Catherine Janice Ipsan (January 20, 1993 – February 28, 2024), known professionally as Cat Janice, was an American singer-songwriter. Janice wrote and sang " Dance You Outta My Head", which went

viral Viral means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents). Viral may also refer to: Viral behavior, or virality Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example: * Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spread a marke ...

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

Early years

Catherine Janice Ipsan was born on January 20, 1993, in

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit ...

and was raised in

Annandale Annandale is a name for several places around the world: United Kingdom *Annandale, Dumfries and Galloway, a strath in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland Australia *Annandale, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney *Annandale, Queensland, a suburb of ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

.Iati, Marisa (January 26, 2024)
From hospice, alt-pop singer releases what may be final song — for her son
". ''The Washington Post''.Hodjat, Arya (January 24, 2024).
Meet Cat Janice, the DC Musician Who Became a Viral Pop Sensation—From Hospice
".'' Washingtonian''.Matter, Jacqueline (January 25, 2024).
Terminally ill musician's last song charts worldwide as she enters hospice
". ''Fox 5 DC''.

WTTG-TV WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WDCA (channel 20). WTTG and WDCA share ...

.Sinha, Bias (January 31, 2024).
Who is Cat Janice and what happened to her? Local musician's last song for her son charts worldwide as she enters hospice
". ''SK Pop''. MSN. Janice learned to play violin and piano at the age of six.O'Bier, Taylor (January 31, 2024).
She released a song on her deathbed to benefit her son. It went viral
". ''MSN''.Johnson, Trent (December 2022).
D.C.'s Hip Sonny + Cher
". ''District Fray Magazine''. p. 40–41.Josephson, India (March 6, 2023).
Alt Pop Artist Cat Janice – Fighting Cancer Through Music
". ''Jejune Magazine''. She had 14 years of classical training, during which she joined an orchestra, jazz bands, and theatrical productions."Chill the fck out" – Alt Pop artist Cat Janice fights cancer
". ''Guitar Girl Magazine''. January 29, 2023. She started writing her music around the age of 12, and she later taught herself how to produce her own music.Loria, Keith (September 18, 2020).

". ''The Fairfax Times''.

Music career

Janice released her first album, with her singing and playing piano, in 2014. Her second album, ''Fire'', was more

Southern rock Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. Author Scott B. Bomar specul ...

and was released the next year. In 2019, Janice won a Washington Area Music Award (WAMMY) in the category of Best Rock Artist. Janice's song "Pricey" appeared in an episode of "

Selling Sunset ''Selling Sunset'' is an American reality television series created for Netflix by Adam DiVello. The series revolves around the Oppenheim Group, a high-end real estate brokerage firm in the Los Angeles area (with offices in West Hollywood and Ne ...

" in 2020. Another song of hers appeared on the

Country Music Television Country Music Television (CMT) is an American pay TV network owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched on March 5, 1983, as Country Music Television, CMT was the first nationally available channel devoted to c ...

show "Redneck Island". After finding a lump in her neck in 2022, Janice was diagnosed with a

sarcoma A sarcoma is a malignant tumor, a type of cancer that arises from transformed cells of mesenchymal (connective tissue) origin. Connective tissue is a broad term that includes bone, cartilage, fat, vascular, or hematopoietic tissues, and sa ...

, a rare, aggressive type of cancerous tumor that affects the bone marrow, in her

scalene muscle The scalene muscles are a group of three pairs of muscles in the lateral neck, namely the anterior scalene, middle scalene, and posterior scalene. They are innervated by the third to the eight cervical spinal nerves (C3-C8). The anterior and m ...

