25 year old Kathleen is one of a new generation of exciting young singers. From a musical family, she started playing the violin at the age of 4. It soon became apparent that she was a natural at both the violin and singing and pursued both instruments along with the piano until the end of her schooling (although she never took singing lessons). Instead at 13, she joined the ranks of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and sang with both their first and second bands for 7 years. At the age of 18 she applied to the Royal Academy of Music and was accepted as one of only two vocalists on the jazz course, run by Graham Collier. 1999 saw Kathleen selected by the RAM to go to Santiago, Spain for the annual IASJ conference.

In 2000, she graduated with a Bmus in jazz vocal performance and is now pursuing a varied career. Kathleen has performed with Tim Whitehead at the Teignmouth Jazz Festival (2002), the London Jazz Festival (2003), the Purcell Room, the Music and the Mind Festival (2003), the CBSO Centre, the Royal Northern College of Music, the York Late Music Festival (2004), regularly at the 606 Jazz Club and at various jazz clubs across the UK. She toured the length and breadth of the country with Tim Whitehead and Colin Riley’s Homemade Orchestra on a major 22-date Arts Council of England supported tour (Spring 2004). She has also performed at the prestigious Ronnie Scott’s Club with her own band KO and a number of times at the Jazz Café as both a lead and backing vocalist.

Kathleen is featured on Latin/ jazz group AZUL’s debut album Beautiful People and on Colin Riley and Tim Whitehead’s album Inside Covers (Homemade Label). She has recorded commercially for Blazin’ Squad (Eastwest Records), jingles including USA Television (Candle Music) and for the feature films THE MUMMY RETURNS and LARA CROFT TOMBRAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE (Sinfonia of London Professional Chorus).

In 2003 she joined composer Colin Riley and Tim Whitehead in the Homemade Orchestra and amazed everyone with her ability to successfully interpret a diffuse array of contemporary classical and jazz song arrangements for the recent 'Inside Covers' album. She devoured the challenges of moving from Fraser Trainer’s reappraisal of Human League's Love Action through Lennon/McCartney's Paperback Writer to breakneck unison horn lines in Just In Time with her customary deadly accuracy and commitment. She recently brough out another album named "Close to You", again with Tim Whitehead (Tenor Sax) and Gwilym Simcock (Piano).

"Kathleen Willison, a promising singer who handles jazz and classical scores with equal conviction." John.L.Walters, The Guardian, 2002.

"Sung with Moon-bright clarity" James Griffiths, The Guardian

"A singer I have really taken to" Alyn Shipton, Jazz Critic, BBC Radio 2

"Kathleen Willison is an amazingly gifted young singer. At times, she puts me in mind of the young Norma Winstone. As if that were not enough, she can write songs that sound like songs" Dave Gelly, The Observer - Jazz CD of the Week

"A singer with a keen musical intelligence and an indisputable sense of personality" Peter Quinn, Jazzwise