Catherine E. Richardson (born February 21, 1969), who goes professionally by Cathy Richardson, is a singer and songwriter from Chicago, Illinois.

Richardson grew up in west suburban Burr Ridge

Burr Ridge, Illinois

Burr Ridge is a suburb of Chicago, in Cook and DuPage Counties, Illinois. The population was 11,560 at the 2008 census.-Geography:Burr Ridge is located at ....

, Illinois and graduated from Hinsdale Central High School

Hinsdale Central High School

Hinsdale Central High School, or HCHS is a public four-year high school located at the corner of W. 55th St. and S. Grant St. in Hinsdale, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Founded in 1879, the school is well known for its large spending per student, academic...

 in Hinsdale

Hinsdale, Illinois

Hinsdale is a suburb of Chicago, Illinois; it is located partly in Cook County and mainly in DuPage County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 17,349 at the 2000 census. The town's ZIP code is 60521. The town has a rolling, wooded topography, with a quaint downtown and is a 30-minute...

, Illinois. Before starting her music career, Richardson worked as an auto mechanic and as a cashier at her father's gas station. She started her music career full-time in 1990.

Millions of American preschoolers have seen her on Noggin

Nick Jr.

Nick Jr. was a programming block on the Nickelodeon television channel, seen on Nickelodeon weekday mornings. It was aimed at a preschool-age audience ages 6 and under. On September 28, 2009, Nick Jr. became its own official channel, replacing Noggin...

's Jack's Big Music Show, and the Cathy Richardson Band has been voted Best Local Band in polls by the Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

and Fox News Chicago. She portrayed Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin

Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...

 in the original cast of the hit Off-Broadway musical "Love, Janis." She also sang Janis' vocal parts for Big Brother and the Holding Company

Big Brother and the Holding Company

Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane. They are best known as the band that featured Janis Joplin as their...

 during many of their recent live shows.

In 2004, Richardson and art director Bill Dolan were nominated for a Grammy award for best recording package for her album The Road to Bliss.

Richardson has been widely reported to be good friends with musicians Dennis DeYoung

Dennis DeYoung

Dennis DeYoung is an American singer, songwriter, musician and producer best known for being a founding member of the rock band Styx, a tenure that lasted from 1970 to 1999.-Early life:...

 and Jim Peterik

Jim Peterik

Jim Peterik is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as a member of the band Survivor and as vocalist and songwriter of the hit song "Vehicle" by The Ides of March...

.

After owning a house in Elmhurst

Elmhurst, Illinois

Elmhurst is a suburb of Chicago in DuPage and Cook Counties, Illinois. The population is 46,013 as of the 2008 US Census population estimate.-History:...

, Illinois for a time, Richardson now is based in San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

.

In 2008, Richardson became the new vocalist for San Francisco band Jefferson Starship

Jefferson Starship

Jefferson Starship is an American rock band formed in the early 1970s. The group is a spin-off from the iconic 1960s psychedelic/folk group Jefferson Airplane. The band has undergone several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the same Jefferson Starship name...

 and appears on the 2008 release Jefferson's Tree of Liberty

Jefferson's Tree of Liberty

Jefferson's Tree of Liberty is a 2008 studio album by Jefferson Starship, released on September 2, 2008. It is the tenth studio album recorded by the band under the Jefferson Starship name, the first studio album since 1999's Windows of Heaven and the first on a major label by the band since 1989...

.

On Saturday February 28, 2009, Jefferson Starship begin their tour in Chester, Pennsylvania. The set included many Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship songs and others by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger

Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...

.