Album Notes

“Just another pretty face,” Katherine Schell is not. True, the 21-year-old singer/song-writer does have the looks; but this girl’s got grit, smarts and depth to back them up. Her blues-infused rock and classical piano style isn’t rooted in teen heartbreak, although she’s had some of that too. Katherine derives her unique style and award winning lyrics from her upbringing in industrial Bay City, MI, her experiences as a highly competitive athlete, and most notably the trauma of dealing with her younger brother’s illness.

Katherine suffered an emotional year in 1999, which can be referenced as her beginnings as an artist. As a high school all-state athlete, her aspirations of big-time college athletics were vanquished when she tore both ACL’s requiring surgery and laying her up for months. To compound this trauma, her little brother, Greg, was diagnosed with Leukemia. Katherine, trained in classical piano since the age of six, turned to songwriting to express her emotions. She developed a soulful, eclectic style that expressed anguish and hope, dreams and fears. “My music is very abstract so it can relate to a lot of different experiences that people have,” Katherine says. “It could be anything.”

Katherine matriculated to Loyola University Chicago to study Philosophy and Music as a double major. The systematic study of Philosophy has helped to enhance Katherine’s lyrics and add depth to her style. This, combined with her ongoing refinement and mastery of the piano, soon attracted notice in the Chicago music scene. After a positive response to live performances of her original work, Katherine recorded an EP, Introducing Katherine Schell, which attracted national attention and facilitated her aspirations of music as a profession.

In 2005 Katherine actively chased her dream and the results began to show. Most notably, Katherine was awarded VH1’s 2005 International Songwriter of the Year Award in the adult contemporary category and recorded her debut album, Emptier Streets, at the famed Chicago Recording Company. Katherine also performed across the nation, from New York City to Hollywood, Chicago to Austin, Denver to Detroit and many stops in-between. In January 2006, Katherine completed her first tour, as she spent two weeks performing at premiere Colorado ski villages, finishing with a show in Denver, in an effort to promote the March 2006 national release of Emptier Streets.

Throughout her burgeoning success Katherine has not lost sight of her initial motivation for her music—her brother’s battle with cancer. In December 2005 Katherine returned to her home state to play a benefit show at the Michigan Theater, which raised $10,000 for Special Days, a Detroit-area summer camp for kids with cancer. Less than a month later, Katherine headlined a benefit concert for Northwestern University’s Dance Marathon, the largest student-run philanthropy organization in the country. Katherine has also begun working with Locks of Love; an organization providing hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children who are suffering from long-term medical hair loss. “I know I’m touching people in a way I’ve been touched by other artists before,” Katherine says.