Album Notes

"Music has always been part of who I am," says singer, songwriter KT Mantineo. For this quiet girl, music was the way she found to express herself to the world. At the age of 8, KT decided that she wanted to play the piano, and by the time she was 11, she was composing and performing her own music. When she was a sophomore in high school, she learned to play the pipe organ, and began working as an organist and song leader the following year.

As a Rutgers University student, KT explored the acting world, always preferring the musicals to drama, and was cast in shows such as A Chorus line (Judy) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Gemini twin). Her real passion, however, always remained playing her own music. She developed her writing ability as an English major and gradually learned to express herself more deeply through lyrics. With this added skill, KT was able to add new dimensions to her music, and in her senior year, she entered the Billboard song contest, and won an award for her song, Garden of Eden.

In the years following college, KT supported herself by using her skills as an organist to get the position of Director of Music at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. At this time, she began performing with great success in local coffeehouses such as Tumulty's Pub, The Cornerstone Caffe and Barnes and Noble. Her music was greatly influenced by Tori Amos and Sarah MacLachlan. Her lyrics were deep and at times abstract, but that didn't deter the audience. "People would say to me, I really understood what you were saying, or I could really relate to that song. A lot of times what they got was totally different from what I was writing about, but that didn't matter to me as long as they got something out of it."

KT has also taken her musical skills to the stage in New York City. She performed her song, Conversations with an Angel, as the opening piece for a showcase of original work by women at the Theater @ St. Clements under the auspices of Total Woman Productions.

Recently, KT put out her first CD, Random Acts of Chaos. Although she is usually a solo performer, she was able, with a little help from her friends, to produce an album that has a full band backing up her beautiful piano work. The 12 track CD shows off her dramatic haunting soprano voice and includes three songs which won prizes in this year's Billboard song contest. KT has begun to study voice in New York with Lorraine Ferro and is a member of the National Academy of Popular music, which is associated with the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. She looks forward to her next musical adventure and says of her art, "Music is like breathing - I have to do it, I need to do it."