Katie White
Katie White |
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Katherine Rebecca White (born March 3, 1983 in Lowton, near Leigh, Greater Manchester) is an English musician. After some success with a girl group punk trio TKO supporting Steps and Atomic Kitten her father David White brought in Jules De Martino to write songs for TKO [1] and Katie and Jules formed the pop group The Ting Tings.[2]
Early life
Katie White was brought up on a farm in Lowton,[3] a suburb of Golborne, part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England with her father David White, mother Lynne and sister Helena. Katie went to Lowton High School in Lowton, near Warrington which has a large performing arts department.[4] When she was 12 years old Katie's grandfather Ken White won £6.6million on the National Lottery and gave each of his three sons David, Stephen and Richard £1million each. As well as buying ponies for Katie and Helena, David used his share of the money to start a music management company.[1]
Career
TKO
Katie started her music career aged 14 in 1998 in a girl group punk trio TKO - short for Total Knock Out - with two friends from Lowton school, Joanne Leeton and Emma Lally. TKO was managed by Katie's father's music management company. They had some success and supported Steps and Atomic Kitten. TKO also appeared on ITV's CD:UK. In March 2001 David White brought in songwriter Jules De Martino who wrote four songs for TKO.[1] TKO were not able to secure a record deal but released a single on the internet.[citation needed]
Dear Eskiimo
Katie got back in touch with Jules De Martino when she was at Leeds University and he moved to Manchester. They formed a band called Dear Eskiimo (often misreported as Dead Eskimo) with a DJ friend Simon Templeman. The name was intended to be as nomadic, tribal and independent as possible. There were already several bands called Eskimo but Jules, who wote the lyrics, wanted his songs to tell good stories as if in a letter, hence 'Dear Eskiimo' with the odd spelling of 'Eskimo" with two 'I"s to make it stand out.[5] Their first performance was as a support between two rock bands but it went well and they were signed up by Mercury Records at the end of 2004. Creative differences and the management style of the record label caused them to split up.[6]
The Ting Tings
Katie and Jules started a band in 2007 with Katie on vocals, guitar, piano and bass drum and Jules on vocals, drums and keyboards. They started writing songs together and doing short concerts. Katie was working in a boutique with a Chinese girl called "Ting Ting," which sounds like Mandarin Chinese for "band stand" (亭) and Katie used it as name for the band.[2] One transliteration of the band's name in Japanese is a slang word for penis (wikt:ちんちん).[7] The Ting Tings started by playing for private parties at the Islington Mill arts centre in Salford and their debut album, We Started Nothing, was released on 19 May 2008.[6]
Discography
- We Started Nothing (2008)
- Massage Kunst (2010)
References
- ^ a b c "How feud tore Ting Tings star's family apart". Retrieved 2009-03-07.
- ^ a b "The Band". Retrieved 2009-03-13.
- ^ http://www.leighreporter.co.uk/leisure/Katie-enjoys-the-fame-game.3986824.jp
- ^ "December 2008 Newsletter". Retrieved 2009-03-07.
- ^ "Dear Eskimo Biography". Retrieved 2009-03-08.
- ^ a b Ting Tings - the hottest party in town Manchester Evening News - 8 June 2007
- ^ Barton, Laura (2008-06-28). "Just Doing Their Ting". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
External links
- Interviews