Kate Lamont

Born in Birmingham, UK, singer Kate Lamont had trouble embracing her Indiana roots until later in her career. “It took me a while to recognize I was proud of growing up in the Midwest. I thought it was much more exotic to be from England.” But the heartland would lay the groundwork for her songwriting and collaboration efforts. Singing with the family as early as age 2, Lamont’s childhood was saturated with music. Conscious of her calling to dedicate her life to it, she remembers having the vision as early as age 4. The piano entered her life at the same time, and from that point on it was singing and playing in church, family Christmas albums, and high school show choir. Lamont joined her first band at 18, and began writing on an old Hammond M2 that they carted around to shows even though it took 5 people to lift.

Her writing is influenced by equal parts electronic and acoustic music. Shaped by folk, jazz, and soul spanning the 70’s to the 90’s, her mentors range from Sade to Bonnie Raitt, Steely Dan to Prince, to Nina Simone, Wonder, Bjork, Badu, and Tribe. Like these predecessors and contemporaries, Lamont’s lyrics are heavily influenced by the social injustices she’s witnessed in her time. Lamont spent over a decade working in and building the Indianapolis arts and music community before moving to the San Francisco bay area in 2012. At that point, she had already worked in a dozen studios, and recorded 7 collaborative works under different band names, as well as 2 solo albums. Her third solo effort, What happens next is everything, was recorded between Berkeley, San Francisco, Pacifica and Portland, at Fantasy Studios, Different Fur, PacSound, and the Trench. “I could live in the studio. I’ve discovered that I have as much passion around mentoring others in the recording process as I do around my own work. I’m so grateful that this is what I get to do. Focusing on music, education and social justice: I can’t think of anything more rewarding.”