Clarion Native Katherine Farnham Wins Global Music Award

Aly Delp

Aly Delp

Published November 30, 2018 5:26 am
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LOS ANGELES, Ca. (EYT) — Clarion native and former Miss Teen Autumn Leaf Festival winner Katherine “Kool Kat” Farnham was recently awarded a Global Music Award Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement.

(Photo courtesy of Katherine Farnham)

Farnham, a third-generation musician, singer/songwriter/pianist, won the accolade for her song “People, A Tribute to Barbra Streisand” featuring two-time Grammy Nominee Mindi Abair as guest artist and saxophonist. The song transforms Streisand’s beloved hit into a lush jazz ballad, brought to life by world-class musicians, a full string orchestra, and Farnham herself on piano and vocals.

Farnham has recorded with many renowned artists, including celebrated saxophonist and Grammy winner Kirk Whalum, Latin Grammy winner Nestor Torres, and Grammy nominees Mindi Abair and Denny Jiosa.

She has also received the coveted Hollywood F.A.M.E. Award for Special Achievement, Singer-Songwriter; a Los Angeles Music Award; and a Las Vegas Counter Culture Award for “Best Jazz Performer”, among others.

Her first Billboard Top 40 hit was a song titled “Necessary Groove” from the album “Vintage, which also featured a song that has become known as her trademark ballad, “My Shoes Are Leaking”, which is a Veterans Tribute about a couple separated by military deployment. Her unique and retitled single “My Funky Valentine” has also gained a following among jazz aficionados.

Farnham discovered her love of music at a young age, writing her first song during a family road trip at the age of five. She learned the piano under the tutelage of her mother, who was a concert pianist and was also influenced by her father, who toured with The Boston Pops.

She is a Clarion Area High School alumni and a graduate, summa cum laude, of Boston’s Berklee College of Music.

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