In the fall of 2019, Canadian singer, song-writer and actor, Kate Ashby-Craft moved from Southwestern Ontario back to her hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia, to reconnect with family and life-long friends..
Kate started performing at the age of 10 singing everything from Classical to Folk , Rock , Country, Jazz and Pop. She was the lead singer in many different bands . Some of those are as follows : the folk group “The Ship” from Halifax , Nova Scotia ; the commercial rock band “Second Edition” from Hamilton , Ontario ; the pop group “The Sonny Lee Show “ from Montreal, Quebec ; the show band “Shane” from Montreal , Quebec ; commercial rock band “ London Bridge “ from London , Ontario ; “ The Tubby Boots Show “ from North Miami Beach , Florida ; a standard jazz singer performing with various small orchestras around Toronto , Ontario ; “ The Show Of The Century “ from Toronto , Ontario ; commercial rock band “ Hannon “ from Hannon , Ontario ; the pop duo “ Chaddock and Avon “ from Waterdown , Ontario and the duo “ Starbright “ from Hamilton , Ontario.
Kate loves variety, and writes in many genres of music. She got her start as an original artist in the 80’s when she won a Nova Scotia province-wide talent search. At that time she released two country singles, both of which charted on the Canadian Country Charts. She also co-wrote “Was It Easy” that went all the way to Number One. In the late 90’s she released her debut CD, The Heart And The Mind, in the Country/Folk genre. This album was well received and is still getting airplay around the world. “You’re My Addiction”, the second single released from that CD, garnered her a nomination from American Country Radio for Best Singer in Airplay International’s King Eagle Music Awards, held in Nashville on September 27, 2003.
In 2006 Kate released her second CD, Love Is All There Is, in the Jazz/Pop genre. This CD is a concept album where all twelve songs explore a different dimension of love. It received rave reviews and charted on several college and commercial radio stations across Canada, US, UK, Europe, Australia, Brazil and Argentina. It was nominated for four music awards in the Toronto Exclusive Magazine Awards in 2007 and was licensed to W.O.A Records for all of India.
Kate recorded a three-song EP in the UK with legendary record producer Charles Foskett. The May 2012 release of this EP in the Americana genre was a culmination of performing the role of June Carter Cash in the musical tribute show The Legend In Black. This show was a tribute to the music of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. Kate performed in this show for ten years touring across Canada and parts of the USA.
In 2016 Kate joined forces with independent artist Caroline Burchill to form the duo The Honeys CA, performing around Southwestern Ontario. They released a self-titled CD in 2018. One of their songs; “Beautiful Moon”, written by Kate, received considerable airplay on Americana radio in the USA. In the Spring of 2019 Kate and Caroline decided they wanted to pursue other projects and so they parted ways.
Several of Kate’s songs have had placements in half a dozen American TV Shows, and her song “Beauty” has been recorded by eight other artists.
Kate Ashby-Craft is also a professional actor, having studied voice and theatre in university. She was a theatre actor in her early years but later on started doing film, especially commercials. She also had the principal role in the short film Goodbye Today, which can be seen on her YouTube channel.