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Critically acclaimed British singer-songwriter Claire Hamill has joined forces with Sonny Flint on drums, Renzi Lowend on bass, and Sean Elliott on electric guitar to record an album of original songs written by Claire for release in summer 2025.
They are now ready to take the band on the road to showcase the new material, and to play songs from Claire’s vast back catalogue.
Originally from Middlesbrough, Claire got her first record contract with Island in 1971, when she was just 17 years old, and headed off to London to pursue a career in music.
She recorded two albums for Island, ‘One House left Standing’ (1971) and ‘October’ (1972), and then toured the USA and Europe promoting them and appeared on 'The Old Grey Whistle Test', before leaving to join the Kinks’ label, Konk.
Ray Davies produced her third album, ‘Stage Door Johnnies’ (1974), with Claire returning to the U.S. to promote the album, and then bringing back her American band to record her next album for Konk, Abracadabra (1975), which she produced herself at the age of 21.
While critics loved her, chart success eluded her, but this brought with it the freedom to plow her own furrow, experimenting and exploring her own musical worlds and leading to collaborations with other bands and musicians, who recognised her huge talent and appreciated her musical ideas.
One of the bands she worked with was Wishbone Ash - initially brought in as a backing singer, she ended up co-writing one of their most atmospheric rock anthems, 'Living Proof' together with guitarist Laurie Wisefield. The song remains a firm crowd favourite to this day. She also joined Wishbone Ash on one of their American tours.
She worked with Steve Howe on his second solo album in 1979, with Vangelis in 1981 and with the Jazz Fusion band Morrisey-Mullen in 1982 to name a few others.
By the mid-80s she was ready with her next album, ‘Touchpaper’(1984), a transitional recording, exploring the world of synthesisers.
Claire then relocated to East Sussex, and recorded her most successful album to date - ‘Voices' (1986). The album was considered groundbreaking and garnered critical acclaim as well as a no.1 spot in the NEW AGE charts. The BBC used the music in their popular history series 'The Domesday Book.
Inspired by the beautiful Sussex countryside, she released another transitional album, but one which brought her back to more traditional song writing styles, ’Love in the Afternoon’ (1988).
Both this and the Voices album were used extensively by Channel 4 for a series of music videos collectively titled The Art of Landscape and shown every morning in the early 1990s.
It would seem that Claire had now found her niche, a songwriter who blended an English rock anthem style with a pastoral, dreamy, New Age sensitivity.
While music remained a constant, she took a recording break to bring up her daughters and re-entered the stage in 1997, embarking on another musical journey, which lead her into electro pop and the album ‘Summer’ with Andrew Warren.
Next Claire released her back catalogue through ‘Voiceprint Records’, before learning in 2004 that Eva Cassidy had covered and recorded Claire’s original song ‘You Take My Breath Away’ from Stage Door Johnnies. The song was to become a huge hit for Eva Cassidy, gathering over 4.3 million views on YouTube to date, and still her 9th most played video.
Suddenly Claire’s career was revived again and she went on to release ‘The Lost and the Lovers’ (2004) before signing with Esoteric to release her first compilation, ‘The Minor Fall the Major Lift.’ (2007).
She toured with John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest as support in 2009.
Since 2012 Claire has been steadily releasing albums of original material, ‘The Meeting of Waters’ (2012), ‘When Daylight Arrives’ (2015), ‘Over Dark Apples’ (2019), ‘A Pocket Full of Love Songs’ (2022).
Claire’s also been a member of the Yes tribute band ‘Fragile’ as lead vocalist. The band released the album ‘Beyond’ in 2021, and there’s news of another album now underway to which Claire is again contributing.
In reference to her prog credentials, Prog magazine suggested in 2018 that Claire probably qualified more than most to call herself “an ideal candidate for Prog’s Outer Limits” having worked and toured with the “likes of Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Yes and Wishbone Ash.”
In the here and now of 2025 Claire is extremely excited to being back on the road with a group of outstanding musicians, recording new songs and bringing back old ones.
A great new musical adventure lies ahead and the band are keen to entertain live audiences across the UK.
Thank you for your interest in Claire’s music. Hopefully we’ll see you on the road.
More info here:
https://www.facebook.com/ClaireHamillMusic
https://clairehamill.co.uk/
https://www.youtube.com/@clairehamill
https://clairehamill.bandcamp.com
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Wrecking Ball Arts Centre, Llandudno, United Kingdom
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