Kathryn L. "Kate" Davis (born February 4, 1991) is an American singer, songwriter, and bassist.

Early life

Davis started learning music on the violin. She moved to the Pacific Northwest in middle school and began to study the double bass. She played violin and bass in the

Portland Youth Philharmonic The Portland Youth Philharmonic (PYP) is the oldest youth orchestra in the United States, established in 1924 as the Portland Junior Symphony (PJS). Now based in Portland, Oregon, the orchestra's origin dates back to 1910, when music teacher Mary ...

. She was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts in 2009 through the

YoungArts YoungArts (previously National YoungArts Foundation and National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, or NFAA) is an American charity established in 1981 by Lin and Ted Arison to help nurture emerging high-school artists. The foundation is base ...

national arts scholarship program while at

West Linn High School West Linn High School is a public high school in West Linn, Oregon, United States. It is one of two high schools in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District, the other being Wilsonville High School. Academics In 1984, West Linn High School was ho ...

West Linn West Linn is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A southern suburb within the Portland metropolitan area, West Linn developed on the site of the former Linn City, which was named after U.S. Senator Lewis F. Linn of Ste. Genevie ...

, Oregon.

Music career

Early Jazz releases

Davis released the album ''Introducing Kate Davis'' in 2008. She enrolled at the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...

in 2009, concentrating on jazz and classic American songs, releasing a Christmas album in 2009 and a live album in 2010. She collaborated with guitarist Gabe Schnider and drummer Conor Szymanski, these songs can heard on

Michael Feinstein Michael Jay Feinstein (born September 7, 1956) is an American singer, pianist, and music revivalist. He is an archivist and interpreter for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988 he won a Drama Desk Special Award for cele ...

's NPR show ''Song Travels''. In 2012, she was recognized by

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

with the Robert Alan Award for new songwriters. In 2014 Davis was recognized by MTV as one of the "Fifteen Fresh Females to Rule Pop" in 2014. In September 2014, Davis sang a cover version of "

All About That Bass "All About That Bass" is the debut single of American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor, released on June 30, 2014, through Epic Records. The song was included on Trainor's debut extended play (EP) ''Title (EP), Title'' (2014) and her debut Title ( ...

" by

Meghan Trainor Meghan Elizabeth Trainor (born December 22, 1993) is an American singer-songwriter and television personality. She rose to prominence after signing with Epic Records in 2014 and releasing her debut single "All About That Bass", which reached ...

while playing double bass for

Scott Bradlee Scott Bradlee (born September 19, 1981) is an American musician, pianist, and arranger. He is best known for his viral videos on YouTube, including his work under the moniker Postmodern Jukebox (PMJ) — an ever-evolving, revolving collective o ...

Postmodern Jukebox Postmodern Jukebox, also widely known by the initialism PMJ, is a rotating musical collective founded by arranger and pianist Scott Bradlee in 2011. PMJ is known for reworking popular modern music into different vintage genres, especially early ...

video channel; Bradlee played piano and Dave Tedeschi played drums on their 1940s jazz-style interpretation, called "All About That (Upright) Bass". After three months on YouTube their version had received eight million hits. In December 2014, Davis appeared on ''

PBS NewsHour ''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virg ...

'' to perform and to talk about her career. While discussing the cover version she has said that learning the double bass was difficult, but after learning songs from the

Great American Songbook The Great American Songbook is the loosely defined canon of significant early-20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes. Definition According to the Great American Songbook Foundation: The "Great American Songbook" is ...

, she was able to translate that knowledge to create her own style. In January 2015 Kate Davis appeared on the PBS special ''American Voices'' with

Renée Fleming Renée Lynn Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American soprano, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Fleming has been nominated for 1 ...

. She stepped in at the last minute for Grammy-winner

Kurt Elling Kurt Elling (born November 2, 1967) is an American jazz singer and songwriter. Born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Rockford, Illinois, Rockford, Elling became interested in music through his father, who was Kapellmeister at a Lutheran chur ...

when he became ill with laryngitis and couldn't perform.

A change of direction to Rock

In 2019 Kate Davis relaunched her career as an indie rock musician with the release of the album ''Trophy''. The album was a result of collaboration with producer Tim Bright. Her next album was a complete cover of ''

Retired Boxer ''Retired Boxer'' is the seventh self-released music cassette album by singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, recorded in 1984. The album's nine songs are performed in Johnston's usual confessional piano ballad style. This album, like those before it ...

'' by outsider artist

Daniel Johnston Daniel Dale Johnston (January 22, 1961 – September 11, 2019) was an American singer, musician and artist regarded as a significant figure in outsider, lo-fi, and alternative music scenes. Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded a ...

. She posted "Oh No" to

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

as the lead single in November 2020. The album titled ''Strange Boy'' was released in early 2021 and benefited for the mental health charity Hi How Are You Project. In 2022 Kate released a new original song "Consequences". The album ''Fish Bowl'' followed in March 2023.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Introducing Kate Davis'' (2008) * ''A Kate Davis Holiday'' (2009) * ''Trophy'' (2019) *''Strange Boy'' (2021) *''Fish Bowl'' (2023)

Live albums

* ''Live at Jimmy Mak's'' (2010)

As featured artist

As composer or session musician

Music videos

Notes * A ^ Scott Bradlee & Postmodern Jukebox feat. Kate Davis

External links

Official website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Kate 1991 births Living people People from West Linn, Oregon Singers from Oregon 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers 21st-century double-bassists American women jazz singers American jazz double-bassists American jazz singers Manhattan School of Music alumni Women double-bassists