Biography

Kat Goldman grew up in Toronto, Ontario. She began her career as a singer-songwriter while attending university in Boston, Massachusetts in the early 1990s. She began frequenting Cambridge

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

 coffeehouse

Coffeehouse

A coffeehouse or coffee shop is an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee or other hot beverages. It shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. As the name suggests, coffeehouses focus on...

s and busking

Busking

Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...

 in Harvard Square

Harvard Square

Harvard Square is a large triangular area in the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street, and John F. Kennedy Street. It is the historic center of Cambridge...

.

She returned to Toronto in 1996 and began playing local venues. Gavin Brown

Gavin Brown (musician)

Gavin "Golden" Brown is a multi-platinum, multi-Juno Award-winning Canadian record producer, songwriter, and musician.Brown is based in Toronto, Canada and Los Angeles, California. Having worked with a variety of acts, Gavin is best known for both his ability to develop and break young artists,...

 (producer for Sarah Harmer

Sarah Harmer

Sarah Harmer is a Canadian singer-songwriter and activist.-Biography:Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Harmer gained her first exposure to the musician's lifestyle as a teenager, when her older sister Mary started taking her to concerts by the well-known Tragically Hip. At the age of 17, she...

 and Billy Talent

Billy Talent

Billy Talent is a Canadian post-hardcore band from Streetsville, Ontario. They formed in 1993 with Ben Kowalewicz as the lead vocalist, Ian D'Sa on lead guitar, bassist Jon Gallant and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk ....

) took an interest in her music and in 2000 they collaborated on the album, The Great Disappearing Act. Her website describes this as the "break-out achievement in her career," noting that after this she was opening for artists like Sarah Slean

Sarah Slean

Sarah Hope Slean is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and occasional actress from Pickering, Ontario. She has released eleven albums to date .-Major recordings:...

, Martin Sexton

Martin Sexton

Martin Sexton is an American singer-songwriter and producer originally from Syracuse, New York.- Early life :Sexton grew up the tenth of twelve children in a working class Irish-American family. He acquired his first guitar, a Sears & Roebuck acoustic, at the age of 14 and later played in local...

, the Waifs

The Waifs

The Waifs are an Australian folk rock band formed in 1992 by Josh Cunningham , and sisters Vikki Thorn and Donna Simpson...

, Regina Spektor

Regina Spektor

Regina Ilyinichna Spektor is a Russian American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her music is associated with the anti-folk scene centered in New York City's East Village.-Early life:...

, the Strawbs

The Strawbs

Strawbs are an English rock band founded in 1964. Although the band started out as a bluegrass group they eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock, glam rock and progressive rock...

, Dar Williams

Dar Williams

Dar Williams is an American singer-songwriter specializing in pop folk.She is a frequent performer at folk festivals and has toured with such artists as Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patty Griffin, Ani DiFranco, The Nields, Shawn Colvin, Girlyman, Joan Baez, and Catie Curtis.-Biography:Williams was born...

, Jonatha Brooke

Jonatha Brooke

Jonatha Brooke is an American folk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist from Illinois.Her music merges elements of folk, rock and pop, often with poignant lyrics and complex harmonies...

, and Eric Anderson

Eric Anderson

Eric Anderson may refer to:* Eric Anderson , British educator* Eric Anderson , English soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross* Eric Anderson , American basketball player...

. The album's title track earned Goldman an honorable mention in the Pop/Top 40 category at the 2002 International Songwriting Competition

International Songwriting Competition

The International Songwriting Competition is an annual song contest based in Nashville, TN, whose mission is to provide the opportunity for both aspiring and established songwriters to have their songs heard in a professional, international arena. ISC is designed to nurture the musical talent of...

.

It was also around this time that she was picked up by the New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 based management firm for Williams and Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...

. Goldman began doing shows at venues like the Bottom Line, the Bitter End

The Bitter End

The Bitter End is a nightclub in New York City's Greenwich Village. It opened its doors in 1961 at 147 Bleecker Street under the auspices of owner Fred Weintraub. The club changed its name to The Other End during the 1970s...

