Cathy Richardson | |
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 Cathy Richardson in 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Catherine E. Richardson |
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| Years active | 1990–present |
| Website | www |
Catherine E. Richardson is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and narrator from the Chicago suburbs in Illinois. She is the lead singer for the band Jefferson Starship [1] and her own Cathy Richardson Band, and has performed the Janis Joplin parts for Joplin's former band Big Brother and the Holding Company. [2]
Richardson grew up in west suburban Burr Ridge, Illinois, [2] and graduated from Hinsdale Central High School in Hinsdale, Illinois. [3] Before starting her music career, Richardson worked as an auto mechanic and as a cashier at her father's gas station. [2] She started her music career full-time in 1990. She was introduced to Jim Peterik who mentored her and helped with her first two albums. She has also co-written songs with Peterik, and is a fairly frequent guest in his all-star World Stage concerts. [3]
Richardson appeared as a guest on Noggin's puppet series Jack's Big Music Show . In the pilot episode, she played the voice of one of the main characters. [4]
The Cathy Richardson Band was voted Best Local Band in the Chicago Tribune readers poll of 1999 and best in WFLD's "Best & Worst of Chicago" viewer poll in November 2000. [5]
She portrayed Janis Joplin in the 2001 original off-Broadway run of Love, Janis [6] and much of the touring performances. [2] She also sang Janis' vocal parts for Big Brother and the Holding Company during many of their recent live shows.
In 2004, Richardson and art director Bill Dolan were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package for the Cathy Richardson Band album The Road to Bliss. [7]
In 2008, Richardson became the new vocalist for San Francisco band Jefferson Starship [1] and appears on the 2008 release Jefferson's Tree of Liberty and as vocalist with Jefferson Starship on PBS's 2011 60s Pop, Rock & Soul television show, performing "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love". [8]
 | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(May 2017) |
Cathy Richardson along with members of The Insiders
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer and songwriter. One of the most iconic and successful rock performers of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals, as well as her "electric" stage presence.
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1965 that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. The group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to achieve international commercial success. They headlined the Monterey Pop Festival (1967), Woodstock (1969), Altamont Free Concert (1969), and the first Isle of Wight Festival (1968) in England. Their 1967 breakout album Surrealistic Pillow was one of the most significant recordings of the Summer of Love. Two songs from that album, "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", are among Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum-selling studio albums, and one gold-selling compilation. The album Red Octopus went double-platinum, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1975. The band went through several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the Jefferson Starship name. The band name was retired in 1984, but it was picked up again in 1992 by a revival of the group led by Paul Kantner, which has continued since his death in 2016.
Grace Slick is a retired American musician and a painter whose musical career spanned four decades. She was a prominent figure in San Francisco's psychedelic music scene during the mid-1960s to the early 1970s.
John Henry Creach, better known as Papa John Creach, was an American blues violinist who also played classical, jazz, R&B, pop and acid rock music. Early in his career, he performed as a journeyman musician with Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Stuff Smith, Charlie Christian, Big Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker, Nat King Cole and Roy Milton.
Big Brother and the Holding Company are an American rock band that was 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. After some initial personnel changes, the band became well known with the lineup of vocalist Janis Joplin, guitarists Sam Andrew and James Gurley, bassist Peter Albin, and drummer Dave Getz. Their second album Cheap Thrills, released in 1968, is considered one of the masterpieces of the psychedelic sound of San Francisco; it reached number one on the Billboard charts, and was ranked number 338 in Rolling Stone's the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album is also listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
John Michael Thomas is an American rock singer. He is best known as one of the lead vocalists of Jefferson Starship and Starship. Prior to joining Jefferson Starship, he was a member of Elvin Bishop's band as a backing and occasional lead vocalist. He was the lead singer on Bishop's best-known song, "Fooled Around And Fell In Love."
Paul Lorin Kantner was an American rock musician. He is best known as the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and a secondary vocalist of Jefferson Airplane, a leading psychedelic rock band of the counterculture era. He continued these roles as a member of Jefferson Starship, Jefferson Airplane's successor band.
