Cath Carroll was born in Bristol and raised in Swansea, Ipswich and finally, her family hometown of Manchester. In 1994 Cath began recording with Kerry Kelekovich, a Chicago-based musician and engineer whom she married in 1996. TCM marked a return to guitars, and the album was a critical success, with the word noir frequently aired in describing the shadowy lyrical undertow and understated vocal delivery. However, personnel changes and family health problems meant that touring to promote the set was problematic, and instead Cath and Kerry concentrated on recording a new album.

This became the eponymous Cath Carroll, which appeared in 2000. The pair's first real collaboration, both contributed equally to the writing, while Kerry handled most of the playing. The album appeared on their own Lilypad label (via Chicago-based Heart and Soul), and was described by one reviewer as a blend of Astrud Gilberto and Roxy Music, and by another as a shadowy corner of the adult pop universe.

In 2002 Cath and Kerry completed a new album, The Gondoliers of Ghost Lake. Written and produced in her adopted home town of Chicago, standout tracks include The Divine Miss A (Morrissey meets the Kinks in tribute to transgendered Mancunian), Free (post 60s mystical rock), Man Goes Down the Highway (rarified folk-dub, on the same continuum as Luscious Jackson and Pulsillama) and the infectious Mystified (romping dance-pop with a latin underpin).

- James Nice / LTM Records