KATY B (BRIEN) is arguably the first bona fide female star of that homegrown branch of contemporary R&B/house known as funky. It's only upwards from here for the good-looking 20-year-old Brit School graduate with the sort of powerful pipes that could reasonably be termed "soulful" is the scene's best bet for chart success.
The Florence of funky? Why not, she's got that really strong, emphatic singing style, where every word is clearly, almost theatrically enunciated, as though she's got her Brit vocal coach breathing down her neck or she's auditioning for a part in said stage school's big end-of-term production. She's certainly one of the few people we can think of with one foot in the grime, garage and funky camp, and the other in the Hi-de-Hi! holiday camp, working with Benga and Geeneus, yet been featured vocalist on underground hits for Ministry of Sound, and her own debut single proper.
Katy On a Mission, is being issued by Rinse, the label spin-off of Dizzee Rascal's favourite former pirate radio station and yet she's also, in a former guise as Kattie B, done hi-NRG Eurodisco versions of Katrina and the Waves' Love Shine a Light and Deniece Williams's Let's Hear It for the Boy
Bass-heavy but definitely more of a song than a series of low-frequency bursts and blasts, it's the perfect balance of urban edge and smooov R&B/soul... Well done Katy B and Benga!
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