Kate Rusby

Kate was born on 1 December 1973 and hails from Barnsley, West Yorkshire. She has headlined various United Kingdom national folk festivals, and is regarded as one of the most talented English folk singers of contemporary times. born into a family of musicians. After learning to play the guitar and the piano, as well as to sing, she played in many local folk festivals as a child and adolescent, before joining (and becoming the lead vocalist of) the all-female Celtic folk band The Poozies. Her breakthrough album came in 1995. A collaboration with her friend and fellow Barnsley folk singer Kathryn Roberts was simply titled "Kate Rusby & Kathryn Roberts". In 1997, with the help of her family, she recorded and released her first solo album, Hourglass. Since then she has gone on to receive noted acclaim in her home country and abroad, and her family continues to help her with all aspects of her professional career as a musician.

The Scottish fiddler John McCusker (formerly of the Battlefield Band) produces Kate's recordings and plays in her band. Kate and John have been married since August 2001 and live in Yorkshire.

Kate was also a member of the folk group, The Equation, later to be replaced by Cara Dillon. In its early lineup, Equation also featured Kate's erstwhile performing partner Kathryn Roberts and Mercury-nominated artist Seth Lakeman. Their demo CD, In Session, had a small commercial release.

In 1999 she was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. She is the recipient of three BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards: in 2000 she won Folk Singer of the Year and Best Album (for Sleepless); in 2002 she was awarded Best Original Song (for Lullabye). In 2006 she was nominated at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for Best Original Song (for No Names with Roddy Woomble from Idlewild) and for Best Album (for Girl Who Couldn't Fly) and won Best Live Act.