About Kathy Gibson

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 With a 40+ years career, Kathy Gibson is an award winning versatile artist, performing across a wide range of genres and styles. 

Favorite musical theatre roles include Margaret (The Light in the Piazza), Edith/Edie (Grey Gardens), Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd), Velma (Chicago), Mama Rose (Gypsy), Eva Peron (Evita) and Fosca (Passion). Opera roles include Idele In Die Fledermaus and Flora in Traviata.  

Kathy sang with the highly successful Motown rock and soul band, Sounds Like Fun, who opened for many Motown greats including The Drifters, The Platters, The Shirelles, Little Anthony, Smokey Robinson as well as Jay Leno. She continues swinging tunes of the great big band era with The River City Jazz Big Band. She crisscrossed the country singing everything from Gershwin and Sondheim to Motown and Jazz for Allied Arts concert tours with pianist Rich Ridenour. She is also a pops concert artist with many orchestral appearances including Tucson Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, The Organización para las Artes Guatemala City, Ocean City Pops. Along with jingles and voicework, recordings include The Pink Album and Not Since Prom with Sounds Like Fun, I Love A Piano with Rich Ridenour and Taking a Chance on Love with The River City Jazz Big Band. Kathy was thrilled to open for some of her favorite artists including Bob Newhart, Jay Leno and perform for four former Presidents, Betty Ford and the Ambassador to Italy.

Director/Choreographer credits include Beauty and the Beast, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Beehive the Musical, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, A Year with Frog and Toad and Steel Magnolias. Kathy was honored to be a pops concert choreographer for Bob McGrath and the letter A! She is also an Artistic Director for many Circle Theatre concerts including Uptown Funk, We’ll Take You There, Classic R&B Hits, Made in The Mitten-Michigan Music Greats and more.

Kathy Gibson has been teaching voice for over 30 years. She has maintained a private studio along with teaching for other organizations. She is the Director of Vocal Music and applied voice teacher for the Musical Theatre program at Western Michigan University. She is also on the faculty at Aquinas College teaching Applied Voice Contemporary Styles and Jazz.

She has been a guest artist for many workshops, and judge for vocal competitions including the Michigan Music Association and the regional American Idol.

She is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Aquinas College with a degree in Jazz performance.

Kathy is certified at all 3 levels of Somatic work, the Lovetri Method. It is a specific method of vocal pedagogy developed for vocal training for Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) styles, (those styles that used to be called “non-classical) based upon somatic (physical) awareness and aural discernment. It is essentially based in voice science and vocal function.

She helped shape and direct the Commercial Music program for Cornerstone University to help prepare young artist for a career in the Music Industry.

Kathy has many former students working in a variety of sectors of the music industry. Many alumni have appeared on Broadway including Hamilton, Mama Mia, Kinky Boots, American Idiot, Evita, An American In Paris, West Side Story Newsies (OBC!) Plaza Suite and more. Most recently two current students are in the cast of Stephen Schwartz's remount of Children of Eden. National tours include Kristen Chenoweth, A Chorus Line and Luke Bryant. They are singer/songwriters in Grand Rapids, Chicago, LA and Nashville. Las Vegas and Disney has also been a place of employment of former students. Many students can also be seen in area community theatres, high school productions as well as many of the areas top pop and R&B bands.