Kate St John is an English composer, arranger, producer and multi-instumentalist.

Classically trained on oboe, she gained a music degree at City University London. Her first band was The Ravishing Beauties with Virginia Astley and Nicky Holland. The trio joined The Teardrop Explodes in Liverpool during the winter of 1981 for a series of dates at small clubs and a UK tour in early 1982. During the 1980s and early 1990s, she was a member of The Dream Academy with Nick Laird-Clowes and Gilbert Gabriel. In 1985 they had a worldwide hit with "Life In A Northern Town" and produced three albums: The Dream Academy (1985), Remembrance Days (1987) and A Different Kind Of Weather (1990). In the 1990s St. John was a member of Van Morrison's live band playing oboe and saxophone. She played on five Van Morrison albums. In 1994 she co-wrote and sang on 4 tracks with Roger Eno on the album The Familiar on the All Saints Label. This led to the formation of Channel Light Vessel, a band with Kate, Roger Eno, Bill Nelson, Laraaji and Mayumi Tachibana. St John has released two solo albums: Indescribable Night (1995) and Second Sight (1997).

I met Kate when she was musical director for a Barbican show of the songs of Nick Drake. She has gone on to MD many other multi-artist shows. She has worked with Hal Wilner, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, to name just a few.

In this episode she talks about working with Van Morrison, a love of books and libraries, wordle and how sleep comes even when she is stressed.

Find Kate here

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