IN the Pride in Mann awards, the wording of the nominations are often as touching as the stories behind them.
This was the case when Katie Lawrence, herself a respected musician in these parts, put Katherine Crowe forward for performer of the year.
Her nomination form read: ‘Kath is one of the most talented musicians I have ever had the pleasure of performing music with. Her incredible positivity and constant enthusiastic approach to music and life never ceases to amaze me, particularly when you consider she is once again dealing with breast cancer.
‘She has a beautiful, soulful voice and when you hear Kath sing, you just know that she is singing right from the heart, that she means every single word.
‘Quite simply, Kath is unique, and her attitude and approach to life is a total inspiration to myself and those that know her. She is a hero.’
As Katie alludes to, Katherine was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer in December. However, rather than a sense of accepting fate, a conversation with the musical mother-of-two leaves you with an overriding sense of optimism.
As Katherine puts it: ‘It’s been a great year in an odd sort of way.’
A highlight of both Katie and Kath’s ventures together was an ambitious show at the Gaiety Theatre nearly three years ago.
‘That was incredible because of the enormity of it,’ recalled Katherine. ‘To pull off a gig with an orchestra and 800 bums on seats. I’ve always tried to include other musicians in what I do, and the best part of it is we’ve become pretty incredible friends.’
Katie agreed: ‘It was totally ace. Having an orchestra there, it showed you what can be done. That’s what she is like, she gets everyone together, she organises everything. It was a great thing to be a part of.’
For Katherine though, all the shows are enjoyable, even on slightly smaller scales. ‘The Centenary Centre in February was amazing, because it was with friends,’ she reveals.
On the face of things, her medical issues look to have galvanized Katherine in many aspects of her life.
She said: ‘To be diagnosed with breast cancer six years down the line from beating it first time is pushing me to try things, bark up different trees, like alternative therapies. They aren’t all airy-fairy, it’s still science.’
She added: ‘I have good days and bad, but most of them are good. When I got the prognosis that the cancer was terminal, I decided to enter the End to End mountain bike race. I probably ride 150-200 miles a week. Hopefully my health is as good in September as it is now. If I’m fit enough to do the End to End, I won’t be dropping off the edge any time soon! But it’s not about doing the race itself, it’s about the challenge of getting there.’
The gruelling 75km off-road mounevent on September 9 will precede a special show at the Gaiety on the 21st.
Gaiety show
Playing alongside Katherine will be visiting songstress Beverley Craven, with whom Katherine had morbidly jested they should play together on her next visit to the island if she was still around.
‘But then I just picked up the phone and arranged the show for September,’ said Katherine. ‘I realised we should all be living our lives like this all the time. No “what ifs” or worrying people won’t turn up. It would be better playing a great gig to three people at the Gaiety than not trying.’
Katherine is planning a much more subtle approach than her last Gaiety outing. ‘The general vibe at my gigs is electric but this will be more acoustic,’ she said. ‘It will get lots of friends together to share something.’
Her music also received a spot of prime air time last month, when her version of Another Day in Paradise was used to round off the BBC’s coverage of Sport Relief.
She said: ‘They wrote me a lovely letter to say why they chose the track and to say thank you.
‘I’d gone to bed by the time it was on but I’d recorded it!’
But for all the attention and praise, friend Katie says she knows the real reason Katherine defies her cancer to keep performing and sharing her music: ‘She doesn’t do for accolades, she does it because she’s a musician.’
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Pride in Mann is an awards scheme from Isle of Man Newspapers and Flybe which aims to recognise unsung heroes in the Manx community.
The competition sees the public invited to nominate people they feel are worthy recipients of an award across 10 categories. Each person nominated will be recognised in one of our newspapers and later there will be a public vote to find the categories’ winners.
The categories for this year’s Pride in Mann awards are: Promotion of Manx Culture, Performer of the Year, Teacher of the Year, Sporting Acheivement, Young Person of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, Linking with Schools, Customer Service and Family Business.
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Who will you nominate?
You can find a downloadable nomination form by clicking {http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/pride_in_mann_1_4040786|this link.}