Propergander 8.psd

Colin Irwin meets two for tea and offers a sympathetic ear.
KATHRYN WILLIAMS
AND NEILL CHAPMAN
Two
Caw CAW013
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Few can view the vagaries of the record industry with more of a
sense of irony than Kathryn Williams. Seven years ago she was
a timid Newcastle-based singer songwriter from Liverpool trying
to put together enough money to self-release her second album.
When she did, that finished album – Little Black Numbers –
caused a minor sensation.
A
s head (and sole employee) of her record label Caw, she
was invited to the announcement of the 2001 Mercury
Music Prize nominations and, happening to be in
London at the time, decided to pop into the ceremony
for her lunch. When the shortlist was read out and her
name was on it, they had to pick her off the floor. Another shock
awaited at the Mercury finals later that year when East West Records
offered her a major record deal.
Yet, by her own admission, she was a wreck at the time, suffering
from agoraphobia and practically suffering a nervous breakdown
every time she had to step in front of an audience. She went on to
release three albums for East West – all of them going gold or
thereabouts – but it was a fraught time.
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