Kate Northrop studied music and English literature at Bennington College in Vermont (USA) and Celtic harp at the University College of Wales, United Kingdom. She first came to Europe in 1987 to tour with English songwriter Gavin James. In 1992 she recorded her first CD, "Roots & Wings" (Brambus 199234-2), together with multi-instrumentalist Sandro Friedrich (from world-group "Acanto"), followed by touring in various pubs, clubs and festivals in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. In 1994 she settled in Switzerland and began working as a studio-harpist, giving classes in celtic harp at different music schools in Switzerland. She married Sandro Friedrich and both have released CD in the mid to late 1990s.

In 2003 she joined with the Swiss all-female rock band MoonSnake, using an electroharp, an electric Celtic harp coupled with various electronic effects and a wha-wha pedal, which gave the sound an unusual touch. She also sang backing vocals, and one of her main roles was to write lyrics for the band in English.

Based in Europe, Kate Northropnow works primarily as a lyricist with many talented artists, composers and producers. Her credits include songs with major publishers (Universal Germany, EMI South Africa, Warner Finland, Melodie der Welt), lyrics for a song in the soundtrack of an award-winning German short film, and many more. She has written lyrics for hundreds of songs, including with German Echo Award-winning producer Hardy Krech, and with German producer Goar Biesenkamp and his team at Unicade Music. She currently has a co-written song in the Swiss top 6 for the Eurovision Song Contest (2018), and also had a co-write in the Swiss Charts in December 2017, “40 Days” by Swiss singer DaFoo.