Kathleen 'Kat' Pearson-Thomas
The Stamford Arts Centre
29th January 2010
Kathleen ‘Kat’ Pearson-Thomas was born circa 1965 in Long Beach California to parents who were steeped in religious music and by the time that she could stand up and walk she was inducted into the church choir. Her parents also had a perchance for party’s and a liking for blues and soul. The combination was a heady mix that Kat soon latched onto and from an early age she became the family DJ spinning Blues, R&B, Soul and Tamla Motown.
Moving to London in her twenty’s she decided to try her luck as a singer in a girl band called Crimson and The Nasty Pinks which got as far as rehearsing and making a video before disbanding. Not to be deterred she swiftly moved into ‘Black Girl Rock’ who appeared on The Word and recorded a single on D:Ream Records that was impressive enough to lead into a tour of the UK, Belgium, Russia and Italy.
She then signed to Columbia Records with a band called Comanchee Park that issued an album ‘Crucify’ and they wrote the music for channel 4’s ‘Naked City’. The band appeared to sell-out crowds in The Shepard’s Bush Empire, The Forum in Kentish Town and The Grand in Clapham before they embarked on a two-year tour of Europe. Dates included the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland before their being caught up in the bloodbath at Columbia Records that down sized the company. Shortly after that they disbanded.
Kat decided to move into the theatre business and appeared in ‘Funny Girl’ at the Bloomsbury Theatre and ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ at The Hackney Empire. At the same time she decided to become a photo model and was videoed pouting in the Chemical Brothers hit video ‘Block Rockin’ Beats’ and a slew of other adverts including the famous ‘Bald is Beautiful’ look for Carlsberg Beer. During this time she also appeared on Top of the Pops, TFI Friday and the Jonathan Ross Show as a singer/bass player. She then toured extensively as a dancer throughout Italy with M.A.R.S ‘Pump up The Volume’.
Kathleen then relocated to Spain and it was here at The Mijas Blues Festival last summer that I heard her for the first time. Listening to her she had obviously gone back to her roots singing mainly blues and soul with the odd pop song thrown in for good measure.
A few months later on February 28th 2009 Kathleen appeared at The Village Hall, Castor together with The Dave Thomas Band and a thoroughly enjoyable gig was had by all. Dave and Kat gelled almost immediately and as the evening progressed the band became tighter and Kat produced a 'Soul Blues show' that could only have been bettered if we had had more time for rehearsals. We decided then and there to bring her back and thankfully when Willie Littlefield had to cancel Kat and Dave were available to cover the Stamford Arts Centre slot. See Previous Events for the review of the Castor gig that appeared in Juke Blues.