MY MUSIC STORY
KATHY SULLIVAN
Singer/Guitarist/Entertainer
(and occasional banjo plunker)
" To me, music is magical.
It can heal the body, heal the soul, and give us hope.
It can open our hearts to love.
It can bring our good memories back to life .
When my show can touch even just one person in my audience in this magical way ...
THAT JUST MAKES MY DAY !!! "
Although born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, Kathy now calls Whitefish, Montana her home. She fell in love with Whitefish, a little mountain resort town in northwest Montana in the 1970s while traveling and singing in show lounges all over the United States.
Her professional musical career began in college at the University of Oregon when she was part of a folk music quintet called the GREEK SINGERS. After college, she traveled the U.S. and Canada for 10 years sharing the bill as a lead singer with one of the top show lounge music/comedy duos of the time called KEEL & SULLIVAN. The duo performed in supper clubs, show lounges and military bases in 30 states, and Canada.
In the late 1970s the act of KEEL &SULLIVAN retired and Kathy made her permanent move to Whitefish. She continued to sing and strum her guitar as a ‘single’ act at the area ski resort, Big Mountain, now known as Whitefish Mountain Resort, in local clubs and restaurants, and in over 400 schools,juvenile detention facilities and juvenile prisons all over the U.S.
When Kathy first moved to Whitefish, in an
effort to get off ‘the road’, she took up photography as a second profession in
1981. Presently, she is very much
involved in both professions and feels she has the best of all worlds making a
living at both of her passions.
She continues to tour the western states
several winter/spring months a year to perform at retirement developments, golf
resorts, parties, concerts & to do shows for independent/ assisted living,
and memory care ‘senior’ lodges all over the western states. However, most of
the year Kathy prefers playing her guitar locally for private parties, concerts,
patio bars, and Montana vacation resorts. She also just completed her 7th
summer singing weekly at a Whitefish based dude/guest ranch called The Bar W.
Accompanying herself on the guitar, Kathy’s show is comprised of songs that range from the ‘Gay 90s’ (of the 1890s J) up to the present. The genre of her music is a total mixed bag of new and old songs, featuring show tunes, classic old standards, kids songs, folk music, light rock/pop, country music, and occasionally throwing in an original song she wrote.
Just plain having fun and lots of interaction with her audience is the main ingredient to her performance. Her main focus is in singing songs that her audience knows and loves, getting them involved in her performance, singing along, laughing and having a good time.
When asked to describe herself Kathy will say ‘In my heart I am the absolute happiest when I am singing and playing my guitar, on stage and off !!!’ Her love for music, and for people, is infectious and her show is a favorite wherever she performs.
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