My Story

I remember as a child, singing brought me so much joy. I would sing at every opportunity, whether that be in front of my bedroom mirror, at school in assembly, choirs and music classes. The love of music was big in our family and I always remember music playing. My mum had (still has) many classic Motown 45s and I would sing along to Aretha at the top of my lungs whenever I could. My dad had (still has) many ‘not for sale’ records from The Beatles, given to him by our beloved Auntie Vera, who was the Studio Manager at the world famous Abbey Road Studios for 40 years.

In school, the only classes I could pay attention in and enjoyed were Music and English Language & Literature. I loved reading other people’s stories, then creating my own and using my voice to express them. When it came to finishing school and deciding what I wanted to do with my life, I knew I wanted to sing but could I make money doing that? The answer to this is yes, we can make money doing what we love, however back then I had been taught by school, society, peers that singing was not a ‘real job’. Couple that with a fear of not being good enough lead me to the answer of no I couldn’t make money from doing what I love, so after leaving school I took a job at a big Bank to finance my music career.

I had been waitressing on weekends since I was 13. The restaurant had a bar and club, so when I turned 18 I started working weekends in the bar and singing in the club at every opportunity. I joined a covers band, we were playing gigs all over the country. When that band split, I joined another band. I was having so much fun with music and earning some good money so I decided to go from full time to part time at the Bank. After about a year the band started to drift apart. There was less money, but my time at the bank was wearing me down. I quit and became a Foreign Exchange cashier in a large corporate Travel Agency. I knew I loved traveling so this would be great!

This was when my interest in alternative therapies began to develop. I was practicing yoga, tai chi and having acupuncture, hypnotherapy and iridology sessions. I realise now that I was instinctively trying to find ‘cures’.

During this time I started to write my own songs and found a love of house music. I wanted to make my own album. This is when I started to meet DJs and Producers making great records. After a year I was still miserable in my day job and Richard Branson’s new finance company had launched in my area. I had always loved how successful he was with bringing his passions to life and so I began writing letters to see if I could get a job with his company. After a year of persistence I finally got in and spent 4 years flying up the corporate ladder. Beginning as Tele-op, then Financial Advisor and ending up as a Call Centre Manager. Virgin Direct was not like any other corporation i’d ever worked at. It was young, fun, they took care of us and they really wanted to make the financial industry experience better for the customer, ahead of anything else. Everything was going great, I loved my job and I was writing and singing music with different producers and DJs under the name Katy Allen. I was having success in music and in my day job......

But something was not quite right, this is where some previously fairly minor habits turned into some very self destructive behaviour, especially around men and relationships. My desire to be loved and wanted, fueled by a fear of abandonment really took hold during this period of my life. I knew I needed to seek a change. The opportunity arose for a sabbatical from my job at Virgin. I had an obsession with the ocean and loved scuba diving so I took the sabbatical and flew out to Sharm El Sheik in Egypt to complete my Dive Master certification. Once certified I worked in Sharm El Sheik as dive guide. I worked there for 3 months and loved it, it was a job where every single day I was in the open water of Red Sea, guiding people around the magical under water world. After Egypt I went to Thailand and did the same thing for a while, but my sabbatical was coming to an end. The company I returned to had changed, and was now owned by a large corporate Bank. I felt dejected. The self-destructive behaviour returned and I began having anxiety and panic attacks. I was depressed, but didn’t know why back then. I knew I had to find another job, I knew that I enjoyed working out and staying fit so new career as a Personal Trainer!

Of course my music was still a primary driver. Lots of the producers I was writing and singing with moved to London. House music had become huge and crossed over into the main stream, I knew if I wanted to take my singing career to the next level I would need to be in London. I quit my job, got on a Personal Trainer course in London and moved in with my Grandmother. After day 2 of my course I was having dinner with a friend who worked for a major record label, she said they had just started a new department dealing only in dance music and they needed help. I said I would come in and make tea and do whatever they needed for a month, a month turned into 6 and then I was on a full time contract as a Dance A&R coordinator. This I thought was my dream. By working in the music industry that would help my ‘career’ as a singer and I could finally make my album! I was making more music with producers and had singles out and tracks on compilation albums. It was a whirlwind of fun, dancing, trips to Ibiza & Miami but even though I thought I should be happy, my self-destructive behaviour got worse, until it all came crashing down. The cycle of popular music changed, as it always does, Dance music disappeared back underground and our department was surplus to requirement, I was ‘made redundant’, a term that can make you feel pretty worthless.

