After signing to independent label Candid in 2001 and releasing 3 acclaimed titles, it was Clare’s first album for Sony Jazz which became her breakthrough record. Released in 2004, ‘Don’t Talk’ topped the Jazz charts and entered the UK Top 20, garnering extraordinary plaudits and several awards. She has now recorded and released 15 albums to public and critical acclaim, 7 of them on her own label MUD Records. Her most recent album, ‘Twelve O’Clock Tales’, was released in 2016 and recorded with the Hallé, conducted by Stephen Bell and arranged by world-class trumpet and composer Guy Barker.
Clare continues to surge ahead on her mission to bring big band and swing to music lovers everywhere, to demonstrate that this genre is ever evolving and still relevant in today’s world. Accompanied by her Pianist, Trio, 7-piece Mini Big Band, 9-piece Big Mini Big Band or 17-piece Hollywood Orchestra Clare performs up and down the country throughout the year at festivals and high profile venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre, Malvern Theatres, Anvil Arts, Sage Gateshead, Love Supreme, Salisbury International Arts Festival, Bristol Jazz and Blues Festival and Glastonbury Festival, as well as singing with renowned orchestras and Big Bands including the Hallé,BBC CO, RTÉ CO, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Big Band (hr-Big Band) BBC NOW and BBC SSO. Alongside her concerts, Clare presents her own live show on BBC Radio 2 every Sunday night.
August 2017 saw Clare produce and present her third full scale BBCProm Concertto a packed audience at the Royal Albert Hall. Featuring two roaring Big Bands led by Guy Barkerand Winston Rollinsand some very special guests, ‘Swing No End’ celebratedthe triumphs of big band greats from the ‘30’s and ‘40’s and the show was broadcast on BBC Four and BBC Radio 2 and 3.
Other highlights of Clare’s live work include collaborating with Sir Van Morrisonon his album ‘Duets: Reworking the Catalogue’ resulting in the A listed Radio single ‘Carrying A Torch’,performing with Gregory Porterfor BBC Two’s 2018 Christmas Day show Merry Christmas Baby – with Gregory Porter and Friends, opening twice for Liza Minnelliat Kenwood Houseand the Royal Festival Hall, singing with the BBC Big Bandat Proms in the Park, headlining the Bourbon Street Tent at Glastonbury Festival, storming the Gateshead International Jazz Festivaland producing, presenting and performing ‘The Story of Swing’ in 2015 and the ‘Battle of the Bands Duke Ellington v Count Basie’ in 2014 for the BBC Proms Seasonat the Royal Albert Hall.
Clare won British Jazz Singer of the year in 2005, 2007, 2015 and 2017, BBC Jazz Singer of the Year in 2006 and Boisdale Jazz Singer of the year 2016. She was awarded Arts & Entertainment Personality of the Year in 2004 & 2011 Yorkshire Awards, a coveted Gold Badge by BASCA (British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors) in 2011 and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music by the University of Wolverhampton in 2015.
‘We love her’ Ken Bruce
‘She’s a triple threat’ Michael Bublé
‘A sensation in the world of jazz’ Mail on Sunday