The Ides of March is an American jazz rock band that had a major North American and minor UK hit with the song "Vehicle" in 1970. After going on hiatus in 1973, the band returned with their original line-up in 1990 and has been active since then.
James Michael Peterik is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the founder of the rock band Survivor, as vocalist and guitarist in The Ides of March, and as co-writer of the anthem "Eye of the Tiger", the theme from the 1982 film Rocky III.
Jefferson Airplane is the eighth and final studio album by San Francisco rock band Jefferson Airplane, released on Epic Records in 1989. Marty Balin, Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady all returned for the album and supporting tour, though Spencer Dryden did not participate. The album and accompanying tour would mark the last time Jefferson Airplane would perform together until their 1996 induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Blows Against the Empire is a concept album by Paul Kantner, released in 1970 under the name Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship. It is the first album to use the "Starship" moniker, a name which Kantner and Grace Slick would later use for the band Jefferson Starship that emerged after Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen left Jefferson Airplane. From a commercial standpoint, it performed comparably to Jefferson Airplane albums of the era, peaking at No. 20 on the Billboard 200 and receiving a RIAA gold certification. It was one of the first two albums to be nominated for a Hugo Award in the category of Best Dramatic Presentation.
Anne Harris is an American singer, songwriter, violinist, recording artist, and actress based in Chicago, Illinois. She has independently produced and released six studio albums on her record label, Rugged Road Records: Anne Harris (2001), Open Your Doors (2003), Wine and Poetry (2005), Gravity and Faith (2008), Come Hither (2015) and Roots (2019). A live album, Live at the Acorn Theater, was released in 2008.
Jefferson's Tree of Liberty is the tenth album by Jefferson Starship, released on September 2, 2008. It is the band's first studio album since 1999's Windows of Heaven. The new album includes cover songs from Irish, American, English, and Latin-American traditions. The title is a reference to Thomas Jefferson's quotation, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." The idea began in 2003 as "The Cuba Project", which was to include classic protest and folk songs recorded in Cuba. In 2008 the album was finally recorded but in California. About half of the songs planned for The Cuba Project were used on the final cut, with other songs coming from Jefferson Starship's previous repertoire and another project band member Paul Kantner had planned called "On the Threshold of Fire." The promotional tour for the album began in late June with shows at Larkspur, California followed by tours in the US and Europe before the album's release, and continued through December 2008 with a further tour in the US and a tour in Japan. On February 1, 2009, more tour dates and venues were announced by the band's manager Michael Gaiman, with additional plans to continue the tour through 2010 and bring it to Australia and South America. David Grisman joined the band for the April 2009 tour dates. The band's promotion for the album ended in June 2009 as the band changed their set-list to Jefferson Airplane's Woodstock Festival material and started touring with the "Heroes of Woodstock" through the end of October.
The Woodstock Experience is a box consisting of a set of studio albums and live performances from the 1969 Woodstock Festival by the artists Santana, Janis Joplin, Sly and the Family Stone, Jefferson Airplane, and Johnny Winter. Each set consists of the 1969 studio album by the artist as well as each artist's entire Woodstock performance. The set was released as both a box containing all five artists, and also as individual releases separated by artist, each containing the studio album and live performance of that artist.
David Freiberg is an American musician best known for contributing vocals, keyboards, electric bass, rhythm guitar, viola and percussion as a member of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, and Jefferson Starship. Among other tracks, he co-wrote "Jane", a hit for Jefferson Starship.
Darby Marie Gould is an American vocalist best known for her work with Jefferson Starship and World Entertainment War. Over the years she has developed a loyal following based on her passionate, soulful vocals and intense stage presence.
Mother of the Sun is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Jefferson Starship. It was released on August 22, 2020, through Golden Robot Records.
Above: San Francisco supergroup Jefferson Starship, originally known as Jefferson Airplane, offer their era-defining anthem "Somebody To Love" and "White Rabbit" in "60s Pop, Rock & Soul." Pictured left to right are Paul Kantner, Cathy Richardson, David Freiberg and Marty Balin.
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