Biography
Cynthia Catania was born in Northern NJ to first-generation, American born Sicilians. Her dad played an antique mandolin at family parties and listened to jazz and his favorite crooners at home. Her older brother became a successful session guitarist in NY and toured the world with Hall & Oates. After cutting her teeth in the NY music scene, Cynthia left home for her silver screen - rock star dreams in sultry Los Angeles, California. During the early 2000s, she formed Saucy Monky with Dublin native Annmarie Cullen. The quartet went on to tour Ireland and Europe many times and performed on festival stages with heroes like The Cure, PJ Harvey, Wilco, and more. Fun to note, during their breakout - Saucy Monky were media darlings. They often found themselves in the pages of Hot Press Magazine, a prestigious music and culture publication akin to Rolling Stone in the US.
The LA Times said this about the band- "Saucy Monky shares a lot of the qualities of pop's classic female-fronted bands - Irrepressible melodicism and smart lyrics".
After her successful run with Saucy Monky, (which also included film and TV placement success and a theme song on ABC daytime), Cynthia joined the Los Angeles power trio The Secret Things. Always with a pulse on the European market - Cynthia and the band were picked up by Sweden's Loud Kult Records and released a set of singles and the EP Shock Diary. "Keeper" the #metoo inspired single was released via Loud Kult (distribution by The Orchard) in 2018. The band made three provocative music videos directed by the actress-filmmaker-writer Sue Ann Pien. TST's cover of PJ Harvey's "Down By The Water" was Pien's re-vision of PJ's filicide theme. The partnership kick started a series of benefits to support the transgender community in Los Angeles.
In 2018-2019, Cynthia was invited by editor Niall Stokes to write for Hot Press Magazine. Her sex-column stories ran for the better part of a year. She continues to write for the mag as a freelancer.
2019's greatest adventure had Catania kick start a long-awaited solo career. Her first single "Phones" was released worldwide in July, paired with another captivating video, directed by Sue Ann Pien. Her desire to perform abroad brought Cynthia back to Irish shores for a string of shows and radio performances, including the popular Arena (on Radio1/RTE network). After debut Irish solo dates, she continued the run with ex-band-mates and international singer-songwriters Annmarie Cullen, Naimee Coleman, Sylvie Lewis, and drummer Adam Marcello (Katy Perry, American Idol) for shows with the 'Songwriters On Tap' collective.
"Sidelines" Cynthia's first single of 2020 was released just before the corona-virus crippled the music biz and world at large. All Spring 2020 concert dates, Irish Tours, and support slots with The Young Dubliners, Hothouse Flowers & Tracy Bonham were canceled due to COVID-19 lock downs.
Eight months into this new normal, she's dropped several singles including the aforementioned "Sidelines," "Remember," and the forthcoming "Suitcase," which will be paired with a cinematic music video filmed in the Sequoia Nat'l Forest by visionary filmmakers Sue Ann Pien, Michael Khachadoorian and Drew Tolley. The single drops worldwide on December 8th, 2020.
