‘Catch of the Day’ – Katie Perkins – “Take My Hand” [VIDEO]

Today we feature an artist who began singing at age 4, and by the time she became a teenager, she already knew what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.

Born and raised in East Lyme, CT, Katie Perkins decided early in life that she wanted to sing country music. She took voice lessons, performed at every local venue she could find and began working on her debut album at age 16. But her dreams were almost cut short while she was working on the album, as she began to experience bouts with severe fatigue and shortness of breath.

After a extreme bout with those symptoms, she ended up in an emergency room. Doctors discovered she was suffering from prolonged QT levels, a previously undetected hole in her heart that was causing an irregular heart beat. The defect would require surgery, and despite fears of it affecting her ability to sing, doctors convinced Katie that without the surgery, her life expectancy would be short.

After the surgery, Katie began retraining her voice, trying to get back in the studio. After graduating from high school, she would enroll in the Berklee College of Music in Boston, which only helped to strengthen her skills, strength knowledge and determination to make it in Nashville. In 2009 Katie made it back in to the studio, and the product of all her hard work was her 2010 debut album Amazing, produced by Grammy Award winner Joel Soyffer. The album was met with critical acclaim, and won numerous local music and industry awards.

Her second album, 2012's Breathe, met with equal critical acclaim. The lead single from the album "Hello Heartache", made great headway with airplay across the nation, eventually landing in the top-10 on the Music Row country chart. Perkins would take home first place at the USA World Showcase for the album, and received a nomination from the Grammy "Gig of a Lifetime" competition.

Katie is back in the studio, working with award winning producer/engineer Brian Sargent on her third album. The lead single from the yet unnamed project is in our spotlight today. Katie Perkins and "Take My Hand" is today's Catch of the Day, new music you haven't heard, but you'll want to hear it again.