A Brief History:

Claire was born in the North of England near Middlesbrough,the eldest of seven children. Her parents split up when she was 12 and she went to live in the village of her birth to be near her grandparents. It was around that time that she learned to play guitar and write songs.

Some years later she met John McCoy a local club owner and musician who brought her to the attention of Chris Blackwell the Island Records Supremo. He signed Claire and her first album 'One House Left Standing' became one of the first ever recorded by a British female singer-songwriter. Claire went on to record one more album with Island 'October' and tour America and Canada with Jethro Tull and Procul Harum before leaving them to sign with Ray Davies's label Konk.

Ray produced one of Claire's most memorable albums 'Stage Door Johnnies'. It represented a new direction for Claire with a much more 'rocky' feel. Claire attributes this to her experiences on the road listening to and supporting rock bands, rather than touring in folk clubs and being exposed to a much more traditional folk sound. After touring the U.S. to promote 'Stage Door Johnnies' she returned with her American band to record and produce her 4th album 'Abracadabra'.

It was the 70's and the political climate was changing. Punk music was changing the music scene dramatically for all established musicians, many of whom de-camped to the States to weather out the seachange sweeping the UK music industry.

A couple of fallow years followed before Claire teamed up with Wishbone Ash to sing and write. One collaboration of this time is the classic Ash track 'Living Proof', co-written with Laurie Wisefield.

In 1980 Claire married rock industry MD Nick Austin who, with Martin Mills started the Indie label Beggars Banquet. Claire found it very interesting to see the other side of the industry and learned how some artists are perceived by their labels. She released a couple of singles 'First Night in New York' and '24 hours from Tulsa' but even though they were acclaimed critically she failed to capture the imagination of the British public.

For the next few years Claire continued to write, record and bring up her family of three daughters as well as make a hugely influential album, 'Voices', which spawned many soundalikes and an interest in the voice as an instrument. When 'Voices' was used in a documentary about the Doomsday Book the BBC was overwhelmed with requests for information on her. It remains one of Claire's most successful albums.

'Love in the Afternoon',released in 1990 and her seventh album, was a mixture of songs and instrumentals with a pastoral feel and was inspired by her life in the Sussex countryside. However her main focus throughout this time was her family.

In 1992 sadly Claire's marriage broke down and she separated from Nick, going to live in the nearby town of Hastings. She continues to have a good relationship with Nick and sought to give the children as much stability as possible, deciding to stay nearby so that he could see the children on an equal basis with her.

After about a year she met local musician and producer Andrew Warren. Andrew encouraged her to experiment with dance music and they produced an album together called 'Summer'.

In 2003 Claire was amazed to find out that one of her songs had been recorded by the late and much acclaimed singer Eva Cassidy. It was released on Eva's posthumous album 'American Tune' and went to Number 1. It provided Claire with a much needed boost to her career and the encouragement she needed to finish the album she'd been working on. That was released in 2005 and is entitled 'The lost and the Lovers'. Almost immediately she went back into the studio to record an E.P. with poet Brian Heyhurst. It's entitled 'When are Wars Won'.

Claire plans to begin work later this year on her new album....