Kate Dimbleby

I just heard the news that Dory Previn died today, Valentine’s Day. It is only 2 weeks since I sent a pre-release copy of my new CD to her devoted and wonderfully supportive husband Joby Baker, and only a few days since he received it with generous praise. Of course it is always a shock to hear that someone has died, no matter how old they are or how ill they have been but in Dory’s case, it is especially so. I have spent the past year totally immersed in her autobiographies and songs and have been moved at how very alive her voice still feels, 40 years on from the release of “Mythical Kings and Iguanas”. I guess a part of me still hoped I might meet her. But sadly for me and the rest of the world, Dory has left.

Her wonderful music and words very much live on not just for her fans but for every new listener who hears them. I urge anyone who hasn’t already to go out and buy her albums. What an extraordinary and unique woman.

This show started in development at Leicester Square Theatre and was featured in the King’s Place Songbook festival in September. Bookings are now being taken for music venues and arts festivals across the UK in 2012. For enquiries please contact kate@katedimbleby.com.

BEWARE OF YOUNG GIRLS : the SONGS OF DORY PREVIN
The Dory Previn Story sung and narrated by Kate Dimbleby with Naadia Sheriff on piano and vocals

A brand new showcase of songs and writing by cult favourite Dory Previn 40 years after the release of her most successful album Mythical Kings and Iguanas.

Kate Dimbleby, “One of the most versatile singers on the jazz-blues circuit” (The Times), has weaved the words of Dory Previn’s three autobiographies and songs from six solo albums for the first time to tell the incredible story of the Queen of 1970’s confessional songwriting.
A successful lyricist for MGM studios in the 50’s Dory (nee Langdon) met and married Andre Previn when she arrived in Hollywood. The songwriting duo went on to win several Academy Award nominations. The relationship broke down dramatically when Andre left Dory for a pregnant Mia Farrow. Dory, who had suffered from mental illness all her life and had been diagnosed “schizophrenic” had a breakdown and used a pen and paper as therapy where her fellow patients were encouraged to take up needle-work.
She wrote six albums, all autobiographical – including one of the best “revenge” songs ever written “Beware of Young Girls” (about the elfin Mia Farrow) and another “Twenty Mile Zone”, a humorous tribute to scream therapy and “letting it all out”
Dory Previn on herself :

Dimbleby performed a selection of Previn’s songs in a couple of scratch shows at Leicester Square Theatre earlier this year and was contacted by Joby Baker, Dory’s husband. With his encouragement, Dimbleby started to work on putting the show together and previewed it to great success at Hall One, King’s Place. On the way, she uncovered surprising devotees of the singer y including her director and friend Cal McCrystal (currently receiving great acclaim for his work on “One Man and Two Guvnors” at the National), Maureen Lipman who can recite every word and Jarvis Cocker who played Dory as one of his Desert Island Discs.

A CD to accompany the show will be released in 2012.

A one-off show in the beautiful Levens Hall in Cumbria.

Very excited to have been asked to perform at this beautiful venue. The first outing of our new touring show “NICE GIRLS DON’T SING THE BLUES”.

A musical cabaret about women at work, home and play as sung out by legends such as Sophie Tucker, Bessie Smith, Nina Simone, Peggy Lee and Dolly Parton.

Drawing on some of the best songs and songstresses of the past century for inspiration, Kate, returns (after an extended maternity leave!) with a new show that grapples with the highs and lows of being a woman in the generation of women who have been told they can “have it all”.

THE KATE DIMBLEBY BAND : I’M A WOMAN….amongst other things.

“Exhilerating new entertainment, a cocktail of blues, jazz, country, sing-songwriter pop. Dimbleby is an assured and charismatic vocalist who can make the leap from a full-decibel tribute to Bessie Smith to an intimate confessional from the Dory Previn songbook” THE TIMES

Kate and the band return to this newly refurbished cabaret venue with songs from their critically acclaimed show “I’m a Woman” plus old favourites by Peggy Lee, Dory Previn and originals..

BOOK EARLY! WILL SELL OUT.

Kate Dimbleby sings “The Dory Previn Songbook” with new songs and arrangements in this fantastic 400 seater venue. Book now at .

Just confirmed two exclusive gigs with a new project at Leicester Square Theatre on 10th April and 8th May.

A new showcase of songs written by cult favourite Dory Previn, the queen of Seventies’ confessional songwriters, and performed by acclaimed jazz/cabaret singer Kate Dimbleby (“Fever – the making of Peggy Lee” International tour; “I’m A Woman” New End Theatre, 2010).

Previn, who was married to composer Andre Previn until he left her Mia Farrow, used her extraordinary tragic life story as material for her often hilarious, touching and musically brilliant songs.

40 years on from the release of “Mythical Kings and Iguanas”, one of Dory’s most successful albums, Kate Dimbleby and her band (“So tight they’re vacuum packed” Time Out) will pay tribute in their trademark fashion to the timeless and eclectic songs of this much loved artist whose colourful life story has too often eclipsed her immense talent as a songwriter, singer and performer.

“Here comes that strange lady again” Terry Wogan on Dory Previn

Featuring “Lady and the Braid”, “With my Daddy in the Attic”, “A Stone for Bessie Smith”, “Beware of Young Girls” and many more.

Accompanied by Naadia Sheriff on piano, vocals and accordion and Jonty Fisher on bass and ukelele.

TO BOOK TICKETS GO TO www.leicestersquaretheatre.com

For one night only, my new show “I’m a Woman : Kate Dimbleby celebrates her heroines of song” will be on at The Pheasantry, 152-154 King’s Road.

With the full band – Naadia Sheriff on piano, Jonty Fisher on bass, Chris Allard on guitar and Sophie Alloway on drums.

ADVANCE BOOKINGS on 0207 351 5031. A rare chance to see a new extended version of the show in London again before it tours the UK.