Kathryn Keats

Reclaiming an Abandoned Life
Elizabeth Fernandez, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, May 20, 2007

As she sat on the witness stand testifying against the man she loved, a man who'd tortured and humiliated her, Ellen Munger's eye caught his.
He winked. In that gesture, Munger felt an iciness that cut to her bones.
Kenneth Ford would never let her go.
[Podcast: Emerging from 20 years of silence.]
Not after the jury trial that found in her favor, not even after her batterer was sent to a mental hospital.
Ford wanted her dead.
He was schizophrenic. And he'd vowed to kill her, a promise he made repeatedly, demonically. "He wants to kill his girlfriend,'' said court records, "by cutting her in pieces and hanging the pieces in trees along the beach.''
Once Ford was released from psychiatric lockup, once he was back out on the streets, Munger knew her life was in peril. There was only one thing for her to do. She had to wipe herself out of existence.
With the help of the Alameda County victims assistance program, she legally changed her name and became Kathryn Keats. She cut ties to everyone she knew, apart from her father, sister and one close friend. And she gave up the highly promising career she'd launched as a singer. It was an excruciating loss.
Later, when she married, she told her husband little about her past life. When they had two children, they, too, knew nothing of their mother's secret.
Always she looked over her shoulder. And not for a minute did she stop wishing she could once again sing professionally.
For 22 years, Ellen Munger did not exist.
Then she learned that Ford had died.
Now she's reclaiming her life at age 48.

Ellen Munger was just 5 when she made a big announcement to her family: "I'm going to be a singer when I grow up,'' she said.
Clad in patent leather shoes and a poufy dress, she'd performed for the first time -- "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'' -- at her grade school in Evansville, Ind. There on stage, she felt at home.
For the next decade, she single-mindedly pursued music -- singing in school talent shows, nursing homes, the local theater; she also studied tap dance and ballet. The summer of her freshman year of high school, she performed six shows daily at Nashville's Opryland, the youngest on stage. She appeared several times on "The Mike Douglas Show."
In her junior year, she was accepted to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, but less than two years later was sent home. "I wouldn't eat,'' she says. "I didn't have anorexia, I just didn't want to eat.''
In 1975, just before her 18th birthday, she persuaded her parents to send her to New York. There, she studied music and won enough minor roles to help pay the bills. The following year, she auditioned for a radical theatrical production, "Let My People Come.'' The show called for onstage nudity. Munger was dubious, but signed on because she'd earn her Equity card.
The show's musical director was Ken Ford, 13 years her senior. Munger was quickly smitten with the long-haired, green-eyed musician. "He was very talented, and he thought I was really gifted,'' she says.
Before long, they were living together. Munger did a thousand performances of the show, living in Philadelphia and touring in the United States and Canada for five years. She and Ford also wrote four shows together; two were produced.
Ford was a gifted musician, but during this time a psychosis was seeping in. He started hearing voices, would become agitated and paranoid. For hours he'd recite a series of numbers, believed that shadows on the wall were spirits.
When he struck Munger the first time, he readily apologized.
"I was in complete shock,'' she says. "I didn't know anything about mental illness or domestic violence. So I got ready for the show. I thought it would never happen again.''
But it did, over and over, and each time she forgave and tried to forget.
"I loved him,'' she says. "It is horrible to watch someone struggle with mental illness. Plus, my future was invested in our partnership. I decided I was going to save him from his demons.''
Ford's mental illness worsened, and he developed various personalities. He used illegal drugs, had sudden flares of depression, anger, incoherence. The abuse became frequent, ritualistic.
He'd sexually assault her, put her in the bathtub and urinate on her, tie her up and beat her with a belt, cut himself and smear blood on her, she says. Twice she left him, but he would pull her back in.
"He was very good at seduction. He told me that I was the only one in his world that he'd ever loved, that he felt such a kinship with.''
In 1983, the couple moved to Oakland, down the block from Munger's sister.
There, for 54 days, Munger says, he held her captive, tying her up at times, feeding her tomato soup and forcing her to eat cigarette butts, threatening her and her family. Munger spent her days paralyzed by fear, convinced that if she tried to run, he'd kill her.
Her concerned sister showed - Hearst

I heard Kathryn Keats sing at Manhattan's Bitter End in Greenwich Village not too long ago.
Plus: The Hot Buttered Rum String Band at the Mystic Theater
The soulful Kathryn Keats returns to the stage to reclaim her voice and music career on March 29, 2005 at San Francisco's world famous Empire Plush Room. Performing with Ms Keats is the Grammy award winning Armenian composer, Aram Avagyan.

Fifteen years have passed since singer/songwriter Kathryn Keats stepped off the stage at the height of her career to protect her life. Today, the period she spent looking over her shoulder has ended. Kathryn Keats is back to reclaim her voice with the upcoming release of her CD "After The Silence" and pursue the career that had been put on hold, not altogether silenced.

