2010 here we come !!!

Hello all, and welcome back !

Happy New year, and what a year so far !

I have had a very exciting and busy start to 2010, I am finally doing what I have always dreamed of..making music with very talented producers and musicians. I feel a little like I have been living in recording studio's these past few weeks, but I am not complaining, it is exactly what I have always dreamed of !

I have to start by saying, how very lucky and privileged I am to be surrounded by immensely talented musicians and friends, including my web designer, photographer , not leaving out all my friends in radio, promotions and production...I am honoured and forever grateful for all the support..and a special mention must go to Mr Ken Short, who had made the impossible, possible for me..I am forever thankful and honoured to have your belief and support...xxx

I am very excited to report that I have just completed the recording of my upcoming new EP, we recorded at the famous Britannia Row Studio's, London..where many many bands and artists have recorded, my favourite being Soul II Soul's Keep On Moving ! The studio was phenomenal, and really had an energy...the creative juices were flowing to the max.
Huge thanks to my producer, Michael Randall aka Jackanory, who not only produced incredible music for my tracks, but is an immensely talented musician, playing on the Bass and all of the keys..and I just have to mention this, the Hammond organ used on my tracks belongs to Pink Floyd, and was the very one they used on The Wall album..how COOL is that !!!!
I would also like to thank, Richard Molyneux ( guitars ), Davide Veno ( studio engineer and all round genius ) and Tim Rickard aka Trickard ( drums ) and the rest of the guys that helped out at the studio. I had the best time of my life !!!!
We were all working until 3am 2 days in a row...heartfelt thanks for the effort and amazing playing.
I cannot wait to hear the results, and I will let you know when I will be releasing the EP.

I have also just returned from a recording session at The Magic Garden Studio's, working with Elizabeth Fields, laying some vocals down for her upcoming EP with producer Gavin Monaghan. I had a great time, and met some super talented musicians. I would like to thank Elizabeth for inviting me to be involved in her music..it was a pleasure and I look forward to making more music together in the future !

My Collaboration with Dee C'rell is due out very soon on Lemongrass Records, so it's all happening :-)

I shall let you know the details of all the release dates etc as soon as I have them.
Once more, thanks for visiting my blog..hope you enjoyed reading my news, and see you next time !

Love Claire xx

Just an update

Hello, and welcome to my blog.

It has been a few months since I last posted a blog, things have been pretty busy and I have been a little poorly.

As I am sure some of you know, Georgejazz came off the air..we will miss the station greatly..but sometimes even good things come to an end. Ironically, it's popularity was it's downfall in the end. The server kept on crashing, and due to finicial restrictions there was not a budget to invest in the station to take it to a wider audience. It seems we are all feeling the pinch...it is a shame but we made some good friends.
The good news is we have joined a brand new Jazz station, and with it some exciting developments.

I am due to begin recording my nu Blues EP the end of the year, I am looking forward to getting back in the studio and getting the creative juices flowing !
I am also looking forward to next year, hopefully taking a band out to the Jazz clubs..and playing some festivals including Malborough Jazz festival.

I am as determined as ever to remain true to my music, and work with people like minded. Maybe I have chosen a difficult path, but to be honest I would rather continue on than make music I am not comfortable with.
We have received alot of albums lately from some well known artists..and I have to admit I have been very dissapointed..I would rather not name names, but some have really chosen to go in a direction not true to their musical roots..over produced commercial r&b and pop really. I suppose money talks, each to their own. I don't knock it, just wouldn't do it myself.

As I have said in earlier posts, I have been offered and turned down the deals where I would have had very little, almost no involvement in the musical proccess, and niether had any control over rights etc..some may say I am daft..but I would prefer not to be a robot !

Anyway, can you really see me making MTV music video's, ha ha

My dream is still to tour with a great band, doing the music I love..I shall continue to work for that goal.

Thank you as always for reading my blog, I won't leave it so long next time

Love

Claire

"Here and Now"

Welcome to chapter 8 of my blog, it's been a little while since my last entry, I have been a busy bee !



Thank you as always to those of you who have come back, and for your emails and messages, very happy to hear you are still enjoying my story, and hello to any new readers.



There was an "incident" yesterday that reminded me of something I thought I would share with you, I haven't included it in previous blogs simply because I had forgotten, but it was another little confidence booster along the way !



