Kate St John

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Kate St John
Born (1957-10-02) 2 October 1957 (age 67)
London, England
Instruments Oboe, accordion, saxophone, piano, cor anglais, vocals
Formerly of The Dream Academy
Website katestjohn.co.uk

Kate St John (born 2 October 1957) is an English composer, arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist. She was a member of bands Ravishing Beauties, The Dream Academy, and Channel Light Vessel, and of Van Morrison's live band, in which she played oboe and saxophone.

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Career

Classically trained on oboe, St John was working as a television researcher before joining her first band, Ravishing Beauties, to which she was invited by her friend Virginia Astley. With Nicky Holland, the trio joined The Teardrop Explodes in Liverpool during the winter of 1981 for a series of dates at small clubs and a UK tour in early 1982. [1]

During the 1980s and early 1990s, she was a member of The Dream Academy with Nick Laird-Clowes and Gilbert Gabriel. [2] In 1985 they had a worldwide hit with "Life in a Northern Town" and produced three albums: The Dream Academy (1985), Remembrance Days (1987) and A Different Kind of Weather (1990). [3]

In the 1990s, St John was a member of Van Morrison's live band playing oboe and saxophone. She played on five Van Morrison albums. Emma Freud credited seeing St John playing saxophone for Van Morrison in the 80s as inspiration to learn to play saxophone herself. [4] In 1994, she co-wrote and sang on four tracks with Roger Eno on the album The Familiar on the All Saints Label. This led to the formation of Channel Light Vessel, a band with Kate, Roger Eno, Bill Nelson, Laraaji and Mayumi Tachibana. [2]

St John has released two solo albums: Indescribable Night (1995) and Second Sight (1997). [2]

St John and her husband and writing partner, Neill MacColl, specialise in on set music production in films, having worked on Far From The Madding Crowd (2015), Tulip Fever (2017), My Cousin Rachel (2017), and The Little Stranger (2018). [5]

Notes

  1. ↑ Simpson, Dave; Simpson, Interviews by Dave (8 April 2024). "'I wrote it in a bedsit on Nick Drake's guitar': how the Dream Academy made Life in a Northern Town". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 14 April 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 "Kate St John". Expose Online. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
  3. ↑ Kamau, Eric (18 September 2022). "Top 10 Songs From The Dream Academy". ClassicRockHistory.com. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
  4. ↑ Freud, Emma (11 November 2024). "The joy of learning to play the sax (again)". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
  5. ↑ "Kate St.John". IMDb. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
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