This led me into my first studio manager job, where for a while I thrived. I had done some voice overs in the past for a couple of commercials. An opportunity came up to do some voice overs for a TV travel company, who were recording in the studio, so I did that also. I was getting to use my voice and I thought I should be happy, but the depression, destructive relationships and behaviour was getting worse. I had almost stopped singing completely, it didn’t bring me any joy anymore, it was a chore to play live. Alongside that I was in an incredibly abusive relationship, I was suffering from bad stomach problems and debilitating anxiety. I left the studio job, vowing to never go back into the music industry again and buried my dream to make an album.

I set up on my own, I consulted for various artists, record labels, I picked the jobs I wanted to do. I did more voice overs, which led to me presenting some travel pieces in Austria and Germany. I went back to college and did a 2 year Music Tutor training program, designed especially for musicians to bring cool new music programs into schools in lower income areas, it was just what I needed, rewarding and gave me a purpose, I left the abusive relationship and started singing again. I got into health and well being in a big way, I started seeing an intuition coach who helped me get back in touch with myself and my creativity. This was where the journey of going inward really started.

All was going so well that when the job offer came up manage a prestigious recording studio in London, I had forgotten my vow to not go back to the music industry and saw this once again as another opportunity to help my singing career. The studio was an amazing place and the calibre of engineers, producers and artists coming through the doors were second to none, but I wasn’t paying attention to my inner voice. I got caught up in the music industry machine again, going to all the music conferences, fancy parties events, The Brits, The Grammys and only choosing to see the glamorous surface, ignoring the murky waters beneath. I was not myself : I stopped singing, I found myself in abusive relationships, and my depression returned.

I had been in London for 10 years, I’d spend my holiday time in Europe, Spain mostly where I had family. I longed to be away from the city and by the sea and then an opportunity came up to go to LA to see clients on a business trip. I went and added some holiday time as i’d always wanted to drive from San Francisco to LA on the PCH. After my first trip I was hooked on California, the sun, the sea, the wide open landscapes. After 4 years at the London studio a job offer came up in NYC at another studio. Deciding it would be a big step closer to Cali, a few months after my 40th birthday, I packed up my entire life including my cat Jessie and moved across the pond to NYC. If I could make it there i’d make it anywhere!

My first year in NYC was amazing, I was in a year long episode of Sex & the City and I loved it! But soon the novelty wore off. I was back in the music industry, but I wasn’t singing. I started to become anxious and sick with stomach problems again. I became very conscious of health 'care' in the US and the constant use of chemicals and additives in food that are banned in the UK and Europe. I researched the use of toxins in food, in our environment and the desire by Big Pharma to keep people sick, I was appalled by what I learned. The relentless marketing and miseducation around food and pharmaceuticals led me into looking at ways to help the body heal naturally, which I knew it could do. After 4 years I moved out of the city to upstate NY in a bid to find a more healthy, sustainable and peaceful life. After 3 years in the Catskills, an opportunity came along to move to Nashville, Music City, so of course that’s where I went!

For the past 8 years, alongside my day job, I had been pouring my energy into using and studying alternative therapies. I gained certifications in CranioSacral Therapy, Emotion Code Therapy, Sound Healing and as a Certified coach in Essential Oils and Holistic Health. I took on my first clients and saw first hand the deep and lasting benefits I could bring to people through this new practice. I knew had more work to do on myself though. I took up Triathlons and vowed to practice what I was teaching.

Despite everything, I still suffered some of my darkest times. I understood that self-healing was a long journey, but I had the joy of learning from many different and amazing individuals, Gosia Gorna, Regina Meredith, Lee Harris, Dr. Joe Dispensa, Wendy Kennedy to name a few, ultimately leading me to Belinda Womack, a true angel here on earth who helped me rediscover myself and come back to what i'd been trying to get to through this whole journey, using my voice. My voice through music, my voice as a healing artist, my voice to stand in my truth. The reason I kept coming back to music and sound was because it was what I was born to do, just not in the frequency I was doing it previously.

I have always known the power of sound and voice. I’ve always understood its frequency and vibration. Once I combined that with all my inner work and understanding that EVERYTHING is Energy, Frequency and Vibration, my gifts began to show themselves

The 'career' in singing I had been chasing this whole time wasn't actually wanted I really wanted, it was just to be working with my voice and sound, to help others elevate their frequency to bring healing to people and the planet. So simple that it only took 30 years for me to realise! But I now know that is exactly how it was meant to me because now in 2024 at the age of 52, I have released 2 albums :

‘Medicine Songs’ a collection of spiritual healing songs to help raise frequency & vibration and unblock stuck emotions, and

‘The Sound of Courage’. An incredibly vulnerable album about my transformational journey as a human. Spiritual but in a very human way.

I understand now that these were the albums I was supposed to make and the soul searching journey is what brought me to this place. Exactly where I am meant to me, which is now California!

Once we tap into our own super power we are unstoppable! We can change course and bring our passions to life at any age. We are meant to live and we deserve to live a life of joy! You deserve a life of joy! Much love.