Catherine Howe (born 17 May 1950, Halifax, England) is an English singer-songwriter. She is an

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been a ...

winner who has earned critical acclaim in dozens of music magazines both in the UK and the US, including Folk Album of the Year from ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

''. Howe began an acting career in the late 1960s, and has since gained a following in

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

: ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...

'' in 2007 called her "one of the great unrecognised voices". ''Observer Music'' in 2007 said "Catherine Howe was a

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights (song), Wuthering Heights", ...

before her time".

1960s–1970s: early career

Howe trained as an actress at the Corona Drama School in London. She commenced an acting career in the late 1960s, performing in contemporary television dramas such as ''

Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debuted ...

'', ''

The Wednesday Play ''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of United Kingdom, British television plays which ran on BBC One, BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramati ...

'', ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'', '' Undermind'' and ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' was a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 19 ...

''. Howe went on to appear in

Barney Platts-Mills Barney Platts-Mills (15 October 1944 – 5 October 2021) was a British film director, best known for his award-winning films, ''Bronco Bullfrog'' and ''Private Road''. Biography Platts-Mills was born in 1944 in Colchester, England, a son of b ...

' film, ''

Private Road A private road is a road owned or controlled by a private person, persons or corporation rather than a road open to the public and owned by a government. Private roads can be on private land or can be constructed on government land for use by gov ...

''. In 1970 Howe met Andrew Cameron Miller, an executive at Reflection, a subsidiary of

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

, resulting in her

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

her debut album ''What A Beautiful Place'' at Trident Studios in London, in February 1971. Miller paired Howe with Bobby Scott, an American pianist and record producer who had previously co-written

The Hollies The Hollies are a British pop rock band, formed in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Allan Clarke (singer), Allan Clarke and Graham ...

' "

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" is a ballad written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell. Originally recorded by Kelly Gordon in 1969, the song became a worldwide hit for the Hollies later that year and also a hit for Neil Diamond in 1970. It ...

". However Reflection ceased to trade when the album was on the point of release, and as a result it remained largely unheard until it was reissued in 2007 on the Numero label. The re-release met with critical acclaim, gaining a five-star review from ''Observer Music''. The master tapes were by then lost, and the re-recording was made from an original source copy. Howe featured on soundtrack recordings in the UK and Europe throughout the 1970s, and provided the lead vocal for

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...

's theme song "Un genie, deux associés, une cloche" in 1976. She worked with the Italian

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

musician

Piero Piccioni Piero Piccioni (; December 6, 1921 – July 23, 2004) was an Italian film score composer and lawyer. A pianist, organist, conductor, composer, he was also the prolific author of more than 300 film soundtracks. He played for the first time on ...

, recording two songs for his 1972 film ''God Under the Skin'' and singing in an Italian television broadcast with Piccioni two years later. Howe's second LP ''Harry'' was released in the UK in 1975 on

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

, for which the title track received an

(only the second female recording artist to achieve this) and became enduringly popular on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

. Also in 1974, Howe appeared on film as the singer during the title credits of the British sex farce, ''

Can You Keep It Up for a Week? ''Can You Keep It Up For A Week?'' is a 1974 British sex comedy film. Plot Accident-prone Gil wants a steady job but is dismissed by every company that recruits him due to his unfortunate habit of ending up in sexually embarrassing situations. H ...

''. RCA released a follow-up album, ''Silent Mother Nature'' in 1976, winning Folk Album of the Year from the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

''. A single was released entitled "Until The Morning Comes" written by the Scottish singer/guitarist Dave Kelly and Ray McRiner, and was performed on LWT's ''

Supersonic Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound ( Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...

''. The following year, the title tracks of both RCA albums were re-released (together with the aforementioned single) on the EP ''The Truth of the Matter'', and was one of the Top 75 selling EPs of 1977. Throughout that year Howe produced and sang the songs for

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

's ''

That's Life! ''That's Life!'' was a satirical TV consumer affairs programme on the BBC, at its height regularly reaching audiences of fifteen to twenty million, and receiving 10–15,000 letters a week. The series broadcast on BBC1 for twenty-one years, ...

''. Howe's fourth album came two years later, ''Dragonfly Days'', released on

Ariola Records Ariola (also known as Ariola Records, Ariola-Eurodisc and BMG Ariola) is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of the Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international media conglomerat ...

