Name:
Toini Knudtsen
Born: Norway, 1968
Instrument: Vocal, rhythm guitar
Toini, the lady of the band, was strongly influenced in her childhood by Rock & Roll and Rockabilly music. The daughter of a devoted record collector, she grew up listening to the music of the fifties and sixties, and this has indelibly shaped her musical taste and performance.
She sang along with the old records as she learned to walk, and by the age of fourteen, she was fronting her first group (the girls-only "Katz"), to be followed by many other projects.
After leaving her home in the small coastal town of Kristiansund, Toini moved to Oslo, where she started singing in jazz clubs, exploring her love for the music of Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday. She also did some gigs at rockabilly festivals in Sweden and England backed by local musicians. Back in Norway she met the guys who were to become the Tomcats. In 1991 they did their first gig ever at Beach Club in Oslo, and the lineup has not changed since that day.
Toini has impressed audiences with her sweet and powerful singing, and her songwriting is colored by her rockabilly roots. Among her influences are Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, Ruth Brown and Wanda Jackson.
