Kate Victoria Tunstall (born 23 June 1975), known professionally as KT Tunstall, is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. She broke into the public eye with a 2004 live solo performance of her song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on Later... with Jools Holland.
Born in Edinburgh to a Hong Kong-born exotic dancer, she was adopted by David and Rosemary Tunstall of St Andrews. At the age of four she started playing piano; later she learned to play other musical instruments. She attended the Lawhead Primary and Madras College in St. Andrews, High School of Dundee and Kent School in Kent, Connecticut in the United States. She earned her BA in Drama & Music in 1996 from the Royal Holloway, University of London. She was awarded an honorary doctorate by Royal Holloway in 2011.
Her debut album was named Eye to the Telescope - the name was inspired by her childhood experiences at her father's physics laboratory at University of St Andrews. Released in 2004, this album launched her music career. That album inspired her nomination for the Mercury Prize in 2005, BRIT Award for Best British Live Act and BRIT Award for Best Breakthrough Act in 2006, and Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2007. She eventually won BRIT Award for Best British Female Artist and European Border Breakers Award, both in 2006. The single "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" was given the Q Magazine Award for Best Track in 2005, and "Suddenly I See" won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song in 2006. "Suddenly I See" became a popular hit and has been featured in The Devil Wears Prada, Blind Dating, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Love, Rosie, Thrillville, and as a campaign song of the US presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton in 2008.She has released six albums internationally: Eye to the Telescope (2004), Drastic Fantastic (2007), Tiger Suit (2010), Invisible Empire // Crescent Moon (2013), KIN (2016) and WAX (2018). She has also appeared in two episodes of the comedy series This is Jinsy on Sky Atlantic.
Tunstall has written soundtracks for films: "Boy" for The Kid, "Miracle" for Winter's Tale, "We Could Be Kings" for Million Dollar Arm, "Float", "Strange Sight" and "1000 Years" for Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast, "Fit In" for About Ray, and "Bad Moms (Suite)", "Enough is Enough (Suite)", and "Get Your Tits Up (Suite)" for Bad Moms.
