Kate Walsh

British singer/songwriter Kate Walsh became one of the most celebrated new artists in the U.K. in 2007 after the release of her album Tim's House -- though to the surprise of many, it wasn't her first release. Walsh was born in 1983 in Burnham-on-Crouch, a quiet fishing community in the town of Essex, and she was surrounded by a wide variety of music while growing up -- her father was a Pink Floyd fan, her mother liked Jimi Hendrix, and her older brother followed electronic music. While as a girl Walsh took piano lessons and developed a talent for interpreting the works of Debussy and Ravel, it wasn't until she picked up a guitar in her teens that she began writing her own music. Inspired by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Tori Amos, and Talk Talk, Walsh's songs were sad but beautiful tales of love and romantic disappointment that displayed a wisdom beyond her years, and when she enrolled in the London College of Music and Media at the age of 18, she met a representative from the independent Kitchenware label who took a keen interest in her music. Walsh's first album, Clocktower Park, was released by Kitchenware in 2003, but the disc came and went with little notice and she was soon dropped. Undaunted, Walsh continued to write and perform, and in 2006 began work on a second album with the help of producer and multi-instrumentalist Tim Bidwell. Walsh and Bidwell recorded the project on a shoestring budget at Bidwell's home studio, and the simple, low-key approach of Tim's House provided just the right settings for her music. Walsh released the album on her own Blueberry Pie label, and thanks to enthusiastic reviews and online exposure Tim's House became a minor hit in the U.K., topping the British iTunes download charts for two weeks. The album's success led Walsh to sign a deal with Mercury Records in the U.K., which promptly reissued Tim's House, while the album was released in the United States by the independent outfit Defend Music.

-Mark Deming
Allmusic.com