Bay’s own is youngest to win national songwriting contest
By Michelle Payne
happenings
Published Jan. 25, 2006

Kate Voegele in New York as part of The Relief Project. (Photo by Will Voegele)

Two years ago Bay Village native Kate Voegele turned heads in the music industry as she released her debut EP “The Other Side,” and now the 19-year-old singer/songwriter is once again causing a stir as the winner of the 2005 USA Songwriting Competition.

Voegele, who is the youngest person to ever win the annual contest, took top billing in the pop song category with her song “Only Fooling Myself.” And she will now perform her song at the USA Songwriting Competition’s South By Southwest showcase on March 16 in Austin, Texas.

Voegele has said she is trying to balance life as a normal teenager with being a musician, but sometimes the spotlight does take priority. Unlike most students her age, Voegele, a freshman at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, did not spend her Christmas break relaxing at home with family and catching up with friends. Instead she was performing in New York City at the Irving Plaza as part of a sold out show for The Relief Project. The project is a group of 19 artists who joined together in hopes of using their music as a tool to rebuild peoples’ lives, bridge cultures and fight poverty and the displacement of orphaned and enslaved children worldwide. Voegele’s song “Top of the World” is featured on the project’s compilation CD. While in the city she also sang the National Anthem at the start of a New York Knicks game in Madison Square Garden.

Voegele has already performed with some of music’s big names including: John Mayer, Aimee Mann, Chris Isaak, Howie Day, Jamie Cullum, Counting Crows, Virginia Coalition, the Bangles, Mindy Smith and Patty Griffin. She’s also shared the stage with Dave Matthews Band, Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp as part of Farm Aid’s 2004 and 2005 line-up.

In addition to her recent accolade, Voegele was also a finalist for Northern Ohio Live’s Awards of Achievement and was runner-up in the Pantene Pro-Voice Competition where she received national exposure on MTV.

Her latest EP, “Louder than Words,” was independently released in Feb. 2005 and includes several re-mastered songs as well as new material. The songs were recorded with producer Marshall Altman (Zebrahead, Marc Broussard) and are available, along with various other songs, on iTunes or www.katevoegele.com.