Nearly five years ago, Katie Quick was leading a double life. By day, she was a 6th grade teacher in the inner city Chicago Public Schools. But by night, she was writing songs, singing covers with her band, and dreaming of sharing her music with the world. Her students loved hearing about her music and dreams of performing in a stadium full of screaming fans. They loved it so much, in fact, that Katie started using her music in the classroom as an incentive for her students. She would bring her guitar and sing for them on Fridays, offering mini-concerts as a reward for good attendance, behavior, and academics. Despite the immense success and joy it brought to her students, her principal put her on probation for using music in the classroom and told Katie her “music would never pay the bills.” A blessing in disguise some say because she left the classroom at the end of that year and decided to SHOW her students that with hard work and determination, anything is possible.
Katie Quick has since been working diligently as an independent artist, recording two albums of her original music, touring internationally, and building up an incredible network of fans through self-promotion and strong use of social media. Country music skeptics and critics alike have fallen head over heels for Katie’s unique brand of crossover country/pop. In fact, her debut album was hailed “a masterpiece…intriguing, captivating, and compelling,” by Maverick Magazine, one of the world’s leading country music publications. The Nashville artist has garnered even bigger and better reviews with the release of her latest self-produced album, Valley Between Love, which is currently nominated for Best Country Album in the 12th Annual Independent Music Awards. CountryChart.com expects her to have “a meteoric rise on the country charts…similar to that of Lady Antebellum,” and says, “she has the vocal chops to take on the divas of country music.” Maverick Magazine gave Katie another glowing review for this release calling it “absolutely inspirational work…a joy from start to finish!” So is Katie Quick truly the “next big thing?” WYCD 99.5 thinks so, along with thousands of fans worldwide. With all the buzz about this Chicago native, it’s no wonder she has been moving up at the speed of light in the independent music scene. The most fascinating aspect of her career is that she has achieved all of this success on her own. Without the help of a record label, manager, booking agent, or public relations firm, this former teacher has not only appeared on hundreds of television shows and radio stations worldwide including the Katie Couric Show on ABC, won numerous contests like the John Lennon Songwriting Competition, Colgate Country Showdown, CMT Country Strong Contest, and appeared on Broadway, but she has singlehandedly launched her own groundbreaking arts and education program called The Fingertips Program. This unique inspirational concert experience (which combines live music with motivational speaking) has allowed Katie to get back to the classroom setting all while using her music to encourage students to follow their dreams. Not only has her fan base doubled since the creation of Fingertips, but the program has made Katie Quick a very unique artist with something more to offer the world than just her music.
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