Singer and banjo and ukulele player Katharine Whalen is recognized for her smoky, Billie Holiday-esque vocals, both as a solo artist and as a founding member of the 1920s jazz and swing revival group the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Whalen and the Zippers hit the Zeitgeist in the 1990s, charting on the Billboard 200 and scoring the hit "Hot." At the same time, she launched a solo career, interpreting standards with her group Katharine Whalen's Jazz Squad and on pop albums like 2006's Dirty Little Secret and 2011's Madly Love. She has also recorded with Andrew Bird and Stephin Merritt and continued to lead her Jazz Squad, as on 2021's To Hide a Heart That's Blue and 2024's Chet Baker-inspired Songs Chet Sang. Hailing from Greenville, North Carolina, Katharine Whalen co-founded the Chapel Hill swing and '20s and '30s jazz revival band Squirrel Nut Zippers in 1993, singing and playing banjo and ukulele along with her then-husband, guitarist/singer James "Jimbo" Mathus; singer Tom Maxwell; saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Ken Mosher; bassist Don Raleigh; and drummer Chris Phillips. Whalen enjoyed commercial and critical success with the band, recording five albums, including 1996's Hot and 1998's Perennial Favorites, both of which cracked the Top 30 of the Billboard 200. Following 2000's Bedlam Ballroom, the Squirrel Nut Zippers broke up before briefly reuniting for a tour in 2007 minus singer Maxwell. Whalen and Mathus ultimately divorced, with Mathus going on to helm a different lineup of the band, while Whalen settled in North Carolina and pursued both solo work and other projects. As a solo artist, Whalen debuted in 1999 with Katharine Whalen's Jazz Squad, an album of classic American popular standards. Working with ex-Camus member David Sale, she returned in 2006 with Dirty Little Secret, an album of original songs that found her drawing inspiration from '60s lounge music, exotica, and spy movie soundtracks. Another album of original music, Madly Love, appeared in 2011 and featured a more indie pop-oriented sound. Along with her own albums, Whalen has contributed to projects by Andrew Bird, Stephin Merritt, Swedish Wood Patrol, Certain Seas, and others. In 2021, she was back with her Jazz Squad for the standards album To Hide a Heart That's Blue. The same ensemble returned in 2024 for Let's Get Lost: Songs Chet Sang, a tribute to iconic jazz trumpeter and singer Chet Baker. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi