Kate Lee O'Connor

Last updated
Kate Lee O'Connor
Birth nameKate Lee Gurnow [1]
BornWebster, New York
GenresCountry, Americana, Bluegrass, Folk, Adult Contemporary, Pop
Occupation(s)Musician, singer, violinist, songwriter
Instrument(s)Vocals, Violin
LabelsCompass Records, Rounder Records
Website kateleeoconnor.com

Kate Lee O'Connor (born Kate Lee Gurnow on September 27, 1992 in Webster, New York) [2] is a Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and fiddler. She is a co-lead singer, writer, and instrumentalist for the bluegrass band, O'Connor Band with Mark O'Connor, whose album, Coming Home, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Bluegrass Albums chart in August 2016. [3] In 2019, she signed with Compass Records as half of the duo, O'Connor Lee, with Forrest O'Connor. [4]

Contents

Biography

O'Connor started playing violin at age nine. Her teachers exposed her to both classical and Americana fiddle music. At age eleven she was asked by Jack Metzger from the Fiddlers of the Genesee to form a group with him, "Kate Lee with No Strings Attached" in which she sang, played violin, and eventually performed her own original material. The band roster included Chuck Boda, Ben Ford, and John Irvine. [5]

O'Connor attended Webster Schroeder High School [6] and graduated magna cum laude from Belmont University in 2014. Soon after, she began touring with singer-songwriter Forrest O'Connor as a duo called Wisewater. [7] In 2015, she founded the O'Connor Band with Forrest, Mark O'Connor, and Maggie O'Connor, and their album on Rounder Records, Coming Home, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Bluegrass Albums chart. [8] Coming Home won the Grammy award for "Best Bluegrass Album" at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in 2017. [9]

In 2009, she was a winner of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), Search for a Star competition, and her original song, "On Your Way," was orchestrated by director Jeff Tyzik. [1] [6] [10] [11] [12]

She provided lead vocals and violin on two Mark O'Connor Band singles produced by Zac Brown, "In My Blood" written by Kalisa Ewing and Forrest O'Connor, and "Casino" written by Natalie Hemby. [13] Mark O'Connor Band was the opening act for Zac Brown Band's "Down the Rabbit Hole" Tour in 2018. [14]

Recordings

Related Research Articles

Béla Fleck American banjo player

Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. An acclaimed virtuoso, he is an innovative and technically proficient pioneer and ambassador of the banjo, bringing the instrument from its bluegrass roots to jazz, classical, rock and various world music genres. He is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. Fleck has won 15 Grammy Awards and been nominated 33 times.

The 33rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 20, 1991. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Quincy Jones was the night's biggest winner winning a total of six awards including Album of the Year.

Edgar Meyer American bassist and composer (born 1960)

Edgar Meyer is an American bassist and composer. His styles include classical, bluegrass, newgrass, and jazz. He has won five Grammy Awards and been nominated seven times.

Mark OConnor American violinist and composer

Mark O'Connor is an American fiddle player and composer whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he has won six Country Music Association Musician Of The Year awards and, was a member of three influential musical ensembles; the David Grisman Quintet, The Dregs and Strength in Numbers.

Chris Thile American mandolinist and singer-songwriter

Christopher Scott Thile is an American mandolinist, singer, songwriter, composer, and radio personality, best known for his work in the progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek and the acoustic folk and progressive bluegrass quintet Punch Brothers. He is a 2012 MacArthur Fellow. In October 2016, he became the host of the radio variety show A Prairie Home Companion, which in December 2017 was renamed Live from Here.

Rob Ickes Musical artist

Rob Ickes [rhymes with "bikes"] is an American dobro player, born 1967 in San Francisco, California, United States. Ickes moved to Nashville in 1992 and joined the contemporary bluegrass band Blue Highway as a founding member in 1994. He currently collaborates with guitarist Trey Hensley, with whom he has released three albums. Ickes has been nominated for numerous Grammy Awards, winning two in 1994 for bluegrass and gospel albums he contributed to.

Lee Rocker American double bass player (born 1961)

Lee Rocker is an American musician. He is a member of the rockabilly revival band Stray Cats.

Douglas "Clay" Cook is an American songwriter, producer, and musician who is best known as a member of the Zac Brown Band. After dropping out of college, he and classmate John Mayer formed the band Lo-Fi Masters. Cook co-wrote several songs with Mayer that appear on Mayer's first two releases, Inside Wants Out and Room for Squares, including "No Such Thing", "Comfortable", "Man on the Side" and "Neon". Cook was also a member of The Marshall Tucker Band and Y-O-U.

Ricky Skaggs American musician, producer, and composer

Rickie Lee Skaggs, known professionally as Ricky Skaggs, is an American neotraditional country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, mandocaster, and banjo.

Webster Schroeder High School is a public high school located in Webster, Monroe County, New York, U.S.A., a suburb of Rochester, and is one of two high schools operated by the Webster Central School District.

52nd Annual Grammy Awards Music awards in the United States

The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, two days prior to the Grammy telecast. Nominations announced on December 2, 2009. The show was moved to January to avoid competing against the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Only ten of the 109 awards were received during the broadcast. The remaining awards were given during the un-televised portion of the ceremony which preceded the broadcast.

