Kat McLevey is a queer and trans nonbinary singer-songwriter, bassist and music educator based in Toronto, Canada.
They grew up in St. John's, NL as the youngest of 4 kids, grabbing on to the interests and hobbies of their siblings, most notably jamming on acoustic guitars and shooting hoops in front of the house. It became apparent fairly early that Kat wouldn’t be clearing much more than 5 feet and they began excelling in music as a multi-instrumentalist and young songwriter.
McLevey became an active figure in the city's thriving folk scene by the age of 15, gigging in pubs and theatres alike singing twisting melodies atop alternatively tuned and fingerpicked guitar. Their high school years were propelled by playing festivals and showcases around the island and opening for many an Eastern-Canadian darling such as Amelia Curran, Hey Rosetta!, Old Man Luedecke, The Dardanelles, Fortunate Ones, and others.
A year after releasing their 5-song debut, Drifter EP, McLevey released the full-length Evergrown in August of 2015. Evergrown garnered McLevey five MusicNL Award nominations, winning the categories of Female Songwriter of the Year and Rising Star of the Year, as well as an East Coast Music Award nomination for Emerging Artist of the Year.
Following that release, McLevey moved to Boston, MA to begin studying at Berklee College of Music. They studied electric bass and jazz composition in the classroom and American Roots music in venues and living rooms around the Northeast states.
After graduation, McLevey moved to Toronto In the fall of 2019 with no grand plan, just a feeling that the city would provide the inspiration and friendships to keep the music thing rolling. Shortly into covid lockdown, McLevey released two singles, “Doorman” and “Winter Shoes Me”.
The years since have included a quilt work of teaching private music lessons, playing on records, and gigging around the city, country, and continent as a bassist and vocalist. Notable session work includes Donovan Woods, Abigail Lapell, Leith Ross, Taylor Ashton and Tim Baker.