Biography
MishCatt– born Michelle Gonzalez – is a Costa Rican born, Los Angeles based singer/songwriter who is blessed with synesthesia, a unique condition where when one sense is activated, another kicks in at the same time. When she hears music, she sees colors and shapes. Born to a musician family, her father was a jazz pianist and commercial jingle writer and her mom was a singer and actress. While she was clearly influenced by her father’s jazzier tastes, including artists like Nat “King” Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, MishCatt’s mom imparted her obsession with 80’s pop music as well. She started writing songs at 12 and soon realized that her natural facility for languages translated to singing songs not only in English and her native Spanish, but also in French, Portuguese and Italian. Performing with her father, she also developed an immediate affinity for performing.
MishCatt’s latest release, “Goofy,” marks the launch of a powerful new creative partnership, and a new aesthetic moving forward, with the track’s co-writers and co-producers Carl Falk, Albin Nedler and DYO. Collectively, the Swedish based team of Falk and Nedler has written and produced songs for contemporary pop royalty, including Ariana Grande, Madonna, Avicii and Demi Lovato.
Carl Falk, who had worked extensively with the late Swedish DJ/artist/producer Avicii, was first introduced to MishCatt through a cover she posted on Instagram of her singing the Cher/Nancy Sinatra 60’s classic “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).” Impressed by what he saw and heard, he invited MishCatt to perform Avicii’s song “Fades Away” at a tribute concert at Friends Arena in Stockholm. On a bill also featuring Aloe Blacc, David Guetta, Adam Lambert and Rita Ora, among many others, MishCatt gave an epic performance before an audience of 58,000. Billboard called the event “heartfelt and highly emotional.”
Prior to connecting with Falk and his team, MishCatt enjoyed her earlier musical successes – which culminated in the release of her EP The Real Pavo – working with Swedish songwriter/producer Pontus “Avant” Winnberg, who as a member of the production duo Bloodshy & Avant, has produced everyone from Britney Spears and Madonna to J Lo, Christina Milian and Katy Perry. Tracks from her debut Ep, “Another Dimension” and “Gun To The Head,” reached over 17 million and 9.7 million streams, respectively. At the time, MishCatt was riding a wave of success as lead singer (singing in English) of the Costa Rican band Patterns, whose song “Sunny Days” had caught viral fire and also became popular in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
Currently, in addition to pursuing her pop career, MishCatt has been working with artists in the Latin music community in L.A. where she engages in her passion to create music for meditation and yoga and perform with a collective of artists known as Kosmik Band. Last December, the ensemble performed their reworked and improvised mantras at a big festival in India, including one at Ekam – The Oneness Temple. MishCatt says, “I just like to do different things in music, and it’s great to have a variety of colors in my palette.”