b. 31 March 1960, Alsask, Saskatchewan, Canada. As a small child, Plato studied piano, later attending the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, where she received a Bachelor Of Music Degree in Piano and Voice. In 1985, she moved to Vancouver to study vocal jazz and arranging at Capilano College, and has made the city her base ever since. In the late 90s, she also studied with Sheila Jordan and Jay Clayton at the Banff Centre For The Arts. In 2000, There’s Beauty In The Rain was nominated for a Juno Award. Appearing in concert throughout Canada, Plato has also appeared at many jazz festivals. Her appearance at Sasktel Jazz Festival in 2000, at which she opened for Brad Mehldau, was recorded for CBC’s Jazzbeat. The April Arrangement is a concert performance in which she presents some of her original compositions and arrangements of standards for a septet, which she has performed at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre and Festive Jazz (2000), her arrangements of traditional Christmas carols and original songs presented at the Capilano College Theatre for the Performing Arts. In 2000, she became a member of DIVAS For Life, which came about when the Vancouver-based magazine, Lifestyles, profiled six female vocalists: Plato, Laura Crema, Dee Daniels, Kate Hammett-Vaughan, Stevie Vallance and Tammy Weis. Established to help raise money for people living with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses, their debut concert was a huge success and the singers appeared collectively and individually at a series of SOR engagements, including the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. With some personnel changes, DIVAS have continued to perform to rave reviews and to raise money for their espoused cause, making records and broadcasting on CBC. Plato uses her very pleasing contralto to deliver elegant performances of standards and original material with flair and sophistication, singing in an unadorned and intimate style.