53rd Annual Grammy Awards Edition of awards ceremony

The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights prior to the telecast on February 11. Nominations were announced on December 1, 2010 and a total of 109 awards were presented. Most of the awards were presented during the pre-telecast, which took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center next to the Staples Center, where the main telecast took place. The eligibility period was September 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010.

John Driskell Hopkins Musical artist

John Driskell Hopkins is best known for his role as a founding member, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter for the Grammy Award winning group Zac Brown Band. Hopkins co-wrote, with Zac Brown, Wyatt Durette, and Shawn Mullins, the Zac Brown Band's third single, "Toes", from their 2008 major-label debut The Foundation. It was the second #1 single for the band.

Jeremy Kittel is a contemporary Grammy-nominated American musician and composer. His primary instruments are the violin / fiddle and viola and his styles include Celtic, Jazz, Classical, Bluegrass, Folk music, and more.

56th Annual Grammy Awards Event

The 56th Annual Grammy Awards presentation was held on January 26, 2014, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT and was hosted for the third time by LL Cool J. The show was moved to January to avoid competing with the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, as was the case in 2010.

Forrest OConnor American singer-songwriter

Forrest O’Connor is a Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, mandolinist, and guitarist. He is the son of violin virtuoso and composer Mark O'Connor and currently a member of the duo O'Connor Lee with his wife, Kate Lee. He has also been the co-lead singer and writer for the Americana band, O’Connor Band, whose album, Coming Home, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Bluegrass Albums chart in August 2016. O'Connor has recorded with Paul Simon, Zac Brown, Clint Black, and Kenny Loggins, among others.

Balsam Range is a bluegrass and acoustic music group founded in 2007 in Haywood County, North Carolina. They are the 2014 and 2018 IBMA Entertainer of the Year recipients. Their other accolades include IBMA Vocal Group of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year. Balsam Range consists of its original five members: on fiddle and lead vocals, Buddy Melton; on mandolin and vocals, Darren Nicholson; on upright bass, resonator guitar, and vocals, Tim Surrett; on guitar and vocals, Caleb Smith; and on banjo, Dr. Marc Pruett.

59th Annual Grammy Awards 2017 edition of award ceremony

The 59th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 12, 2017. The CBS network broadcast the show live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, which ran from October 1, 2015, to September 30, 2016.

Coming Home is the debut album by the O'Connor Band. The album was produced by Gregg Field, Mark O'Connor, and Forrest O'Connor, and it was released by Rounder Records in August 2016. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Bluegrass Albums chart and won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2017.

62nd Annual Grammy Awards 2020 edition of the Annual Grammy Awards

The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 26, 2020, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2018, to August 31, 2019. Alicia Keys hosted the ceremony, having hosted the previous year's ceremony as well.

References

  1. 1 2 "Search for a Star Winners Make RPU Debuts". Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. May 8, 2009. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
  2. ↑ "Are We There Yet?". Copyright Encyclopedia. Advameg. 2006-07-03. Retrieved 2012-08-22.
  3. ↑ "The O'Connor Band's 'Coming Home' debuts No. 1 on Billboard Bluegrass Albums Chart | Shore Fire Media". Shorefire.com. Retrieved 2020-01-14.
  4. ↑ "Compass Records Signs Duo O'Connor Lee". Archived from the original on 2019-12-13. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  5. ↑ "Kate Lee Music Biography". KateLeeMusic.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-13.
  6. 1 2 Siegelman, K. (September 23, 2009). "Chance Meeting Inspires New Song". Webster Community News. Archived from the original on 2010-04-20. Retrieved 2011-11-11. Kate Lee, a student at Webster Schroeder High School, ... performed one of her own compositions with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
  7. ↑ "Delighful Duo Wisewater Delivered an Excellent Show | No Depression". Archived from the original on 2016-10-05. Retrieved 2016-10-03.
  8. 1 2 "Mark O'Connor Comes Home with the O'Connor Band | No Depression". Archived from the original on 2016-10-05. Retrieved 2016-10-03.
  9. ↑ "The O'Connor Band Win Best Bluegrass Album at 2017 Grammy Awards". Theboot.com. Retrieved 2020-01-14.
  10. ↑ "(Upstate New York Song Contest) Winners". Black Dog Recording Studios. August 28, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28.
  11. ↑ "Symphony Showhouse 2008 - Special Events". Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. May 28, 2008. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
  12. ↑ "08-09 Guest Artist Information > Search for a Star 2 Soloists". Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
  13. ↑ Band, Mark O'Connor. "Mark O'Connor Band Releases New Single "In My Blood" Featuring Zac Brown". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  14. ↑ "Zac Brown Band Dusts Off Two Tom Petty Covers With O'Connor Band". JamBase. 2017-10-09. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  15. ↑ "Casino by Mark O'Connor Band on Amazon Music - Amazon.com". www.amazon.com. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  16. ↑ In My Blood (feat. Zac Brown) - Single by Mark O'Connor Band, 8 June 2018, retrieved 2019-03-18
  17. ↑ "O'Connor Band - Live!". Discogs. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  18. ↑ "Kate Lee Writes song for Granting Dreams". GrantingDreams.org. Archived from the original on 2011-07-26.
  19. ↑ "Kate Lee - With No Strings Attached". CD Baby.
  20. ↑ "Kate Lee with No Strings Attached". Dynamic Music Store. Archived from the original on 2011-01-04.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.