, and the Living Room

The Living Room

The Living Room is a music venue on Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side in New York City that was established in 1988. The Living Room is co-owned by Steve Rosenthal and Jennifer Gilson. The Living Room has showcased some of the best of New York City’s singer/songwriter, alt-country, and rock world...

.

In 2002 a fan of Goldman's shared two cassette tapes of her music with James Keelaghan

James Keelaghan

James Keelaghan is a Juno award-winning Canadian folk singer-songwriter. Born in Calgary, Alberta and now based in Winnipeg, many of his songs, such as "Kiri's Piano", about the internment of Japanese Canadians, and "October 70", about the FLQ crisis, are inspired by events and figures in Canadian...

. Keelaghan passed them on to the Winnipeg band, The Duhks

The Duhks

The Duhks is a band from Winnipeg, Canada.The members play a blend of Canadian soul, gospel, North American folk, Brazilian samba, old time country string band, zydeco, and Irish dance music. Hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba, their music draws heavily on all of the North American musical traditions,...

. The Duhks then recorded Goldman's song, "Annabel" on their 2002 album, Your Daughters & Your Sons

Your Daughters & Your Sons

Your Daughters and Your Sons is a Studio Album by the group The Duhks. It is released under the Sugar Hill Records label.-Track listing:...

. Leonard Podolak says the band took quickly to the song: "'Annabel' we got from Kat Goldman, who's a great songwriter from Toronto. It's a song she wrote when her grandmother passed away. When I played it for Jessica [Havey], it just naturally came together. When we arranged it, it took about 15 minutes. A lot of songs are like pulling teeth, but this one just happened. It's one of our favorite ones."

In 2004 Goldman was planning to move to New York when she was severely injured in a freak accident (a car crashed into the storefront of a bakery she was visiting). She spent the next two years in recovery.

In 2007 Goldman released the album, Sing Your Song. Dar Williams calls the album "wonderful–I can't imagine the world without it." Some of the songs, such as "Driving All Night", have received favorable attention on CBC Radio

CBC Radio

CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...

 programs. One reviewer called the album "a record to play at night when you’re feeling a bit introspective and maybe even lonely." Another describes the album as "consistently life-affirming until the end and more importantly, without betraying a hint of sentimentality." Goldman's performance of the title track, "Sing Your Song" once again earned her an honorable mention at the International Songwriting Competition for 2007.

Later in 2007, several songs from Goldman's earlier album, including "Everyone's Getting Married", were included on the soundtrack to the Lifetime Television

Lifetime Television

Lifetime Television, often referred to as Lifetime TV, or most commonly, Lifetime, is an American cable television specialty channel devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The cable network is owned by A&E Television Networks...

 film I Me Wed

I Me Wed

I Me Wed is a 2007 made-for-TV romantic comedy directed by Craig Pryce.When Isabel Darden, a successful, attractive 30-year-old woman, grows tired of people asking her "when are you going to get married?," she decides to honor the person she loves the most by tying the knot with herself. But then...

. As of 2008 her upcoming gigs include performances at places such as Club Passim

Club Passim

Club Passim is a folk music club in the Harvard Square area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was opened by Joyce Kalina and Paula Kelley in 1958, when it was known as Club 47 , and changed its name to simply Passim in 1969...

 in Cambridge, a visit to NPR

NPR

NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

's the World Cafe

World Cafe

World Cafe is a two-hour long, nationally syndicated music radio program that originates from WXPN, a non-commercial station licensed to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The program began in 1991 and was originally distributed by Public Radio...

in Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, and a couple of dates opening for Colin Hay

Colin Hay

Colin James Hay is a Scottish-Australian musician, who made his mark during the 1980s as lead vocalist of the Australian band Men at Work, and later as a solo artist.- Early life and Men at Work :...

 (formerly of Men at Work

Men at Work

Men at Work are an Australian rock band who achieved international success in the 1980s. They are the only Australian artists to have a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United States . They achieved the same distinction of a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United Kingdom...

).

Kat is currently working on her third album, which is scheduled to be released Fall 2011.

External links

• Official web site
• Kat Goldman at MySpace
  MySpace
  Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
  
  
• Kat Goldman biography at maplemusic.com