Caitlin
Rother had to become a New York Times bestselling author, public speaker and TV/radio commentator before she was ready to take on the new challenge of singing in public.
Trained as a classical pianist from the age of seven, Caitlin had sung occasionally in choruses and other short-term performing groups, but was never able to play and sing at the same time. Most of her piano or vocal performances were conducted alone in the privacy of her shower, car or living room until she was encouraged to sing with Geza Keller, her partner and a longtime leader of many bands.
After trial by fire and plenty of rehearsals, Caitlin is now doing what she never knew she could: playing the keyboard and singing vocals with the four-person acoustic group breakingthecode.
It was a long time coming, but looking back it really isn't all that surprising. She had all the pieces in place, it just took some time for her to break out of the musical closet.
Born inMontreal , Canada , Caitlin is the daughter of two former McGill University students .
Her Canadian father wrote a play in which her British mother acted, and both
won national awards for their roles.
Trained as a classical pianist from the age of seven, Caitlin had sung occasionally in choruses and other short-term performing groups, but was never able to play and sing at the same time. Most of her piano or vocal performances were conducted alone in the privacy of her shower, car or living room until she was encouraged to sing with Geza Keller, her partner and a longtime leader of many bands.
After trial by fire and plenty of rehearsals, Caitlin is now doing what she never knew she could: playing the keyboard and singing vocals with the four-person acoustic group breakingthecode.
It was a long time coming, but looking back it really isn't all that surprising. She had all the pieces in place, it just took some time for her to break out of the musical closet.
Born in
Caitlin was one year and ten months old when her family moved to California in 1964, first to Santa Barbara, where her parents
completed their PhDs in literature at UCSB, then to San Diego ,
where they got jobs at San Diego
State University .
In the early 1970s they moved to La Jolla ,
where her mother, Carole Scott, now lives with Caitlin’s step-father, Chris
Scott.
Caitlin’s
parents gave her a rich arts education, exposing her to musical and theatrical
performances in the US and Europe. In London , for example, her mother took her to
see the musicals “Annie,” “Oliver” and “Cats,” a classical concert at the Royal
Albert Hall, Chaucer’s play “Canterbury Tales” and Shakespeare’s “Midnight
Summer Dream.” Caitlin also attended several plays and musicals in New York City. But for many years, Caitlin saw herself more as an arts
enthusiast than a performer.
Like Geza, the founder of breakingthecode (BTC), Caitlin grew up with music playing constantly at home, where most every wall
was lined with books and record albums. Her father, James Rother, taught himself to play clarinet, saxophone and piano by ear (he couldn’t read
sheet music) along with his records, which also included classical music, opera
and Broadway musicals. He often had stereo wars with the neighbors as well as
his own family, who could not sleep with “Side by Side by Sondheim” blaring. Her mother often reminds her that one of her uncles led songs at temple as a cantor, and that her paternal grandmother’s maiden name actually was Canter.
Caitlin began piano lessons at seven. For seven more tedious years, she played Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin, but hated practicing. She also had tremendous anxiety about playing in front of people, so she rarely participated in recitals. She
was a skilled sight-reader, but couldn’t play without sheet music. She also tried acting in a couple of plays, but was too shy to pursue that any further.
As soon as she stopped taking piano lessons she found a new joy in playing. Finally practicing every day, she soon grew more comfortable playing for others, especially on a friend's grand piano.
Meanwhile, Caitlin
sung with the Muirlands
Junior High School chorus
as a soprano, and enjoyed singing along with pop, rock, jazz songs or musicals such as “West Side Story” or
“A Star is Born.”
During and
after college at UC Berkeley, where she earned a bachelor’s in psychology and
discovered her talent for journalism, she kept up her piano skills by seeking out pianos on local campuses, such as the concert grand in her dorm at Boalt Law School, where she lived and also taught aerobics classes.
While
working in corporate communications for a cruise line in San Francisco , Caitlin was asked to audition for the UC Berkeley Glee Club. She was accepted, but never went
back. She was, after all, a closet singer.
During grad school at Northwestern
University's Medill School of Journalism , she discovered a love for
the blues (and adventure) at the Checkerboard Lounge on Chicago ’s south side. After completing her master’s degree, she landed her first newspaper
job—in rural Western Massachusetts . When her
roommate invited her to join a community theater production of a Noel Coward musical, she wanted a singing part, but she was the only pianist in the group. She couldn’t do both.
Taking her
next newspaper job in Northampton ,
she spent her first night in town at an open mic, where she met her future
boyfriend, the lead singer-songwriter in a funk band. When he suggested she
sing back-up on “Bust a Move,” she declined. She bought a Korg keyboard there, a digitally-sampled grand piano, which she brought back to California when she went to work for the Los Angeles
Times.
After a
year each at the Times and the Daily News in Los Angeles , she took a job at The San Diego Union-Tribune. She dedicated days to her news feature
writing and investigative reporting skills and weekends to crafting a mystery
novel.
