Katie feeling sorry for ‘old me’

Already Katie has become something of an internet sensation, attracting 200,000 fans worldwide.

Now she’s hoping to step up a gear, particularly with her debut album now available.

Born in Chichester, Katie grew up in Bognor Regis, attending Bognor Regis Community College before going on to Chichester College and Southampton University.

“The debut album, Comin’ On Strong, is already out, and we are opening the new website on

April 1,” Katie said.

“I have already got about 200,000 followers over several sites. I just spent a lot of time on the internet, making friends and asking them to listen to my songs and getting feedback. It has been a lot of work.

“It’s really hard. We couldn’t just get me on TV or the main radio stations, so we just went straight to people. It has all been quite positive actually.

“Mainly my influences are the pop r&b genre. That’s what I have gone for. I don’t think it’s easy to pigeon-hole my music, but it is my own material.

“A lot of it is about relationships. When I was writing the album, I was going through the different stages of a relationship.”

23-year-old Katie, who now lives in Wickham, grew up listening to Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey as well as modern influences from Pink, Rihanna and Christina Aguilera. The result, she says, is a sound that is soft, rock, edgy and poppy. Her latest single Wrong All Along, is taken from the debut album.

With a black belt in North Korean taekwondo, she’s now hoping her Indian ancestry and classic English blonde bombshell looks will turn her into a star, putting her days as the bullies’ victim even further behind her.

“A lot of people have a hard time at school. I had a particularly hard time. I used to walk around with my mobile phone pretending I was talking to someone.

“Something happened when I was 11 or 12. I lost quite a lot of confidence. Perhaps I just looked like a shy person. I learnt taekwondo and that helped. I used dance and that helped and I also used singing. You forget about stuff when you are doing that.

“But I will always remember it. On my first album there isn’t anything about it, but I have got lyrics to do with it. It’s such a long time ago now, but I remember how it felt. College was completely different; university wasn’t a problem at all.

“I just feel sorry for the old me now…”

Katie’s website is www.katieowen.co.uk