Katy Steele

Kate Elizabeth Steele (born 9 September 1983) is an Australian singer, guitarist and songwriter of the four-piece rock band Little Birdy.

Steele was born Kate Elizabeth Steele on 9 September 1983, in Perth, Western Australia, and has a fraternal twin brother, Jake. She and her brother are the youngest in the family. Her father, Rick Steele, was a New Zealand–born accomplished blues musician, together with Katy's oldest brother Jesse on drums, in his band, Rick Steele & The Hot Biscuit Band. Her older brother, Luke, is the vocalist, guitarist and songwriter of alternative rock band The Sleepy Jackson and also a member of the electronic music duo Empire of the Sun. Jake performs on keyboards with his own band, Injured Ninja.

Steele grew up in the southern suburb of Jandakot and went to Mount Lawley Senior High School. She first started playing in a Perth electro-pop band, The Plastik Scene, in 2001.

In 2002, Steele left the band and joined Simon Leach to form Little Birdy. Steele won the inaugural Jessica Michalik Contemporary Music Award, presented by The Big Day Out on 8 March 2004. In 2004, she was also awarded the Contemporary Music Prize by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). At the 2005 West Australian Music Industry Awards Steele won the WAMi for 'Best Female Vocalist'. She also recorded a version of the classic, "Six Months In a Leaky Boat", on the compilation album, She Will Have Her Way, a collection of Neil and Tim Finn songs performed by female Australian and New Zealand musicians. The song reached number 96 on Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2005

In 2007, Steele won best female performer in the Australian live music awards. Katy has attracted comparisons to Kate Bush and PJ Harvey .

Also in 2007, Steele was invited by Paul Kelly to open for him on his 2007 'Stolen Apples' tour. Faced with a long run of solo shows, Steele set about writing new material.

In Perth I had a room which was really cool. It was a music room dedicated to writing. When I was asked to support Paul Kelly, I wrote "Confetti", "Into My Arms", "Stay Wild" and maybe six or seven other songs. I was so nervous about the Paul Kelly tour because they were theatre shows and I’d never played on my own before. So I wrote a whole bunch of songs that would hopefully sound good with just what I had — vocals and guitar.

— Katy Steele