About a year ago I was contacted by a musician, as usual, unfortunately I cannot name names, but lets just say he is a very well know guitarist. He came on very strong, saying he wanted to produce an album for me, and take me to New York to play at some major events..it all sounded very exciting, especially as the outfit he plays with included one of my musical hero's. As usual it was all above board, and I spoke to various other people in the circle, so I felt quite confident it was not bullshit. We were in conversation for a few weeks and it was all looking very promising, as my manager I thought it would be a good idea for Aja to touch bases with he who shall not be named, so he contacted him to say hello and introduce himself.

This is where the story ends, that was it, never heard from again..can't tell you why, but I'm sure we can all read between the lines.

I thought the days of doing the odd "favour, wink wink" for someone to further your career was gone, but apparently not !!





Chapter 8

" Here and Now !"

After the excitement of my radio play on BBC things have calmed down a bit. Over the last months I have been working on various projects, writing and collaborating. I am actually writing songs for a musical at the moment for someone in the U.S, something I had never thought I would turn my hand to, it is a challenge, but great fun. I have also done some cool jazz due for release soon, something very different for me..but I do love to keep things interesting and new.

We have very recently had a mix done on my track "He Is My All" , so far it is going down very well, playing in the clubs in Ibiza, Istanbul and on radio all over the world.. very happy people are enjoying it..it is a bit of disco, 70's flavour, again something different for me !

Just to fill you in on another recent "episode" in my music journey, I have had an interesting week to say the least ! Again, not naming names, I was eagerly contacted a number of times by a record producer/label..usual list of credentials. The various emails read how he would love to produce records for me, loved my voice, all very nice. So....we contacted him on his request. I know it sounds terrible, but I enter most conversations of this nature with suspicion. You would think, and naturally so, that the people higher up the food chain would be more honest and up front and more importantly professional ! However, in my experience this is not the case, most regrettably my instincts were right. Yes, he wanted to produce for me, and began a lengthy lecture about how the music industry is not about talent and more about money and celebrity, and asked me if I could get a budget together to pay him !!

Firstly, IF I had that kind of money I know exactly what producers I would approach that I would love to work with..and secondly, what is that all about ??? You chase someone, then ask them for money, PLEASE !!

Maybe I was supposed to get honoured, and grateful for the interest and how dare me not be !!

And secondly, I refuse to believe that success in music is not about talent !! I think the music industry suits and executives have forced it to be that way, mostly in the commercial world. Yes, it is that way in the world of MTV and glossy magazines, but who wants that kind of attention ??

I don't think at any point that I have given the impression that I want to be famous, a celebrity and feature on the front page of Hello magazine falling out of a car drunk, nor I am remotely interested in being the next Pop princess !, can you imagine ha ha ha , me on MTV dancing around in a mini skirt, I can hear you all laughing now.

I realise there is a place for all that, I am not naive enough to think pure talent will always win through, but sometimes it does ! You only have to look at some of the real successes like Jill Scott and Herbie Hancock amongst many others..you don't see them splashed all over the papers and magazines.

Onwards and Upwards !!!

Obviously now I have reached the present point in my story, I will continue to keep you updated on any "developments" as and when they occur !

Thanks for reading my blog, see you next time.

Claire xx

"He Is My All" on BBC YEAH !!

Welcome to my blog, very happy you are enjoying the story so far :-)

I have received alot of messages from people who are reading my blog, some coming from as far as Australia and the U.S. , which is very cool !!
Thank you xx

Chapter 7

"He Is My All" on BBC YEAH !!

The beginning of 2009 was a very exciting time ! My track "He Is My All" had been in circulation for a good few weeks and was receiving great reviews and lots of radio play. Of course I am at a huge advantage being on radio myself and able to play my own music, but I do not take it for granted. I realise I am in a great position, we have many friends who are on various radio stations all over the world, but I rest assured that though we are friends, they would not play my music if they didn't like it ! Of course the track was not everyones cup of tea, one Dj even said he thought it was too sophisticated for it's own good..not quite sure what he meant, but that's ok, everyone is entitled to their opinion and has different tastes. I feel that as long as I am happy with my work, and proud of it, that is what matters, you cannot please all the people all the time. To be honest I have learned to take criticism, although when I first started out it was a little hard to swallow, but you do grow a thick skin. You do learn to differentiate between constructive criticism and the opinions of, shall we say, less educated ears !!

