Kate Jackson (born 16 September 1979) is an English singer who was formerly the lead-singer with

The Long Blondes The Long Blondes are an English indie rock band formed in Sheffield in 2003 by Dorian Cox (lead guitar and keyboards), Reenie Hollis (real name Kathryn Hollis) (bass guitar and backing vocals), Emma Chaplin (rhythm guitar, keyboards and backing ...

. She now performs under the name Kate Jackson & The Wrong Moves.

Biography

Jackson attended

Culford School Culford School is a co-educational independent day and boarding school for pupils age 1-18 in the village of Culford, miles north of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England. The headmaster is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Con ...

in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk and took leading parts in the school's performing arts shows. In the late 1990s, she moved to

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

to study

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

. Soon after graduating, Jackson began writing and performing with fellow graduates of the city's universities forming

. Whilst the band were unsigned, she studied

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...

and also worked at Freshman's Boutique, a

vintage clothing Vintage clothing is a generic term for garments originating from a previous era, as recent as the 1990s. The term can also be applied in reference to second hand retail outlets, e.g. i''n vintage clothing store''. While the concept originated ...

shop in Sheffield. This interest in vintage clothing became a distinctive feature of the image of The Long Blondes. Jackson herself describes her style as "

Bonnie Parker Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (October 1, 1910May 23, 1934) and Clyde Chestnut (Champion) Barrow (March 24, 1909May 23, 1934) were an American criminal couple who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. The co ...

meets a

Carry On Carry On may refer to: * ''Carry On'' (franchise), a British comedy media franchise *Carry-on luggage or hand luggage, luggage that is carried into the passenger compartment * ''Carry On'' (film), a 1927 British silent film * ''Carry On'' (novel), ...

girl". In 2006, Jackson was ranked number seven in

NME's Cool List ''NME'' Cool List was an annual listing of popular musicians compiled by the weekly British music magazine '' NME''. The list was created each November by the magazine's writers and journalists, and was based on the 50 musicians that they cons ...

. Despite the number one spot being given to

Beth Ditto Mary Beth Patterson (born February 19, 1981), known by her stage name Beth Ditto, is an American singer and songwriter most notable for her work with the indie rock band Gossip. Her voice has been compared to Etta James, Janis Joplin and T ...

, of

The Gossip Gossip (or The Gossip) was an American indie rock band formed in Searcy, Arkansas, originally active from 1999 until 2016. For most of their career, the band consisted of singer Beth Ditto, multi-instrumentalist Brace Paine, and drummer Hanna ...

, and the 2006 list being equally divided between male and female performers, Jackson responded to this accolade with: "They probably thought they didn't have enough girls. It was so overrun with boring boys, they needed someone to bring a touch of glamour." The ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' described her as having the "arrogant strut of Chrissie Hynde and the acidic tongue of a harlesDickens heroine." Jackson is a passionate spokeswoman for Sheffield. In an article in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'', she spoke about a project initiated by the magazine ''Go'' called Cooling the Towers which proposed lighting up the former cooling towers at Tinsley to symbolise what Sheffield stands for, rather than demolishing them. "One suggestion was that the towers would light up as cars passed on the M1, one a tower of red lights and one a tower of white. Go Sheffo petitioned the city council with these suggested uses but met with mute response". The towers were demolished in 2008. An archive photo from Jackson's time in

features on the front of

Guy Mankowski Guy Mankowski (born 6 January 1983) is an English writer. He is the great grandson of the author and broadcaster Harry Mortimer Batten. He was educated at St John's College, Portsmouth and Ampleforth College. He read Applied Psychology at Durh ...

's book, ''Albion's Secret History: Snapshots of England's Pop Rebels and Outsiders'', published by

Zer0 Books John Hunt Publishing is a left-wing publishing company founded in the United Kingdom in 2001, initially named O Books. The publisher has 24 active autonomous imprints, with the largest of these being the Zero Books imprint (styled Zer0 Books) fou ...

in 2021.

Solo career

After

split in October 2008, Jackson began working a solo record with former

Suede Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items. The term comes from the French , which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was firs ...

guitarist

Bernard Butler Bernard Joseph Butler (born 1 May 1970) is an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the first guitarist with Suede, until his departure in 1994. He has been hailed by some critics as the greatest guitarist of hi ...

. Songs included are "Velvet Sofa From No.26", "16 Years" and "Dancing In My Bedroom". In March 2010, she published the track "Homeward Bound" on her Myspace page. Jackson was a guest singer on the Scottish band 1990s' ''Kickstrasse'', on their ''

Kicks A kick is a physical strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee strike). This type of atta ...

'' album of March 2009. In 2011 she formed the eponymous Kate Jackson Group performing a small number of gigs including a homecoming of sorts to second home of Sheffield at the city's Plug venue. Later in 2011 double A side single "The Atlantic"/"Wonder Feeling" was released, initially on limited edition vinyl followed by iTunes download in January 2012. As of September 2015 Jackson also performs in two bands: The Wrong Moves and The Wilsons. In 2016, her debut album ''British Road Movies'', a collaboration between Jackson and Butler, was released to positive reviews, holding a 76% approval rating on Metacritc.

Visual art career

Jackson told ''

'' in September 2015 that she had begun a career as a visual artist, explaining that art had been her "first choice of career" prior to the formation of The Long Blondes.

References

External links

Kate Jackson
on Myspace {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Kate 1979 births Living people Women rock singers Musicians from Bury St Edmunds People educated at Culford School Musicians from Sheffield British indie rock musicians 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers