Katherine Ellis

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Katherine Ellis
Birth nameKatherine Jane Margaret Wood
Also known asKatherine Ellis, Kathy Wood, Arrola
Born (1965-06-21) 21 June 1965 (age 59)
Origin Bromley, Kent, England
Genres Electronica, funky house, disco house
LabelsVarious
Website Official Website

Katherine Ellis (born Katherine Jane Margaret Wood on 21 June 1965 in Bromley, England) is an English electronica vocalist and songwriter. A mainstay of the house music genre past and present, she has been featured on vocals since 1990. Ellis is also a member of the band Bimbo Jones.

Contents

Background

Personal life

Her husband Max Ellis, with whom she has two sons, is a professional photographer. Her brother Thomas is a theatre actor. Katherine’s family lineage also have ties to the entertainment spectrum; her mother Elizabeth was trained as an actress at the Royal Academy for dramatic art, her grandmother Joy was a violinist and pianist, and her great grandmother Elizabeth Haslam was a opera singer who won a competition at the Royal Albert Hall in 1893.

Professional career

She records under the aliases Katherine Ellis, Kathy Wood, Arrola and K. Ellis and her maiden name Katherine Wood. [Note 1]

Katherine has been a vocalist since the age of 15, performing lead and backing vocals. Her touring credits include that of working with Belinda Carlisle, Chaka Khan, Boy George and Roger Sanchez.

She has recorded with a variety of prominent names in dance music including Freemasons, Soul Avengerz, Dave Lee, Roger Sanchez, Meat Katie, Dylan Rhymes, Lee Coombs and Tom Stephan.

From 1997 to 2000, Ellis was the vocalist for Ruff Driverz, singing "Deeper Love," "Don't Stop," "Shame," and the international hit "Dreaming" (for which she also wrote the Spanish topline for under the credited alias name of 'Arrola'). [1]

In 2008, Ellis' releases included "When You Touch Me" with Freemasons (Loaded), "Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The Rent" with 7th Heaven (Hard2Beat), "Poza (Got What I Need)" with Countparis (Eyezcream), "Do It" with DJ Prom (GFab), "Gotta Get Through" with Paul Emanuel & Gav McCall (Born to Dance), and "One Luv" with Soul Avengerz (Milk & Sugar/One Love Recordings); as well as "Laisser Toucher" with Cerrone which is featured in the French film, Disco!.

In 2009, her releases include the re-release of "Dreaming", "You're Mine" with Solitaire (Muzik K) and "Time 2 Play" with Soulshaker (Audiofreaks) as well as an acoustic version of "Hideaway" featured on New State Music's UnClubbed Album. She also wrote and performed two tracks, "Control" and "You Make Me Crazy" that featured on Lee Coombs' 2009 album, Light & Dark.

Ellis is also a member of the band Bimbo Jones, who are signed to Tommy Boy Records. The group released its album Harlem 1 Stop in late 2008. Ellis received cowriting and vocal credit for all tracks, including lead single "And I Try", [2] which reached No. 1 on the US Billboard 's Hot Dance Club Songs chart in October 2008. [3]

Aside from her music career, Ellis has also done film and television commercial work. She was heard as the vocalist on the Gaviscon "What A Feelin'" advertisement in the UK. She also sang the title track on the Oscar winning soundtrack to the 2013 film Gravity.

Discography and writing credits

Featured vocalist

Vocalist and writer/co-writer

Writing credits

Notes

  1. ↑ She has no connection with two American performers with the same name: vocalist Katherine E (also born Katherine Ellis, whose well-known single was "Then I Feel Good", released in 1991, even though some biographies and websites have understandably mistaken the two artists as being the same person, as well as having the same vocal range) and the actress Katherine "Kate" Ellis (born 1981), who appeared as a regular on Days of Our Lives , in the 2001 Disney movie Motocrossed and the 2003 film Old School .

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 474. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  2. ↑ Del Mar, Pollo (2 December 2008). "Katherine Ellis Is One Smart Bimbo". San Francisco Bay Guardian . Archived from the original on 17 February 2009. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
  3. ↑ "Chart History." Billboard.com. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
  4. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 589. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  5. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 451. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  6. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 459. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
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