Ms. Keats lyrics and voice are soulful, and contemporary. Keats describes her return to the stage after fifteen years of silence at The Knitting Factory, Hollywood on January 6th, "Coming back to do my first live performance, knowing I was safe, was an intensely emotional and precious experience. The most beautiful aspect about doing the show was that, for the first time in many years, I was not afraid. I was thankful for another chance at a creative life. I have a voice. I can write. I can perform. I am now free to do so."

Performing with Kathryn will be Best Composer of the Year; 2001, 2002, Aram Avagyan. Aram, a composer, arranger and pianist with a style that ranges from contemporary pop to soul and R&B to music for film, has been composing original works since the age of 11 in his homeland of Armenia. He attended the renowned Armenian Jazz College and four years later was invited to attend the Armenia State Musical Theatre. Additional accolades for Aram include being awarded the coveted Anoush Award in Los Angeles, California for the Best Song of the Year, having numerous international artists perform his songs and having famed singer Lianna attended the International Music Contest in Bulgaria performing Aram's song "Ari Ari" which won the Grand Prix Title.

During her ascent as a composer and singer, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music/Herbert Berghoff trained performer boasted a list of notable credits - "The Tree People," "Rocky Horror," winner of a Critics Circle Award for her performance in Michael Smuin's "Curse of The Werewolf," recorded with artists such as Gunnar Madsen, Denny Yaeger, Rosie Gaines and Olan Jones. Tenacity, talent and infectious exuberance and charisma define Kathryn Keats today. She is not one to lament the loss of time. She has spent these last fifteen years behind the scenes of stardom, packaging and developing films.
Her one woman show After The Silence is being released as a book. The harrowing details of her relationship with Mr. Ford have been written into a feature film by Hollywood's hottest screenwriter, Chrisanna Northrup.
She is also enjoying great success scoring feature films and music fr artists.
Keats has never been happier or more determined. There is no looking back for this enormously talented woman. Kathryn is a survivor.

"Not enough can be said about getting one's identity back," says Keats. "It feels absolutely incredible to be free from living in fear every day."

About Kathryn Keats
She lives in California with her husband Richard Conti and sons Lorenzo and Andrew. For more information on Kathryn, please visit her website at www.kathrynkeats.com .

Kathleen Giordano is Senior Editor of Your Life! Magazine. - Your Life Mag - Kathryleen Giordano

she's played a variety of venues, including the Bitter End and Symphony Space in New York City, the Plush Room and the Fairmont in San Francisco, as well as Mill Valley's Throckmorton Theater. She also continues to perform at events that raise funds for and awareness about domestic violence, including delivering the keynote address at the Alameda County Day of Remembrance.
She recently joined the board of directors of the nonprofit organization Chords for Change, which provides music therapy for residents at domestic violence shelters. She's also recorded a full-length CD, "After the Silence," available at www.kathrynkeats.com.
Her songs can be downloaded at iTunes or sampled on her website. She's also writing and recording a new CD with acclaimed producer Narada Michael Walden at Tarpan Records in Marin.
"Kat is bringing the message of hope, light, love and faith to people's lives," Walden says. "I am proud of her and her divine mission."
- Bay Area News Corp

Singer/songwriter Kathryn Keats delivers a powerful set of beautifully- written and recorded songs dealing with life, love and survival.
Check out Kathryn's amazing, chilling and inspiring story in the April, '07 issue of Reader's Digest Magazine. "After The Silence" marks
the artist's first CD - an evocative and razor-sharp collection of ten impeccably-crafted and moving compositions.
- Pick of the Week Readers Digest Store

Ms. Keats lyrics and voice are soulful, and contemporary. Keats describes her return to the stage after years of silence at The Knitting Factory, Hollywood on January 6th, "Coming back to do this performance, knowing I was safe, was an intensely emotional and precious experience. The most beautiful aspect about doing the show was that, for the first time in many years, I was not afraid. I was thankful for another chance at a creative life. I have a voice. I can write. I can perform. I am now free to do so."

- SF Chron

She's also writing and recording a new CD with acclaimed producer Narada Michael Walden at Tarpan Records in Marin County. "Kat is bringing the message of hope, light, love and faith to people's lives," Walden says. "I am proud of her and her divine mission."
- Bay Area News Corp by Jim Harrington

Emmy award winning reporter and journalist Joe Vazquez features Kathryn Keats on CBS 5. 2010 - CBS 5 by Joe Vazquez

Kathryn Keats on View from the Bay - ABC - KGO - Spencer Christian and Janelle Wang

Feature on Kathryn Keats and Music in this high end monthly magazine. - Marin Magazine by Dan Jewett

As downtown Oakland erupted in protest, Kathryn Keats sang.

- SF Chronicle by Aidin Vaziri