Catherine Howe

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 as one of the highest-regarded performers of her generation. Catherine is a 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.

Infobox Person
name = Catherine Howe


image_size = 280px
caption = Cover photo from 1978 single "Move On Over"
birth_name = Catherine Howe
birth_date = birth date|1950|05|17
birth_place = Halifax, West Yorkshire
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nationality = British
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known_for = Singer/Songwriter
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height = 5'6"
weight = 9 stones
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religion = Agnostic
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children = Jenny Hall
parents = David and Olive Howe
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website = [http://www.catherinehowe.co.uk www.catherinehowe.co.uk]
footnotes =

Early career: 1960s-70s

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". Catherine went on to appear in Barney Platts-Mill's film "Private Road". Surviving episodes of "Doctor Who" were released on the "Lost In Time" DVD series in 2004. In 1970, Catherine 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 Beatles' "A Taste of Honey" and the Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". However, "Reflection" ceased to trade when the album was on the point of release, and as a result it remained largely unheard until it was reissued in 2007 on the Numero label. The re-release met with universal critical acclaim; extraordinarily, for a debut album, gaining a five-star review from "Observer Music". This is even more remarkable considering the master tapes were by then lost; with the re-recording made from an original source copy. The vinyl print remains the holy grail of record collectors, selling for up to £1200-, with copies on the international market priced up to £1800-.

Howe featured on soundtrack recordings in the UK and Europe throughout the 1970s, and Ennio Morricone wrote a theme song for her. Catherine's second LP, "Harry", was released in 1975 on RCA. This contained her most famous song, the title track, which also gained her an Ivor Novello award. She was only the second female recording artist to achieve this. The song is unique as it has entered the public consciousness without achieving commercial sales-based success. In the same year, Catherine appeared on film as the singer during the title credits of the notorious British sex farce, Jim Atkinson's "Can You Keep It Up For A Week?" The original song, delicately crafted by the Ted Dicks/Hazel Adair team, seemed incongruous against the slap-stick comedy. The film was re-released on DVD in 2002. RCA released a follow-up album, "Silent Mother Nature" in 1976, winning "Folk Album of the Year" from the "Sunday Times". A single was released called "Until The Morning Comes" written by Scottish singer/guitarist Dave Kelly, and was performed on LWT's "Supersonic". The following year, the title tracks of both RCA LPs were re-released (together with the aforementioned single) on the EP "The Truth of the Matter" and was one of the top 75 selling EPs of 1977. Throughout that year Catherine appeared as a presenter and singer on BBC's top-rated family show "That's Life". Catherine's fourth album collection came two years later, with "Dragonfly Days", released on Ariola Records. That LP extended her style across a variety of genre - but to date remains the only record not reissued on CD. In 1979, the BBC filmed "Rhythm on 2: Catherine Howe and Judie Tzuke", a live concert at Ipswich's Corn Exchange. The following year, again for the BBC, Catherine featured on both the Jeremy Taylor and Sacha Distel shows.

Respite & return to music: 1980-00s

None of Howe's albums sold in large amounts at the time, and after "Dragonfly Days", she decided to retire from the music business. Catherine explains this chapter in her own words on the tradmusic.com website: "Despite promotion and tours with Andy Fairweather-Low, Chris de Burgh, David Soul and later with Randy Edleman, the albums and singles didn't sell enough. I thought it was because of me, but it was as much (I've since learned) because they weren't in the shops to buy. To remedy this it was suggested that maybe I should write 'country and western', maybe I should change my hair, maybe wear black leather. So the music business, which I loved, and I parted company. Like a bad marriage, some damage was sustained before separation took place..." However, in the mid 1980s she went on to record (with producers including Mike Batt) enough single records to fill another album - including a cover of Carole King's "Goin' Back". In 1981 Catherine recorded a vocal version of the theme from the "Inside moves" movie, with the Bobby Patrick band, singing live on the top-rated daytime TV show "Pebble Mill at One". This period culminated with a re-issue of the "Harry" single in 1984 (on public demand with the birth of Prince Harry). This was also the tenth anniversary year of a now classic recording. A year later, Catherine contributed two songs to the "Sounds of Yorkshire" LP: a re-recording of "Lucy Snow" ("Lucy Snowe") from the "Silent Mother Nature" album; and a new piece in a traditional vein, "Yorkshire Hills". In 1989 Catherine had a daughter, Jenny, and later earned a first-class degree in History and Religion from the Open University. She is currently working on a book on the life of the 19th century secularist George Holyoake as well as continuing with her song-writing. In 2000 Howe returned to recording, resulting five years later in a new CD, her fifth: "Princelet Street". This coincided with the launch of an [http://www.catherinehowe.co.uk official website] , and preceded the reissue of her 1970s albums "What a Beautiful Place" (with the Numero label), "Harry" (with BGO) and "Silent Mother Nature" (with BGO). Of "Princelet Street", Howe wrote: "My great-grandmother Susannah Constantine was born on Princelet Street in 1851, her mother worked as a silk winder, her father as a fancy comb maker. Lots of my family lived in or near the City of London in the early 1800s, and even before I knew this I used to go city walking there as a girl because it felt like coming home. Princelet Street the album is inspired by the street and a sense of family, past and present, and as I enjoyed writing and recording its songs I hope you'll enjoy hearing them..." Howe continues to work on new recordings, also giving occasional live performances. All of her currently available CDs can be purchased from [http://www.amazon.co.uk/s?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=catherine+howe Amazon] .

