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 St. Catharines, Ontario
 Influenced
by her
Slovenian heritage and the ever-present Cleveland-style music at home,
Kathy began playing the button accordion in 1982. In 1985, she became a founding member and the music director of the Lipa Park Button Box Club. In 2000 and 2002, the group won the coveted “Button Box Group of the Year” award from the Polka Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. The Club retired in 2004 after almost 20 eventful years.  In
the 1990s, Kathy
could be seen performing with Nashville-based polka artist LynnMarie,
and was a guest on her recordings “One Look”, “All Over It”, and the
Grammy-nominated releases “SqueezeBox” and "Speechless". In the past few years, Kathy has taken some time off from the polka world. She is, however, featured on two selections on Tom Brusky's newest polka recording, "The First Forty Years". Recently, she was a guest performer with the Jimmy Sturr Orchestra for a national PBS television special. It was filmed at Caesar's Casino in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. An 8-minute preview clip of the special is shown below. |
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CD: "THE GIRL NEXT DOOR"
 In 2004, Kathy
released her debut solo CD "The Girl Next Door". It is an
anthology of her button box history, as the songs she chose represent
her ancestry, her influences, and her performing experiences.This recording garnered her a nomination for "Recording of the Year" by the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame" in 2005, and helped her earn a nomination for "Individual Button Box Artist of the Year". Backing her with a driving, Cleveland-style beat is a group of talented musicians and vocalists from both Canada and the United States: Tom Brusky, Don Hunjadi, Joe LaBotz, Eric Noltkamper, Dave Skrajner, Warren Stirtzinger, Stan Szymkow, and Dan Wojtila. TRACK
LIST
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