News

Katy B Releases Album

• 24th Feb 2011

As soon as you heard the tune, you knew that you’d chanced on something special. A lurching, slashing evocation of both the pleasure and the danger at the heart of the best club nights out you’ve ever had. And, crucially, a girl’s voice. This voice was high and pretty, yet strong and indomitable. It wrapped its creamy virtuosity around lyrics about the sub-bass going boom and inhaling in the fumes. It was fiercely urban, yet totally pop, and soul and slightly alien. Apparently, the voice was called Katy B. And it was, indisputably, On A Mission.

The young Katy was an R&B loving Peckham girl who wasn’t satisfied with just listening to her favourite Boyz II Men and Destiny’s Child records.. Her father was a soul fan and had been a singer himself, so her parents were supportive and sent her to The BRIT School in Croydon.

Katy got her first break at the tender age of 17 after using the schools studio to get some demos made. DJ NG and an MC called Versatile hooked up with Katy on 'Tell Me', one of the first and most enduringly popular UK funky house anthems. Geeneus (producer/DJ & co-owner of the legendary Rinse FM) got in touch; “As soon as I heard her I knew there was something about her voice”. He and his compadre Zinc immediately fell in love with ‘the voice’, lyrics and melody lines. It became increasingly obvious that their worlds were destined to merge musically and work on Katy’s debut. “It just seemed natural. Geeneus and Zinc were providing the best tracks and I loved working with them.”

The process honed Katy’s fledgling songwriting skills. Let’s be clear: the beats hail from her stellar cast of producers, including Benga and Benny Ill (Horsepower Productions). But the songs are all Katy’s own work. Before they knew it they had an album and that track, the Benga-produced smash ‘Katy On A Mission’. One of last year’s defining singles: in its first week alone the video clocked up over 100,000 You Tube views, now totaling more than 10 million plays, whilst the single sat in the top ten for 6 weeks. She then rounded off the year with the huge dancefloor smash ‘Lights On’. Featuring Ms Dynamite, it went straight in at number 4. Not bad from a 21 year girl from Peckham.

One of the most eagerly-awaited dance albums of recent times, On A Mission is a genre-defining classic. A 12-track mix of underground beats, pop hooks and a lyrical glance at real life that is reflectively soulful and utterly hedonistically carefree. “It’s me, just as a young woman, partying, relationships… the album’s definitely where I’m coming from. Tracks like Disappear and Easy Please Me are all experiences in my life and emotions that I’ve felt.”

Normal life never sounded so exciting.

On A Mission tracklist:
01. Power On Me
02. Katy On A Mission
03. Why You Always Here
04. Witches Brew
05. Movement
06. Go Away
07. Disappear
08. Broken Record
09. Lights On Feat. MS Dynamite
10. Easy Please ME
11. Perfect Stranger
12. Hard To Get

KATY LIVE

As the album developed, so did Katy’s live performance. Her ten-piece live group, complete with horn section, are accomplished enough to pull off a triumphant recent support slot with John Legend and The Roots. Word of mouth about these early shows has led to extraordinary demand for her first headline tour in May 2011. Small regional venues have had to be hastily bumped up to 1500-2500 seaters, while the immediate sell-out of her London show forced an additional date – which is also now sold out. Katy is one of the UK’s hottest tickets for 2011.

Katy supports Tinie Tempah on his UK tour throughout February and heads out on her own headline tour in April/May, dates below.

UK Tour Dates:

29/04 – Academy 1 – Oxford – SOLD OUT
30/04 – Academy – Bristol – SOLD OUT
01/05 – Millenium Music Hall – Cardiff
04/05 – Academy 1 – Manchester
05/05 – Arches – Glasgow – SOLD OUT
06/05 – Other Rooms – Newcastle – SOLD OUT
07/05 – University – Leeds
09/05 – Rescue Rooms – Nottingham – SOLD OUT
10/05 – The Institute – Birmingham
11/05 – UEA – Norwich – SOLD OUT
12/05 – KOKO – London – SOLD OUT
17/05 – Pyramids – Portsmouth
18/05 – KOKO – London – SOLD OUT

katyonamission.com