Discography

Albums & EPs

* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000LXSSV4 What A Beautiful Place] - 1971

* Il dio sotto la pelle OST - 1972

* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000EMSTPW Harry] - 1975

* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000EMSTPW Silent Mother Nature] - 1976

* Un genie, deux associes, une cloche OST - 1976

* The Truth of the Matter EP - 1977

* Dragonfly Days - 1979

* Sounds of Yorkshire (compilation) - 1985 (Contributes two tracks)

* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000E9X74S Princelet Street] - 2005

Singles

* Harry / When the sparrow flies - RCA, 1974

* What are friends for anyway? / Keep me talking - RCA, 1976

* Freedom enough / Lucy Snow - RCA, 1976

* Until the morning comes / Lucy Snow - RCA, 1976

* Sit down and think again / Someone's got to love you sometime - Ariola, 1978, produced by Mike Batt

* Move on over / Too far gone - Ariola, 1978

* Turn the corner singing / Too far gone - Ariola, 1979

* Quietly and softly / Daylight - Ariola, 1979

* When the night comes / How does love feel? - Ariola, 1980

* Goin' back / How does love feel? - Ariola, 1980

* Almost love (vocal version of "Inside moves" theme) / "Inside moves" theme (instrumental) - Breeze, 1981

* Harry / When the sparrow flies - RCA, 1984 reissue in blue and gold sleeve

Soundtracks

* It's possible

Title track from "God under the skin" ["Il dio sotto la pelle"] (1972)

Composer: Piero Piccioni / Director: Folco Quilici

* Keep it for me

Title track from " [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000BRVVB4 Can You Keep It Up For A Week?] " (1975)

Composer: Ted Dicks and Hazel Adair / Director: Jim Atkinson

* Glory, glory, glory

Theme song from "A genius, two friends and an idiot" ["Un genie, deux associes, une cloche"] (1976)

Composer: Ennio Morricone / Director: Damiano Damiani

elected film & TV appearances

* Dixon of Dock Green as Janet Sutcliffe - 1966 (TV)

* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0002XOZW4 Doctor Who] as Ara - 1967 (TV)

* The Wednesday play as Graziella - 1967 (TV)

* Z cars as Jenny Fisher - 1971 (TV)

* Private road as Iverna - 1971 (Film)

* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/s?url=search-alias%3Ddvd&field-keywords=can+you+keep+it+up+for+a+week Can you keep it up for a week?] as herself - 1974 (Film)

References & links

* [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/reviews/story/0,,1992667,00.html "Observer" review of "What A Beautiful Place"]
* [http://catherinehowe.co.uk/History.htm Official website biography]
* [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/41603-what-a-beautiful-place "What a Beautiful Place" review]
* [http://www.tradmusic.com/artistinfo.asp?artistID=1511 Biography on tradmusic.com]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/photonovels/underwater_menace/ Doctor Who Classic Series Photonovel: "The Underwater Menace" (1967) on bbc.co.uk]
* [http://platts-mills.com/ Barney Platts-Mills website, with details of "Private Road" DVD]
* [http://catherinehowe.co.uk/index.htm Official website]
* [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=130992249 MySpace page]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0397792/ Internet Movie Database (IMDb) page]