Katarina Pejak is a singer-songwriter and pianist known for an eclectic approach to Blues and related genres. She is a Ruf records recording artist, with a second album for this label, "Pearls On A String" (2024).
Katarina started performing in her late teens, playing blues clubs in her hometown (Belgrade) and other cities in Serbia. She put out three albums in her home country, "Perfume & Luck", 2010, and "First Hand Stories", 2012 and “Old, New Borrowed and Blues”, 2016, a live mini album recorded in 2015.
Though she has been classically trained at piano, she strayed away from classical music found her passion for songwriting and improvised music in her high school years. Through her father's music collection, she discovered her main influences: Otis Spann, Ray Charles, Tom Waits, Nina Simone, Norah Jones and many others.
In January 2011, she began her studies at Berklee College of Music, where she was admitted on a scholarship. She graduated in May 2014, from the Songwriting major and in her last semester was awarded the Songwriting Achievement Award for her overall success within the department.
In the summer of 2018, Katarina signed with Ruf Records, a German-based blues label, known best for their cross-over approach, and joined the long list of internationally acclaimed artists such as Victor Wainwright, Mike Zito, Ana Popovic, Samantha Fish, Bernard Allison and many others. In 2019, Katarina was a part of the Blues Caravan 2019, a Ruf records travelling show and has played over sixty shows all across Europe.
Her fourth album, "Roads That Cross", came out in February 2019, and has been listed as one of the 2019 Favorite Blues Albums at allmusic.com. In 2020, Katarina released an EP of home recordings: Outside Looking In.
Katarina's 4th studio album and her second release on Ruf records is to come out on April 19, 2024. The album was recorded in Poitiers, France where Katarina currently lives, at Studio des Bruères. It was produced by Pejak herself with her band: bassist Sylvain Didou, drummer Johan Barrer and guitarist Boris Rosenfeld. Also appearing on the album are: Californian guitarist Laura Chavez, saxophonist Dana Colley, as well as Serbian-based singer Ana Protulipac.