After a
short marriage that ended tragically, she treated herself to the 10-day Bread
Loaf writing conference in Vermont ,
where she made a breakthrough discovery. Every lunch break she sung with
an a capella group that performed several times during the conference. Asked
again to play piano accompaniment, she insisted on just singing this time, blending harmonies in the small tenor section.
She looked for a group in San Diego
to sing with, however her job and novel writing didn't allow time for
another hobby. Thanks to a small miracle, however, Caitlin was finally able to
afford her own Boston
baby grand piano in 2000, and after practicing every day for four months she
mastered Debussy’s “Passapied.” She tried singing with some girlfriends, but ended up at the piano again.
After publishing her first book, “Poisoned Love,” in 2005, Caitlin quit her full-time
newspaper job in 2006 to pursue her dream of becoming a full-time author. Twelve years later she is now a New York Times bestselling author, has just finished book #12, and is working on #13, 14 and 15.
Caitlin had to overcome her initial stage fright to give speeches and promote her books, and has since done more than 200 TV and radio interviews, many of which aired nationally. She has finally grown to enjoy being on stage or live on camera.
Caitlin had to overcome her initial stage fright to give speeches and promote her books, and has since done more than 200 TV and radio interviews, many of which aired nationally. She has finally grown to enjoy being on stage or live on camera.
But her singing comes from the heart. In
2007-08, she experienced a prolonged flare-up of back, neck and arm pain from
long hours at the computer, icing four
times a day to deal with frequent muscle spasms.
Singing was the only thing that brought her any relief. Belting out the songs on Linda Ronstadt’s album of standards, “Round Midnight,” Caitlin cried and smiled as she felt the pain and spasms let go. The more she sang, the stronger her voice grew, and the more her mood improved.
Singing was the only thing that brought her any relief. Belting out the songs on Linda Ronstadt’s album of standards, “Round Midnight,” Caitlin cried and smiled as she felt the pain and spasms let go. The more she sang, the stronger her voice grew, and the more her mood improved.
“It was
better and more healing than any physical therapy—and it was free,” she
recalls.
Once she
felt better, she rediscovered her love for live music by attending shows by the retro dance band, FakeBook, with her longtime friend Daria, who
was married to Tony de Paolo, a guitarist and singer in the band. Tony's friend,
Geza, the lead singer and guitarist, was always friendly and winked at Caitlin
every once in a while. Geza would ask the band to play “Old Love” by Eric
Clapton when she requested it, even when his band-mates didn’t really want to do
it anymore.
FakeBook
played at Caitlin’s book launch party for “Naked Addiction” in 2007, and
sometime later, Tony invited her, Geza, and some other friends over for
a sing-along. It was fun, but she was still shy and intimidated by the notion
of singing with two guys who played together in a band. In public. She, did,
however, venture out a few times with friends to sing karaoke—“Crazy” or “You Took Advantage of Me.”
Fast
forward to 2012. Geza and Caitlin started dating. He asked her to sing along
with him at a few parties (he brings his guitar everywhere), and they also sang
together at home or with family for fun, which also prompted Caitlin’s stepfather to
encourage her to sing publicly. Geza suggested she pick a few songs where he
would play guitar and she would sing alone, or where he would join her for the
chorus.
As they kept
adding to the list, they were practicing every weekend until Geza finally asked her to join his acoustic group, breakingthecode, comprised also of Tony and Tom Borg, who had all played together in FakeBook.
In recent months, Caitlin and her three engineer bandmates have been playing at private parties, recording audio and video in the studio, and play the occasional gig at a bar or the Del Mar Fair. In between their busy day-job schedules, they are always looking forward to the next upcoming gig.
“I would have never even thought about
singing like this if I hadn’t gotten over my shyness and fear of speaking in
public first,” she says. “But just like with my speeches, the bigger the group the better I do,
because there is more energy in the room. When I can see and feel that I am reaching and engaging people, there's no other feeling like that.”
It took a while for friends to get used to the idea of Caitlin joining a band. “You sing?” they asked in
disbelief. “Why didn’t I know that?”
She is grateful
to have found this new creative outlet, which also seems help her writing
by providing a welcome distraction to looming deadlines and by bringing some light into the darkness of covering murder cases. She likens
it to acupuncture, where the skin is pierced to let the energy flow in a
different direction.
“Singing makes
me feel more alive, invigorated by achieving a new accomplishment and
developing a new skill,” she says. “It also makes me feel fresher when I come
back to my writing. It’s really gratifying when friends tell me they’re inspired by my willingness
to take a risk and try something new at my age, and that it makes them want to
try something new too.”
Story by Caitlin Rother, photo by Richard Malcolm. To support BTC or join their mailing list, please "like" them on their Facebook page or email Caitlin at crother@flash.net.
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