. ''Dragonfly Days'' featured the "Creme de La Creme" of English session musicians including drummer Peter Boita and the guitarist Alan Parker amongst others. Ariola also released singles by Howe prior to and following the album, some of which are not included on the LP, and promoted as far away as South America. The third single "Quietly and Softly" also featured as the B-side to "Switchboard" by Georg Kajanus' group "April Love". One was with

Mike Batt Michael Philip Batt, LVO (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director and conductor. He was formerly the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry. Having achieved substantial ...

, Howe's self-penned "Sit Down And Think Again", another was a

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...

's "Goin' Back" produced by

Pip Williams Philip Malcolm "Pip" Williams (born 7 October 1947) is a record producer, arranger and guitarist, best known for producing albums for Status Quo and The Moody Blues and acting as well as supervising the orchestra parts and orchestra arrangem ...

. ''Dragonfly Days'' remains her only record not reissued on CD. Howe also contributed vocals to two tracks for an album by Michael Giles of King Crimson, ''Progress'', recorded in 1978 but unreleased until 2002. In 1979, the BBC transmitted ''Rhythm on 2: Catherine Howe and Judie Tzuke'', a live concert at

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

's Corn Exchange. The following year, again for the BBC, Howe featured on both the

Jeremy Taylor Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) was a cleric in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression, and he is fr ...

and

Sacha Distel Alexandre "Sacha" Distel (29 January 1933 – 22 July 2004) was a French singer, guitarist, songwriter and actor who had hits with a cover version of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" in 1970, which reached No 10 in the UK Charts, "Scoubidou", ...

Genome listing, 11 January 1980
/ref> shows.

1980s–present: respite and return to music

None of Howe's albums sold in large quantity in their time, and after ''Dragonfly Days'', she decided to retire from the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

. Howe explained in her own words on the tradmusic.com website: "Despite promotion and tours with Andy Fairweather-Low, Chris de Burgh, David Soul and later with Randy Edelman, the albums and singles didn't sell enough. I thought it was because of me, but it was as much (I've since learned) because they weren't in the shops to buy. To remedy this it was suggested that maybe I should write 'country and western', maybe I should change my hair, maybe wear black leather. So the music business, which I loved, and I parted company. Like a bad marriage, some damage was sustained before separation took place...." There was some activity in the 1980s with a re-issue of the "Harry" single in 1984 (due to public demand with the birth of

Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. He is fifth in the line of succ ...

). A year later, Howe contributed two songs to the ''Sounds of Yorkshire'' LP: a re-recording of "Lucy Snow" ("Lucy Snowe") from the ''Silent Mother Nature'' album; and a new piece in a traditional vein, "Yorkshire Hills". In 1989 Howe had a daughter, Jenny, and later earned a first class degree in History and Religion from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

. In 2002, the Michael Giles album ''Progress'' was released on CD: Howe contributed vocals for tracks ''Sunset'' and ''Arrival''. In the same year, Howe returned to solo recording: producing a new CD, her fifth, ''Princelet Street''. It coincided with the launch of an official website and preceded the re-issue of her 1970s albums ''What a Beautiful Place'' (with the Numero label), ''Harry'' (with BGO) and ''Silent Mother Nature'' (with BGO). Of ''Princelet Street'', Howe wrote:

My great-grandmother Susannah Constantine was born on Princelet Street in 1851, her mother worked as a silk winder, her father as a fancy comb maker. Lots of my family lived in or near the City of London in the early 1800s, and even before I knew this I used to go city walking there as a girl because it felt like coming home. Princelet Street the album is inspired by the street and a sense of family, past and present, and as I enjoyed writing and recording its songs I hope you'll enjoy hearing them....

Catherine Howe continues to work on new recordings, also giving occasional live performances. As an author, Howe's book on the life of the 19th-century

secularist Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...

George Holyoake George Jacob Holyoake (13 April 1817 – 22 January 1906) was an English secularist, co-operator and newspaper editor. He coined the terms secularism in 1851 and "jingoism" in 1878. He edited a secularist paper, the ''Reasoner'', from 1846 to Ju ...

was published by ''History into Print'' in 2012. A second book focused on the radical history of her home town of Halifax. In 2020
London Story 1848
was published. Catherine Howe has also contributed verse and lyrics for publication in themed editions of

Playerist Poetry Magazine ''Playerist Poetry Magazine''ISSN 2048-2515 was an annual journal of poetics and graphic arts based in London (UK). ''Playerist'' was founded in 2011 by writer, composer and publisheMartin Slidel and ran until 2018. Its patrons werJillian Miller F ...