It had been a long while since I had performed live with a band, and in March I woke up one morning and decided to put a little band together ! Having done this on many occasions the usual fears popped up in my head. I have played in many bands as I have mentioned before, and there may be those of you who can relate to this, bands can be for want of a better word...a Nightmare ! It's ok when you join a band, or you are asked to dep etc, because you just do what is asked of you and you are not in control..so if anything goes wrong, or you have a bad night it's not your fault, ahhh a lovely place to be, but when it comes to starting your own band it's a different story. Sometimes it can be the dynamics, or personality clashes, and sometimes members don't do their homework and learn the set. Some of you may laugh at this, but I actually hate being the "bossy" one..but unfortunately it is a necessary evil when running a band. I love a good jam as much as the next person, but when there is music to get through I must be the boss Ha ha !!

I contacted some good friends of mine, and I found myself a little band. I wrote up the playlist and all was well. The hardest part about running a band is organising the rehearsals, getting everyone in the same place at the same time is hard work, but the rehearsals for my new band fell into place fairly easily, with one or two hiccups leaving me on frantic phone calls for few hours.

It was after my first rehearsal, one week before the gig that I received an amazing email. When we started to promote He Is My All I sent it to some big players, but honestly didn't expect to hear from them, but there it was, a message from the producer of Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show BBC6 music.." Dear Claire, loved the tune..we will be adding it to next weeks playlist " I nearly fainted...then I ran around the room screaming then collapsed ! I rang everyone..it may seem like an over reaction, but for a little unsigned Welsh Blues singer to get play on BBC , well it is practically unheard of !! As you can imagine I was Super chuffed, a great achievement.

I only wish I could tell you that on the night they were playing my song on BBC6 I was at home tuned in with a glass of vin , but alas..I was actually on stage in a club in Swansea singing Peggy Lee. Never mind, I got to listen on the replay..Craig was very nice about me and said some lovely things. I was very cool to hear him talking about me, I am a huge Red Dwarf fan, and obviously he is now on Coronation Street too. It was a wonderful moment for me, and made alot of hard work, tears and tantrums worth it !!

The gig went well, I had great support and some people even travelled from afar to come and see us. It was amazing to meat one person imparticular, he had been supporting me from the very beginning, and after almost 3 years we finally got to meet ! I posted up some video clips on youtube and received some good feedback, all in all it was a good weeks work !!!

I am almost up to date with my story, I can't believe I actually got 7 chapters out of it !! In my next blog I shall tell you about all the new projects and goings on, see you then :-)

Love Claire xx

"What a year !"

Hello and welcome to my blog.


Once again I would like to thank everyone for coming back, and for your comments. It has been fun to write, and if I am honest, almost therapeutic aswell !




As some of you have mentioned, I am the stage in my story where I met some of you. And I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continuing support, and yes, I am going to get a little sentimental here, which as you know is not like me :-) But seriously, if it wasn't for your support I reckon I may well have thrown the towel in a long time ago !


I would especially like to thank Sarada, my rock, Geo my mentor, Ken for your belief, Robin for everything, Paul for many a phone call :-) & Rich G for your invaluable help, don't know what I would have done without you all ! And of course, it goes without saying..my Angel xxx





Chapter 6

"What a year!"

This may sound a little dramatic, but hey I am known for being slightly dramatic at times, and you guys can stop laughing..I know I know, probably too dramatic, but it is my right, after all I am an Artiste !!!!

2008 was an eventful year, probably one of the most eventful of my life !

The year started with a number of trips back and fourth to London, meeting and greeting various musicians and dj's. One particular trip which will stay in my memory forever was when we actually drove into the centre of London, yes drove ! NEVER again ! We were going to Hyde Park Corner to meet our friends at Pizza on the park. I have been driving for nearly 17 years, and I lived in a fairly big city, so I class myself as a pretty confident driver, it took on a whole new meaning when I drove through the streets of London....I mean, who would chose to do that on a daily basis, it is CRAZY. I am proud to say though, I kept my composure, and gave as good as I got to the demon drivers of London ! After a hair raising 2 hours, just to get through the West End, I parked the car opposite the Ritz. I had decided that was a s far as I was going, so we walked the rest of the way. Our good friend was performing a set at a private do, it was cool and we got to sit next to the guy that wrote The Office amongst others..We were staying in London with our friends and they asked if I would mind giving the bass player a lift home, to which I said of course. As it was late at night so we took the "scenic" route, it was a far more pleasant experience than the earlier drive as you can imagine. The bass player introduced himself and told us how he had just completed a session on an album, and when I asked if it was anyone we might know he casually said yes we may know him, I can tell you I nearly freaked out, it was only George Michael !!! I just said "cool" , though in my head I was saying "oh my god, oh my god" ha ha ha. When we turned a corner we were faced with loads of camera's flashing, to which my passengers took no notice as Hugh Grant walked in front of my car to get into his. All in days work I guess !

