Kristen Foht, a St. Louis resident, released her first solo CD, "What You Need" in September. She's known for her raw emotion, honest lyrics and powerful voice. In a hard to define, folk-pop-rock-blues genre, friends use the word 'intense' because she imbues the same passion into all her music.
Born and raised in Milan, Illinois (by the Quad Cities), Kristen comes from a very musical family with whom she started performing at church functions when she was only five. After growing frustrated on the piano, she followed her parent's footsteps and picked up the guitar. By the end of her freshman year at Mizzou (where she majored in journalism and minored in theater), Kristen was playing music in Columbia at places like The Music Cafe, Bambino's Italian Restaurant, Mojo's, Shattered, the Chez and Mizzou's own version of Lilith Fair. For a short time, she was in a band called Tabla Rasa.
Upon moving to St. Louis she was "discovered" at an open mic at Java, Jazz and Blues in St. Charles. Soon she was playing regularly around St. Louis in solo gigs and through Acoustic Nights and Expression Sessions at places like Generations, Sally T's, Pony Expresso, Coffee With the Stars Cafe, Cafe Paradiso etc. She was then a part of the Suite 16 CD, a compilation album of St. Louis women singer/songwriters that met with success in the area. She played live on KDHX's "Riding Blue Highways" and her song "Halfway Full" was featured on a demo CD from the station. Last year, she was a member of the band Epic3. She is a featured soloist on the GlennonSongs Christmas Album recorded at Clayton Studios that was released last season.
Kristen recorded "What You Need" at Miles Wonderland Studio owned by David Karns, bassist for the Javier Mendoza Band.
So it was with great pleasure and the achievement of a lifelong goal that Kristen released "What You Need."