HOW TERRY NETTED EVA, 25, FOR HIS SPECIAL PROJECT

Jewish Telegraph, June 2003

SINGER-songwriter Eva Katzler discovered the power of the internet when former Specials frontman Terry Hall fell in love with her voice.
Eva, a graduate of Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), put links to her own site on as many websites as possible.
‘‘Terry was surfing the web and found my stuff,’’ Eva of Pinner, North London, said. ‘‘His manager contacted me about performing on Terry’s latest project, The Hour of Two Lights.’’
The album, to be released next month, is a collaboration with Asian music pioneer Mushtaq and features Jewish and Islamic musicians.
Eva performs with Hall on the track, A Gathering Storm. She was given the lyrics to the song and asked to translate them into Hebrew.
‘‘My father, Ron, was born in Nairobi but lived in Israel until he was 18, so he speaks Hebrew. I got him to translate the song so I could sing it in Hebrew.
‘‘Terry was very normal. Fortunately, I met many great people at LIPA, so we learnt not to get star-struck. Terry taught me a lot about the music business.’’
The 25-year-old gained a place at LIPA after attending Amersham College where she did theatre studies.
‘‘LIPA was a lot of work — not difficult, but they worked you hard. I met my producer there, he was on a production course.’’
Eva wanted to be a psychologist but once she got to university, she set her heart on a career in music. Attending LIPA has helped develop her songwriting skills.
‘‘Each student had an eclectic music collection,’’ he said. ‘‘I listened to some bizarre CDs and learnt many different styles.
Once she graduated, instead of rushing headlong into the music business, Eva headed for Barcelona where she finished her teaching qualification.
‘‘I got my head together in Barcelona,’’ she revealed. ‘‘I made sure it was what I really wanted to do.’’
She then flew to Munich in April 2001 to work on her debut album.
‘‘We finished the album in January,’’ she said. ‘‘I signed a production deal with my producer and now just need to licence it to a label.
‘‘I’m so proud of it. If it flops, I don’t mind. It’s turned out how I wanted it.’’
The album will all be original material — although Eva is unsure whether to include her cover of Bridge Over Troubled Water as it has been recorded recently by Hear’say and Charlotte Church.
Last June, Eva found out what it is like to have a number one when her song Star, from her debut EP Poem reached the top in the MP3.com charts — deposing multi-Grammy winner Norah Jones. Eva’s website — www.evakatzler.com — also gets hundreds of hits a day.
‘‘There is a massive community of people who download random pieces of music — and many of them have downloaded my tracks. Each day I get emails from all over the world thanking me. People appreciate what I’m doing.’’
Eva’s brother, Ben, is also showing a creative streak. The 22-year-old has made a number of short films which have been screened at festivals all over the world.
‘‘My parents, Ron and Judith, have been very supportive of both of us,’’ Eva said. ‘‘They want us to do what makes us happy.’’
In her youth, Eva was a member of many Jewish youth organisations. While she attended RSY regularly, she also went on events with Hanoar Hatzioni and FZY.
‘‘I couldn’t really become too heavily involved because I had so many different things going on,’’ she said. ‘‘I was so busy while I was growing up.’’
Whilst Eva’s main instrument is the piano, she has also taught herself the guitar, drums and flute.
Eva, who has been likened to Norah Jones, Jewel, Dido and Beth Orton, has performed at many prestigious venues such as the Purcell Room and Royal Albert Hall in London.
She recently performed as part of Dave Stewart’s City Showcase. Most recently she supported German band Banana Fishbones on tour in Munich.
A remix of her song Abigail was released on the Urban Electronic Collection Brazil 5000–2.