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The world's a beautiful place all over again for singer-songwriter Catherine Howe
A Halifax singer-songwriter who won an Ivor Novello Award turned her back on music. Now, as Pauline Hawkins finds out, she has rediscovered her voice
THERE'S the sun, the moon and Harry... those words helped Catherine Howe achieve a top music award 35 years ago.
The simplicity and beauty of the song Harry and the clarity of her vocals eased the Calderdale-born ballad-orientated singer to an Ivor Novello Award, a rare accolade for a female performer.
But within five years she had withdrawn from the public eye, saddened and frustrated that industry moguls were meddling in her music.
Despite promotion and tours with the likes of Andy Fairweather-Low, Chris de Burgh and David Soul, Catherine's albums and singles were not selling enough for the businessmen's liking.
She says: "I thought it was because of me but it was as much, I've since learned, because they weren't in the shops to buy.
"To remedy this it was suggested that maybe I should write country and western, maybe I should change my hair, maybe wear black leather. So the music business, which I loved, and I parted company.
"Like a bad marriage, some damage was sustained before separation took place."
But now Catherine's songs are being heard – and appreciated – once more. She has forged a new singing and songwriting partnership with musician Vo Fletcher, who, like Catherine and her husband Nick, lives in the Worcestershire town of Malvern. Their new CD single Going Home is released on March 29.
Click 'play' above to hear a clip of White Winter Hymnal, the third track from the CD
Catherine says: "I first heard Vo sing Going Home about 15 years ago when my daughter and I attended one of his concerts. It's a very poignant song for me as it reminds me of the days when, at the end of term, my father used to pick me up in the family car from the Corona Stage School in London. We would then start the long trip from Chiswick to join the old A1 and then home to Halifax. I loved going home!"
Her talent for singing had taken her from the home she shared with her parents and her elder brothers and sisters at a tender age.
As a 10-year-old pupil at Salterhebble School, she had run excitedly home after an English teacher told her: "Go home and tell your parents you should have your voice trained." Within months – two days before her 12th birthday – she arrived at Corona Stage School in Hammersmith where academic work in the mornings was followed by afternoon drama sessions.
Catherine remembers: "We comprised a truly interesting group of adolescents, including Judy and Sally Geeson and Susan George. But childhood dreams turn into what is real: my family was in Yorkshire, I was 12 years old in London and homesick to a cruel degree."
Her time at the stage school led to acting work during the 1960s. She says: "To tell the truth I wanted to be a librarian but, having escaped an academic schooling by the time I was 18, it was too late for that.
She says: "To tell the truth I wanted to be a librarian but, having escaped an academic schooling by the time I was 18, it was too late for that. Instead I enjoyed a surprisingly successful start as an actor with roles in Theatre 625, Wednesday Play, Dr Who, Dixon of Dock Green and Z Cars.
In 1969, aged 19, Catherine signed a publishing and recording deal with Reflection Records which resulted in the 1971 release of the album What A Beautiful Place, which was re-released in 2007 and won her a whole new army of admirers.
After retiring from the music scene she returned to Halifax, married and had her daughter Jenny, now 21. She studied for an Open University degree in history and religion and her short book on the early life of George Jacob Holyoake, 19th century secularist, socialist, propagandist and champion of a free press, is now at editing stage.
But having written songs from the age of five, melodies and lyrics continued to come to her. "Yorkshire Hills is a song that came to me in the '80s in Halifax," she says. "I wanted to express what I feel about the history of Yorkshire, my family's adoptive county, which you can feel permeate your bones and spirit when you walk there – especially in towns like Halifax and Huddersfield.
"I love Halifax and am fascinated by it and its history."
The song Harry was written when her family lived in Fixby, but was not inspired by anyone of that name. "I had had the melody for a long time and the words were very simple," she says. "It is very difficult to write a simple song with simple lyrics and keep it interesting."
Having produced no recorded music for two decades, Catherine released an album called Princelet Street in 2006, produced and arranged by guitarist Kevin Healy.
She says: "The album is inspired by the street and a sense of family, past and present. Generations of my family lived in or near the City of London. My great-grandmother Susannah Constantine, was born in Princelet Street in 1851, her mother worked as a silk winder, her father as a fancy comb-maker. As a young man my father used to work as a salesman for Geo Glanfield & Sons in Brick Lane."
Catherine's father David died more than a decade ago but she still visits Halifax regularly to see her mother Olive, now 94, and hopes to play her music in her home town in the near future.
..and Catherine's been back in the studio
The CD Going Home contains three songs – the title track, a "generic folk song" called Nothing Love Does Surprises Me and White Winter Hymnal, written by Sean Pecknold of the band Fleet Foxes. The tracks on this single are from the forthcoming album English Tale. Catherine says: "In essence that's exactly what the album will be – a collection of songs inspired by people either Vo or I have known and loved, others we wish we'd known, and others we've welcomed to England."
Click 'play' above to hear a clip of White Winter Hymnal, the third track from the CD Instead I enjoyed a surprisingly successful start as an actor with roles in Theatre 625, Wednesday Play, Dr Who, Dixon of Dock Green and Z Cars.
In 1969, aged 19, Catherine signed a publishing and recording deal with Reflection Records which resulted in the 1971 release of the album What A Beautiful Place, which was re-released in 2007 and won her a whole new army of admirers.
After retiring from the music scene she returned to Halifax, married and had her daughter Jenny, now 21. She studied for an Open University degree in history and religion and her short book on the early life of George Jacob Holyoake, 19th century secularist, socialist, propagandist and champion of a free press, is now at editing stage.
But having written songs from the age of five, melodies and lyrics continued to come to her. “Yorkshire Hills is a song that came to me in the ‘80s in Halifax,” she says. “I wanted to express what I feel about the history of Yorkshire, my family’s adoptive county, which you can feel permeate your bones and spirit when you walk there – especially in towns like Halifax and Huddersfield.
”I love Halifax and am fascinated by it and its history.”
The song Harry was written when her family lived in Fixby, but was not inspired by anyone of that name. “I had had the melody for a long time and the words were very simple,” she says. “It is very difficult to write a simple song with simple lyrics and keep it interesting.”
Having produced no recorded music for two decades, Catherine released an album called Princelet Street in 2006, produced and arranged by guitarist Kevin Healy.
She says: “The album is inspired by the street and a sense of family, past and present. Generations of my family lived in or near the City of London. My great-grandmother Susannah Constantine, was born in Princelet Street in 1851, her mother worked as a silk winder, her father as a fancy comb-maker. As a young man my father used to work as a salesman for Geo Glanfield & Sons in Brick Lane.”
Catherine’s father David died more than a decade ago but she still visits Halifax regularly to see her mother Olive, now 94, and hopes to play her music in her home town in the near future.
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