Due to circumstances beyond my control I found I had to go back to singing solo, doing hotels, clubs and casino's. Initially it was very difficult, as I thought I had said goodbye to solo work, but as most artists will tell you, bands are a labour of love and don't pay the bills unfortunately. I found it just as soul destroying as I had done before, only I found the edge was taken off due to the fact that I has all these other projects going on, and of course the radio shows. You have to do what you have to do, and that is how I treat it. I hadn't realised how badly the non smoking ban had effected the industry, it is really struggling, and work is not as abundant as it was. I focus on it being a temporary measure, until I can earn enough money from doing what I really want to do, or I win the lottery :-)

Around this time, sadly the station we were doing our show on shut down, fortunately an offer to join another station came up. Sometimes things happen which are sad, but something new is always around the corner. A couple of weeks after we joined the new station, we had an offer to join yet another one, this one a Jazz station, so we were soon busy doing 2 shows a week. The new music was pouring in, we are very fortunate I think, we get to hear music that doesn't usually get on mainstream radio. I'm not going to get onto my soapbox about this, but it is a travesty, I don't know who to blame really, the stations who play the crap or the people who tune in to listen to the crap..of course it's not ALL crap that would be unfair, but they certainly overlook the real talent in my opinion. Luckily it seems to be changing because of the Internet. No matter what your taste in music, now you can find it on some station somewhere on the web, which is great ! As a duo we were causing a few laughs, we are very open with our listeners, and some comment on how they love the fact that they feel invited into our world, all be it mad and chaotic ! But that is us, mad as hatters..but the music is always the focuss and we don't mess around when it comes to the playlists. We have made alot of friends through radio, some of our listeners have become personal friends, that is the great thing about music though..the universal language, crossing all barriers, in my opinion the whole world needs to let it in and it would be a better place !!!

During the following months I didn't do much recording, we were literally too busy, but I soon got itchy feet and wanted to get back into the studio. I am a very lucky girl, I have amazing friends who also happen to be very talented. With the help and generosity of my friends I managed to get a new song recorded without a budget. We had great fun recording it, and it came together beautifully. The guys all did their parts separately, then I did my vocals. When we had finished the production we invited all the guys up to listen and have a chat on the show debuting the track. The feedback was brilliant, and the support from various dj's on stations all over was amazing.

In the next chapter I will tell you about the exciting things that happened with the new record, more projects, and moving up the musical food chain so to speak !

Look forward to next time,

Thanks for reading my blog

Love

Claire x

"Crash course in all things music"

Again, thank you for following my blog, and for your comments. I am very happy you continue to read and enjoy !
Welcome to any newcomers, may I suggest you read my previous blogs first to fill you in with the story so far.

In this next chapter I will be telling you about some music projects, the wonders of the "ego" and my accidental fall into Radio presenting.

Chapter 5

"Crash course in all things music"

During my years making music I have worked with a number of musicians and producers, some I connected with and get on very well with and some, well let's just say, sometimes an ego can really get in the way of magic so to speak. In every walk of life a certain amount of confidence is good, but some over step the boundaries of confidence and a huge ego takes over, often meaning they don't achieve their dreams and spend their lives being bitter and wondering why they never got their rightful glory, and hating all those who do achieve success, and often attempt to get in the way of talent and crush it. These days I have learned to identify what kind of producer/musician I am working with much more quickly, whether they are actually interested in what the artist is about and actually listen, or they are more interested in stamping their own mark and making it all about them. It's ok whatever brand they are, I know how much effort to put in and where my place in everything is, but I also know when to walk away. My mum told me that not every opportunity is a good one, but I will say that all of my experiences good and bad have taught me something so nothing is ever a waste of time and to be regretted, however much it might feel that way.

Towards the end of 2007 I was asked if I would like to get involved in a music project by a certain radio Dj who you now all know as my partner in crime on radio Aja :-)

As well as this new project I had actually done a raw recording of one of my Blues tracks, which was receiving some great feedback. I was genuinely surprised at the response as it really couldn't have been more raw, no frills, but people seemed to love it, even got it played on a few FM stations, it even got me a page spread in a Blues mag which was super cool !!

I ended up writing and recording some music with the new project and had a great time, learned ALOT, oh yes, one wonders what drives some people to make insane decisions and terrible judgements..I may be blonde, but I am not stupid. Unfortunately that particular project didn't work out, due to some of the reasons I talked about above.

Time to move on ! That's when I kind of accidentally started getting involved with radio. My partner would disagree I'm sure, but he bullied me into it !!!