.Bedford, Dorvall (January 18, 2024).
Local Musician Cat Janice Wants to Leave Behind Grooves, Smiles, and a Legacy for Her Son
". ''Washington City Paper''.Solé, Ellen (January 29, 2024).
A dying mom dedicated her last song to her son. TikTok made it go viral
". ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

''. At the time, Janice was working as a

geospatial information Geographic data and information is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as data and information having an implicit or explicit association with a location relative to Earth (a geographic location or geographic position). It is also call ...

scientist, taking classes toward a master's degree in coastal geology, and writing and singing her own music. Janice had surgery to remove the tumor and had

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

. Janice worked on her album, ''Modern Medicine'', while under treatment. Janice wrote the song "Wishing I Was You" about her cancer and chemotherapy. Her son appeared in the song's video. Her song "Chill the Fck Out", released in January 2023, is about struggling with stress and feeling overwhelmed. The following year, Janice's doctors said she was free of cancer, but a few months later the cancer

metastasize Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...

d to her lungs. Janice restarted chemotherapy, and she released "Modern Medicine" a few months later. She performed with SOJA at the

Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts (originally known as the Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts and simply known as Wolf Trap) is a performing arts center located on of national park land in unincorporated Fairfax Coun ...

in the summer of 2023. Janice became engaged to her partner Kyle Higginbotham that August, and the two married that December, knowing her time was short. Janice released her song "Dance You Outta My Head" on

on January 19, 2024, four days after beginning hospice.Weinberg, Lindsay (February 9, 2023).
TikToker Shares "Last Joy" of Helping Son Amid Sarcoma Cancer Battle
". ''E! Online''. MSN. Co-written with

Max Vernon Max Vernon (born May 24, 1988) is an American performer, composer/lyricist, and playwright from Los Angeles, California, currently living and performing in New York City, where they attended New York University. Best known for their work in music ...

, the song is about being one's absolute best, going out, and deciding to just dance troubles out of one's head.Fraley, Jason (January 19, 2024).
DC musician Cat Janice, currently home in hospice, releases her last song to benefit her 7-year-old son
". '' WTOP''. Janice decided to release the song independently, rather than through her usual recording label, to release the song more quickly. Online she wrote, "I think I'm being called home. My last joy would be if you pre-saved my song 'Dance You Outta My Head' in my bio and streamed it because all proceeds go straight to my 7-year-old boy I'm leaving behind." Janice transferred the rights to all her songs to her son.Greene, Jordan (January 25, 2024).
Musician Mom, 31, Enters Hospice in Final Days, Writes Song for Young Son: 'My Art Is All I Have to Leave Behind' (Exclusive)
". ''

People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of proper ...

''. The song was inspired by a line, "Dance until you love me", that she and her son randomly sang over and over while on a drive one day. Two weeks after being released, "Dance You Outta My Head" charted at number 37 on

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs.Zellner, Xander (January 31, 2024).
10 First-Timers on Billboard's Charts This Week: Richy Mitch and The Coal Miners, MJ Lenderman, Cat Janice & More
". ''

''. The song also debuted at number 2 on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales and number 11 on the overall Digital Song Sales chart. It reached number 1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 on February 17. On iTunes, the song reached number 7 worldwide, number 1 in Romania, Ireland, and the Czech Republic, and number 12 in the United States.Robledo, Anthony (January 26, 2024).
'Motherly love': Singer Cat Janice enters hospice; last song proceeds go to 7-year-old son
". ''USA Today''. The song won the Robert Allen Award from the

ASCAP Foundation The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

Death

Janice died of cancer at home in Annandale on February 28, 2024, at the age of 31, surrounded by her family.)Greene, Jordon (February 28, 2024).
Musician Mom Cat Janice Dead at 31: 'Cat Saw Her Music Go Places She Never Expected'
". ''

''. Her brother shared on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

that additional projects created by Janice would be released posthumously with her consent.Aniftos, Raina (February 28, 2024).
Singer Cat Janice Dead at 31 After Battle With Cancer
". ''

''. MSN. "Starry Night (Loren's Lullaby)", a lullaby for her son Loren, was her first song released posthumously, on March 8.Mendez, Malia (March 8, 2024).
Cat Janice, singer who died of cancer, told her family to 'keep the music going'
. ''Los Angeles Times''. Archived fro
the original
on March 9, 2024.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Janice, Cat 1993 births 2024 deaths 21st-century American women singers American dance musicians American pop musicians American women in electronic music American women pop singers American women songwriters Deaths from cancer in Virginia Deaths from sarcoma Musicians from Fairfax County, Virginia People from Annandale, Virginia