Kate St. John

Biography

Musician (oboe/cor anglais, sax, accordion, piano), composer, arranger, producer and solo artist. One time member of The Ravishing Beauties, psychedelic 80s band The Dream Academy, years recording and touring with Van Morrison and a member of Tom Waits’ Magic Bullets band for Robert Wilson’s Black Rider, she has been involved in many varied projects. In the last few years she has worked extensively with New York producer/curator Hal Wilner including concert tributes to Nino Rota as arranger/play...

Musician (oboe/cor anglais, sax, accordion, piano), composer, arranger, producer and solo artist. One time member of The Ravishing Beauties, psychedelic 80s band The Dream Academy, years recording and touring with Van Morrison and a member of Tom Waits’ Magic Bullets band for Robert Wilson’s Black Rider, she has been involved in many varied projects. In the last few years she has worked extensively with New York producer/curator Hal Wilner including concert tributes to Nino Rota as arranger/player, and the Dublin Came So Far For Beauty Leonard Cohen show, arranger and player in Jarvis Cocker’s Meltdown Disney tribute and the Rogues Gallery shows.

In 2007 she was part of Damon Albarn’s team producing the score for his Monkey: Journey To The West opera and toured the USA with Philip Glass as oboeist in The Book Of Longing. 2009-2010 she co produced and played on Kathryn Williams’s album The Quickening and is a member of Marianne Fatihfull’s live band.


In 1992 Kate started her association with the All Saints record label as a composer, player and singer. This resulted in The Familiar, a collaborative album with pianist and composer Roger Eno. She and Roger then joined up with Bill Nelson and Laraaji to form the eclectic, avant-garde collective Channel Light Vessel who released two improvisational albums, Automatic and Excellent Spirits.

In 1995 Kate’s first solo album, Indescribable Night, came out. Produced by her and French composer Joseph Racaille it featured her singing, playing, compositions and arrangements Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.