Kathryn Keats is a soulful singer and prolific songwriter who is re-emerging in the entertainment world after 20 years of anonymity in the federal Victim Witness Assistance Program.

In 1990, Keats earned a Bay Area Critics’ Award for her performance in “Curse of the Werewolf.”  Unfortunately, it would be her last public performance for two decades, after her former collaborator, plagued by schizophrenia, began beating her and threatening her life relentlessly. The terrifying experience culminated in a precedent-setting jury trial in Oakland, California, in which the abuser was ordered held in a mental hospital temporarily. At the urging of law enforcement officials, Munger changed her name to Kathryn Keats and put her promising show business career on hold until 2005, when she learned that her abuser had died.

Keats’ harrowing story, first told in Reader’s Digest in February 2007, is now being developed as a stage musical and a book. Her heroic journey from captivity to freedom has inspired audiences in North America. She is a frequent keynote speaker and guest artist at community outreach events that raise awareness about mental illness, drug abuse, domestic violence and abuse.

Keats has been involved in music since the age of five, working as a teenager with such legends as Tennessee Ernie Ford, Loretta Lynn and Word Baker. She initially studied at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). Early in her career, she performed at Carnegie Hall and toured the country with a successful off-Broadway show. Her studio work has included national commercials, soundtracks, and recordings for various producers.

Keats has created a one-woman show to mark her return, playing such well-known venues as the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles, the Bitter End in New York and the Empire Plush Room in San Francisco. In 2007, she recorded a full-length CD, After the Silence, introducing her music and her amazing story to the public. Happy to live her life in peace and forgiveness, Kathryn Keats shares her experience in order to inspire others to reclaim their dreams and live in joy.

Kathryn Speaks about Survival on television from Kathryn Keats on Vimeo.

Now that you know something about Kathryn, listen to her sing, and learn something about her that words can’t convey…