Cat Austin

Cat Austin's career has extended from Texas to California, where she now resides. Born in Texas, she comes from a long line of performers from the golden days of Vaudeville. Cat's grandparents actually owned and performed in a circus, and her father was a successful leader of a Big Band during the 1940s. Cat studied piano throughout her elementary and high school career and it was not long before she found that the urge to perform ran deep in her blood, as well.

Cat Austin studied at Stephen F. Austin University (no relation!) where she earned a Masters Degree in Theatre Arts. She was a star performer in productions of Mame, South Pacific, Once Upon A Mattress, Oliver!, Pippin, My Fair Lady and Music Man. She also worked as a voice-over specialist and actress for radio and television commercials.

Cat moved to California, where she continued to study voice in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, with teachers and performers, such as Ron Anderson, Beth Freeman, Fran Carbonaro and Rhiannon. Cat's love of performance inspired her to support other woman performers, and she created and produced the Women's Performing Arts Series. This year-long series featured a continuous string of sellout concerts featuring local performing female artists of all disciplines, and became a popular monthly feature at the performance space at Klein's Sonoma Music in Sonoma, California.

Cat's long awaited debut CD features an All-Star band including Domo Records Jazz Guitarist Ray Obiedo, Tower of Power Sax Man Norbert Satchel, Pete Escovedo's drummer Paul Van Wageningen and bassist Marc Van Wageningen, and one of the Bay Area's most extraordinary percussionists and leader of the Machete Ensemble, John Santos.

Cat has appeared with Smooth Jazz Superstars such as Ray Obiedo, Peter White, Michael Paulo and Avenue Blue with Jeff Golub. She is performing throughout the Bay Area this fall in support of her debut album, Tempting Fate. A tour of Brazil is being planned for the first part of 1999.

Cat is a popular on-air personality for Smooth Jazz Radio Station KJZY, 93.7 FM, in Sonoma County. Her live show is on the air every Sunday afternoon from 12 to 6, which segues into Jazz with Jerry Dean on Sunday evening. Cat and her band also perform as the KJZY Jazz Cats throughout Sonoma County at events sponsored by the Station.

Cat performs throughout the San Francisco Bay Area with her musical partner keyboardist John Simon. Together they perform as a jazz duo at numerous public venues, as well as private and corporate events. Their band, featured on the CD in its fullest incarnation, can expand or contract to fit the needs of any event or concert, from 2 to 8 members.

Cat also often appears with John Simon at Josef's restaurant in Santa Rosa, located at the Hotel La Rose in Historic Railroad Square, where they perform classic and