Kathy Ann Kosins is an American singer specializing in jazz and R&B; she is also an ASCAP award-winning songwriter and modern abstractionist painter.
[1] Kosins worked in her father's store as a child and was heavily influenced by being able to meet prominent pop artists, music personalities such as Berry Gordy, Diana Ross, Jerry Vale, Dinah Washington, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, Lou Rawls, and the Four Tops.
She notes the wide range of music she was exposed to early on; she was most influenced by Janis Joplin as a singer growing up.
[1] Kosins attended Southfield High School and then Oakland Community College where she completed an Associate degree.
[2] During the late 1980s and early 1990s she established working relationships with songwriters and collaborated with Jeff Franzel, April Lang, Lisa Ives, and Walt Szymanski among others.
In 2010 Kosins decided to take a new approach by releasing singles quarterly under the new Mahogany Digital label, rather than an entire CD every few years.
"[9] In more recent years Kosins has utilized the talents of arrangers Paul Keller, Jack Cooper, and Tamir Hendelman for her big band book, the show Rhapsody in Boop and the 2012 CD release To The Ladies Of Cool with Resonance.
Her tune "Hershey's Kisses" was co-authored with Johnny Mandel (from To The Ladies Of Cool) and also his "Little Black Night Gown", which first became famous with Gerry Mulligan's big band.
Her show Rhapsody in Boop was premiered with the Jazz Orchestra of the Delta and has been performed in numerous venues in the United States.
[10] Kosins is a painter of modern abstractions and the works she produces are visual interpretations of audio recordings by the jazz greats.