Katie White

Katie White
File:The Ting Tings (Optimus Alive 2009).jpg Katie White performing at Optimus Alive! in Oeiras, Lisbon
Background information
Birth name	Katie Rebecca White
Born	(1983-01-18) 18 January 1983 Lowton, England, United Kingdom
Genres	Dance-punk, dance-pop, new rave, pop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, musician, rapper
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass drum, cowbell, bass guitar, keyboards
Years active	1998–present
Labels	Columbia/Red Ink
Associated acts	The Ting Tings, TKO, Dear Eskiimo
Notable instruments
Fender Stratocaster Fender Telecaster Custom

Katie Rebecca White (born 18 January 1983) is a British musician and member of the pop duo the Ting Tings. After some success with a girl group punk trio TKO, which supported Steps and Atomic Kitten, her father David White brought in Jules De Martino to write songs for TKO. Katie and Jules subsequently formed the Ting Tings in 2007.

Early life

Katie White was raised on a farm in Lowton with her father David K. White, mother Lynne C. (Sharples) and sister Helena. Katie went to Lowton High School in Lowton, which has a large performing arts department. When she was 12 years old, Katie's grandfather Ken White won £6.6million on the National Lottery and gave each of his three sons, David, Stephen and Richard, £1million. As well as buying ponies for Katie and Helena, David used his share of the money to start a music management company.

Career

TKO

Katie started her music career aged 14 in 1997 in a girl group punk trio TKO – short for Technical Knock Out – with two friends from Lowton school, Joanne Leeson and Emma Lally. TKO was managed by Katie's father's music management company. They had some success and supported Steps and Atomic Kitten. TKO also appeared on ITV's CD:UK. In March 2001 David White brought in songwriter Jules De Martino who wrote four songs for TKO. TKO were not able to secure a record deal but released a single on the internet.

Dear Eskiimo

Katie got back in touch with Jules De Martino when she was at Leeds University and he moved to Manchester. They formed a band called Dear Eskiimo (often misreported as Dead Eskimo) with a DJ friend Simon Templeman. The name was intended to be as nomadic, tribal and independent as possible. There were already several bands called Eskimo but Jules, who wrote the lyrics, wanted his songs to tell good stories as if in a letter, hence 'Dear Eskiimo' with the odd spelling of 'Eskimo" with two 'I"s to make it stand out. Their first performance was as a support between two rock bands but it went well and they were signed up by Mercury Records at the end of 2004. Creative differences and the management style of the record label caused them to split up.

The Ting Tings

White playing the guitar at Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, Georgia on 23 October 2008.

Main article: The Ting Tings

Katie and Jules started a band in 2007 with Katie on vocals, guitar, piano and bass drum and Jules on vocals, drums, bass, guitar and keyboards. They started writing songs together and doing short concerts. Katie was working in a boutique with a Chinese girl called "Ting Ting," which sounds like Mandarin Chinese for "band stand" (亭) or "listening" (聽) and Katie used it as the name for the band. The Ting Tings started by playing for private parties at the Islington Mill arts centre in Salford and their debut album, We Started Nothing, was released on 19 May 2008. Their follow-up album, Sounds from Nowheresville, was released on 27 February 2012 in the UK, and 15 March in the United States.

Discography

Main article: The Ting Tings discography

The Ting Tings released their debut album, We Started Nothing, on 19 May 2008. Their follow-up album, Sounds from Nowheresville, was released on 27 February 2012 in the UK, and 15 March in the United States.