Discography

Studio albums: * ''What a Beautiful Place'' – 1971 * ''Harry'' – 1975 * ''Silent Mother Nature'' – 1976 * ''Dragonfly Days'' – 1979 * ''Princelet Street'' – 2005 * ''English Tale'' – with Vo Fletcher, 2010 * ''Because It Would Be Beautiful'' – 2015 Original soundtracks, compilation albums and re-releases: * ''Il dio sotto la pelle'' OST – 1972 * ''Un genie, deux associes, une cloche'' OST – 1976 * ''Sounds of Yorkshire'' (compilation) – 1985 (Contributes two tracks) * ''Progress'' (Michael Giles album, 1978) – 2002 (Vocals for two tracks) * ''Harry / Silent Mother Nature'' Re-mastered CD – 2006 * ''What a Beautiful Place'' Re-mastered CD, with previously unreleased demo track – 2007 * ''What a Beautiful Place'' Re-mastered LP, with previously unreleased demo track – 2010 Singles and EPs: * "Nothing More Than strangers" / "My Child" – Reflection, 1971 * "Firestar Express" / "Forse eri tu" / "St. Francis in Katmandu" – CBS, Italian release with Piero Piccioni, 1974 * "Harry" / "When The Sparrow Flies" – RCA, 1974 * "What Are Friends for Anyway?" / "Keep Me Talking" – RCA, 1976 * "Freedom Enough" / "Lucy Snow" – RCA, 1976 * "Until The Morning Comes" / "Lucy Snow" – RCA, 1976 * "The Truth of the Matter" EP – "Until The Morning Comes" / "Harry" / "Silent Mother Nature" – RCA, 1977 * "Sit Down and Think Again" / "Someone's Got to Love You Sometime" – Ariola, produced by Mike Batt, 1978 * "Move On Over" / "Too Far Gone" – Ariola, 1978 * "Turn The Corner Singing" / "Too Far Gone" – Ariola, 1979 * "Quietly and Softly" / "Daylight" – Ariola, 1979 * "Switchboard" (April Love) / "Quietly and Softly" (Catherine Howe) – Ariola, 1979 * "When The Night Comes" / "How Does Love Feel?" – Ariola, 1980 * "Goin' Back" / "How Does Love Feel?" – Ariola, 1980 * "Almost Love" (vocal version of ''Inside Moves'' theme) / "Inside Moves" theme (instrumental) – Breeze, 1981 * "Harry" / "When The Sparrow Flies" – RCA, reissue in blue and gold sleeve, 1984 * "In the Hot Summer" / "Let's Keep it Quiet Now" – Numero, 2010 * "Going Home" EP / "Nothing Love Does Surprises Me" / "White Winter Hymnal" – with Vo Fletcher, Proper Music, 2010

Theme songs

* "It's Possible," title track from ''God Under the Skin'' 'Il dio sotto la pelle''(1972) Composer: Piero Piccioni / Director: Folco Quilici * "Firestar Express" from an Italian TV show, with Piero Piccioni (1974) Composer: Piero Piccioni * "Keep It For Me," title track from ''

'' (1974) Composer: Ted Dicks and Hazel Adair / Director: Jim Atkinson * "Glory, Glory, Glory," theme song from ''A Genius, Two Friends and an Idiot'' 'Un genio, due compari, un pollo''(1975) Composer: Ennio Morricone / Director: Damiano Damiani

Selected film and television appearances

* ''

'' as Janet Sutcliffe – 1966 (TV) * ''Doctor Who'' as Ara in the serial ''

The Underwater Menace ''The Underwater Menace'' is the half-missing fifth serial of the fourth season in the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 14 January to 4 February 1967. In this seri ...

'' – 1967 (TV) * ''

'' as Graziella – 1967 (TV) * ''

'' as Jenny Fisher – 1971 (TV) * ''

'' as Iverna – 1971 (film) * ''Firestar Express'' – Italian broadcast with Piccioni and l'Orchestra Racconta – 1974 (TV)

Bibliography

* ''George Jacob Holyoake's Journey of 1842'' (Howe, C, 2012) History into Print * ''Halifax 1842: A Year of Crisis'' (Howe, C, 2014
Breviary Stuff Publications

References

External links

Official website''What a Beautiful Place'' review
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, Catherine 1950 births Living people Ivor Novello Award winners Psychedelic folk musicians English folk musicians English women singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English television actresses English historians Alumni of the Open University British women historians