When Katy Tiz was growing up she wanted to be Jim Carrey. Or, rather, the weird, estranged, comedic actress daughter of Jim Carrey. Which is basically to say that the U.K. pop singer didn’t slap on a pair of high heels and accidently stumble into music until her late teens. Growing up just outside of London, Katy has been creating music with her producer/songwriter brother George and her ‘brother from another mother’, Rick Parkhouse (Red Triangle) since she was 17 years old. She would join her older brothers for acoustic performances anywhere and everywhere from the beach to underground clubs in London city. They would play open mics, performing covers and originals. That's where Katy really began to cut her teeth as a performer, focusing on developing a musical style of her own. Her goal has always been to write relatable music. “Personally, I search for songs that comfort me and let me know I'm not the only one who feels a certain way,” Katy says. “If I help one person through what I was feeling when I wrote a song, I'll be happy. I hope I can give back what I searched for in music.” After a serious heartbreak, Katy and her brothers penned the fiercely impassioned “Fire Fire,” which immediately got picked up on the influential blog Arjan Writes in early 2012. The song caught the ear of the music industry, including some major label executives, and Katy’s life, as she knew it, changed. She flew to LA only telling close friends and family and signed a major label record deal with Republic/Lava Records. She spent the next year in the US dipping in and out of recording studios and working with some of the most well respected names in the industry. Ironically, as they were releasing her single, Katy and Republic/Lava parted ways in the summer of 2013. It was a low point, but Katy stayed focused and stuck it out in LA. “I didn’t let this deter me,” she says. “This is a bump in the road and it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” In October of 2013, Katy went into Rock Mafia’s Los Angeles studio to record “The Big Bang,” a boisterous pop number the production duo initially released in 2010. The song was immediately relatable for Katy thanks to its opening lines: “I don't wanna lie/I'm gonna take what you're giving/'Cause I know you're willing/To take me all the way.” For Katy, those words represented the support of the music industry. “It’s so poignant to how I was feeling at the time,” she says. “The lyrics are literally how I feel about all of this and that’s so important to me. As soon as I heard those lyrics I knew I had to do the song. It’s so me. It means I can get up every time and really mean it when I sing it.” The song earned Katy the honor of being named Clear Channel/iHeartRadio’s “On The Verge” artist, a huge coup for an unsigned artist (not one to hide her feelings, Katy cried as though she’d just won a Grammy when she heard the news and nearly fell down some stairs). Since then the single has entered the Hot 100 chart, iTunes’ “Top Pop Songs” chart and Shazam’s “Top 100 USA.” The song’s success, as well as Katy’s unwavering, good-spirited determination, also scored a new record label deal with Atlantic, which will release her debut album later this year. “For the first time in my life I feel like I’m not scared because I feel like I’ve earned it now,” Katy says. “I’ve earned a place to have a chance. I always felt nervous before but I’ve fallen in love with music again. It’s like a new beginning.” For Katy, an outspoken, witty songwriter who has some cheeky Jim Carrey behavior left in her still, the music begins with the inspirations that have lingered since childhood, from reggae beats to soul vocalists, from Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, all the way to Katy Perry. “Music is everything to me.  It’s my best friend, my worst enemy, my boyfriend and my ex rolled into one.  I’m extremely dedicated, but never want one day to go by without a good laugh.”