You would assume that because I have been performing live on stage for 15 years, I would have no problem talking into a mic, but I can tell you HA..yeah right ! I honestly found it nerve racking, remember I was telling you about the recorded interview I did..well It was as bad as that at first, I would talk at one hundred miles an hour and say UUUmmmmm about a zillion times, and get tongue tied and giggle alot ! I used to cringe listening back, I honestly don't know what used to happen, but my voice would go up in pitch and I would sound like Stacey off Gavin and Stacey. Fortunately it didn't take me long to find me feet and become more comfortable , and before long I was chatting away and we soon became what I would almost describe as a comedy duo !

Over the following months I had what can only be described as a crash course in music history..I still have a long long way to go and alot to hear. But having only ever been exposed to fairly commercial Jazz & Soul I hadn't heard most of what we played on the show, It was fantastic , all this music I hadn't heard before. I remember wondering how on earth you could sub categorise the genres, but I started to understand the different forms and styles. To be honest no one person can ever know everything, there simply aren't enough years in one life, but I enjoy the process.

In the next chapter I will be telling you more about Radio presenting with a move to a new station, joining a second station, and putting together and recording a brand new song.

Thank you for reading my blog, look forward to next time !

Love

Claire x

"Radio Radio Radio"

Hello and welcome to my blog.

Thanks to everyone for following my blog, and for your comments..very happy you are enjoying it and find it helpful.



Chapter 4

"Radio Radio Radio"

After the seriousness of my last blog, I am pleased to say this next chapter is definitely more positive !. I can happily report that not everyone in the music industry is bad. In amongst the good people are some of the radio dj's. Now I say some, because believe me you do get some nasty people and huge huge ego's in radio. Since I began presenting on radio myself, my eyes have been opened to the politics and behind the scene goings on of radio, but I shall leave that for another day.

After all the drama of my record deal saga, I was straight back into the business of promoting myself, I admit I was a little knocked back and my confidence a little dented, but I figured I would put it down to experience, and it most certainly would not happen again !.

I started to reach out to radio stations and dj's on the Internet and contacted so many I genuinely couldn't give you a figure, most did not respond. I did actually expect this, especially from the bigger stations, I realised the emails and correspondence they must receive is overwhelming and they simply didn't have the time or resources to reply, and of course being a realist, I realised that not everyone would dig my music.

Over the following months a few of my records were picked up and included in various podcasts, which in my opinion is a great way to start gaining exposure. I have found that some artists are a bit caught up in the whole money side of things, and want to sell singles. Truthfully I would have to say that unless you are signed to a huge successful label responsible for promoting and selling your music, and you have a massive fan base, when you first start out promoting music, allowing a few songs to be downloaded for free really does help raise your profile, you never know who is listening and where it may end up. One of my early original songs appeared on an American chart in L.A, it got to number 13, I didn't even know how it reached there !

At the end of summer 2007 I was contacted by one of radio dj's I had written to earlier in the year, he had been one of the few dj's that had replied to me when I asked for addresses to send my demo. I was asked if I could do a short recorded interview, just introducing myself and my music etc to be included with some of my songs on his radio show. I remember being very chuffed, excited, and nervous..my first play on Internet radio, on a proper station !. I borrowed an hour in my friends studio to record the interview, and to date it was probably one of the funniest hours of recording I have ever done. I was so nervous, at first a talked so fast I kept running out of breath, which would lead to lots if swearing, with my friend laughing his head off in my headphones which just frustrated me even more ! After about the SIXTH take, I had gone into silly mode to loosen myself up, speaking in a very Welsh accent which made us all crack up, it was around the 10th attempt I eventually got a decent enough recording to send to the station. My friend often jokes about putting all my obscenities on a cd one day for release, he still has it all on his hardrive and often threatens to leek it out.

The evening of the radio broadcast arrived, I had put it out on all my websites, so I knew I had a few friends listening in. Something I regretted after, well just a little bit, I suppose it wasn't that bad. I sat at my computer cringing as I listened to myself talking, and some of the things I said, well if you didn't catch the show I'm not telling you ! I can tell you, even though I was sat alone listening, I went bright red, thankfully I was talking to my friends on line so they couldn't see me dying of embarrassment, but they were all kind enough to say they thought it went well. It's mad to think I was ever that nervous now that I do 2 radio shows a week !

After my radio debut I was lucky enough to start to get more play on radio, and things started to move in the right direction.

In my next chapter I will tell you about some more music projects I got involved in, and my accidental fall into radio presenting.

I hope you have enjoyed my blog, see you next time !

Love

Claire