Kate Rusby | Artist
Kate Rusby is an English folk singer-songwriter born 1973 in Penistone, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Sometimes called the "Barnsley Nightingale", Rusby is one of the best known contemporary English folk singers who the BBC described as "The first lady of young folkies". Born into a family of musicians Rusby soon learnt to play the guitar, the fiddle and the piano, as well as to sing. She played in many local folk festivals as a child and adolescent, before becoming the lead vocalist of the all-female Celtic folk band the Poozies. Her music bears a gentle sound imbued with poetic grace and traces of the traditional Celtic scene from which she initially emerged. After earning widespread acclaim in 1999 for her Mercury Prize-nominated second album, Sleepless Nights, she spent the next decade establishing herself as a perennial star of the U.K. folk scene with albums like 2003's Underneath the Stars and 2007's Awkward Annie. Prior to 2010's all-original Make the Light, Rusby's albums had generally consisted of a mix of traditional folk songs, well-chosen pop and rock covers, and some originals. She also has made it a tradition to release Christmas-themed albums, culminating in the excellent 2023 release Light Years. Rusby's recorded output has remained both prolific and varied with collaborative sets like 2012's star-studded 20, which includes contributions from such luminaries as Nic Jones, Dick Gaughan, Paul Weller, Richard Thompson, Paul Brady, Eddi Reader and Mary Chapin Carpenter. A collaboration with Ronan Keating saw Rusby riding high in the UK Singles Chart with their duet "All Over Again" peaking at No. 6 in June 2006. In the same year her cover of the Kinks' "The Village Green Preservation Society" was used as the theme tune to the BBC One television sitcom Jam & Jerusalem. Rusby wrote several new songs for the series, and was credited as being responsible for the show's music. Of her 22 consistently strong studio albums, standout releases include Hourglass (1997), 10 (2002), Underneath the Stars (2003), 20 (2012), and Light Years (2023). In August 2001, Rusby married Scottish fiddler and fellow band member John McCusker, formerly of the Battlefield Band, who produced most of her early recordings, but they subsequently divorced in 2006. In June 2010, she married Irish musician Damien O'Kane, with whom she has two children.
Artist Website: katerusby.com
Featured Albums: Kate Rusby
Related Artists: Equation, The Poozies
