"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