. Earmarked by Kathleen�s keening vocals and delicate arrangements, her cartwheeling songs are a little bit folk-rock and a little bit blues-pop, neatly caught by brother John Phillip on guitar and partner Corin Cooper on bass, making the core of the current line-up, and joined by Dave Hibbard on drums (The Badloves/Wendy Matthews/Mahalia Barnes), Nick Southcott on piano (The Band of the Giants/Grover) and Adrian Petlevanny on electric guitar (Emma Donovan).
Recorded at Free Energy Device studio in Camperdown, Sydney, over just four days, the album was co-produced by Williamson and Richard Belkner (Bertie Blackman/Triosk/Pivot) and mastered at Studios 301 by Oscar Gaona. All songs on the album were written by Kathleen Williamson from 2006 � 2008 in Sydney, Rome and London, with some arrangement contributions by John Phillip Williamson.
�This album has taken me a little while to release. Twenty seven years in fact. Two and a half of them spent writing and making demos of the songs and the rest of the time spent thinking about them, with only four days to actually record them. So depending on where you choose to place your emphasis, some things only take a little while, whereas some other things inevitably take a little while...�
Making a strong entrance into the world of independent music makers, Kathleen is planning more performances for 2009 to promote the album and a second release is in the pipeline for 2010.
Instrumentation
Kathleen Williamson - vocals, John Phillip - guitar, Corin Cooper - bass, Dave Hibbard - drums, Nick Southcott - Keys.
Discography
LP "Little While"
Streaming singles "Same Place", "Somehow" and "Soon", "Your Window", "Petrichor".