Clare Teal

Last updated

Clare Teal
Born (1973-05-14) 14 May 1973 (age 50)
Kildwick, Yorkshire, England
Genres Jazz, big band, swing
Occupation(s)Singer, broadcaster
Instrument(s)Vocals
Labels Candid, Mud
Website www.clareteal.co.uk

Clare Teal (born 14 May 1973) is an English singer and broadcaster who has become famous not only for her singing, but also for having signed the biggest recording contract by a British jazz singer. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Biography

Teal was brought up in the Kildwick area of Yorkshire. She developed an interest in jazz from an early age, through her father's collection of 78rpm records, becoming "obsessed" with big band singers like Ella Fitzgerald and big bands like Joe Loss. [3] She took music lessons, first on the electronic organ, then more formally on clarinet, before studying music at Wolverhampton University. [4] While at university, Teal found herself without a clarinet for an unexpected examination. Deciding to sing instead, she not only got her "best grades ever", but discovered that she loved singing in public. [4] After graduation, she started a career in advertising, singing in her spare time with amateur and semi-professional bands.

Career

Teal's break came when she was asked to stand in for Stacey Kent at a weekend festival in Llandrindod Wells. This led (after some determined self-promotion, in which she drew upon her advertising skills) to a three-album contract with the jazz label Candid Records. Her popularity soared, with appearances on radio and television bringing her to the attention of a wider public, and in 2004 she released her first album for Sony Jazz in what was the biggest recording deal by any British jazz singer. [2] [3] Don't Talk topped the jazz charts and entered the UK Top 20 UK Albums Chart. [3] [5]

While the majority of her recordings are cover versions of standards, her albums feature original songs and contemporary cover versions, notably a cover of "California Dreaming" by The Mamas & the Papas. This song attracted the attention of BBC Radio presenter Michael Parkinson, garnering significant publicity during her period with Candid Records.

Teal has toured throughout the UK and the world, with her pianist, trio, mini big band, or Hollywood Orchestra. She has worked with the Hallé Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, and the John Wilson Orchestra as well as other top big bands. In August 2017, she produced and presented her third concert for The Proms. Swing No End [6] featured two big bands and many special guests. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3, and televised on BBC Four.

From 2006 to 2013 Teal presented the BBC Radio 2 show, Big Band Special . In 2009 she started presenting her own show on BBC Radio 2. She has appeared as a presenter on Friday Night is Music Night . [7] Since 2 August 2009, she has presented Sunday Night at 10 , took over from Malcolm Laycock. [8] She writes a weekly blog for The Yorkshire Post .

Her final show for BBC Radio 2 was broadcast on Sunday 3 January 2021. [9] From Sunday 24 January 2021 she has joined Jazz FM for a new two-hour swing and big band show. [10]

Teal collaborated with Van Morrison on the single "Carrying a Torch" from his album Duets: Reworking the Catalogue. She was the opening act for Liza Minnelli at Kenwood House and the Royal Festival Hall. She performed at the Glastonbury Festival and the Marlborough Jazz Festival.

Personal life

Teal lives in a village near Bath with her partner Amanda Field. In 2007, she said that, although she had lived in Bath for more than a decade, she still feels like a Northerner, saying she is "never not from Yorkshire". [3]

Awards and honours

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cerys Matthews</span> Welsh singer-songwriter

Cerys Matthews is a Welsh singer, songwriter, author, and broadcaster. She was a founding member of Welsh rock band Catatonia and a leading figure in the "Cool Cymru" movement of the late 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Gazzo</span> Australian television presenter, DJ, television personality, voice artist and journalist

Jane Gazzo is an Australian radio and television presenter, performance and club DJ, television personality, voice artist, author, and music journalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Harrison</span> American jazz saxophonist

Donald Harrison Jr. is an African-American jazz saxophonist and the Big Chief of The Congo Square Nation Afro-New Orleans Cultural Group from New Orleans, Louisiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernestine Anderson</span> American jazz and blues singer

Ernestine Anderson was an American jazz and blues singer. In a career spanning more than six decades, she recorded over 30 albums. She was nominated four times for a Grammy Award. She sang at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Monterey Jazz Festival, as well as at jazz festivals all over the world. In the early 1990s she joined Qwest Records, the label founded by fellow Garfield High School graduate Quincy Jones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jazz FM (UK)</span> Radio station in London

Jazz FM is a radio station broadcasting on digital radio in the United Kingdom and Malta which predominantly plays jazz music, jazz standards as well as blues and soul music. The station, in this incarnation set up by Richard Wheatley, traces its roots back to 102.2 Jazz FM, which first launched in 1990. The current station commenced broadcasting on 6 October 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Big Band</span> Musical artist

The BBC Big Band, originally known as the BBC Radio Big Band is a British big band, previously run under the auspices of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The band broadcasts exclusively on BBC Radio, particularly on BBC Radio 2's long-running series Big Band Special. It consists of professional musicians and is directed by a number of conductors. These include arranger and composer Barry Forgie, who has been the band's Musical Director since 1977, American jazz trombonist Jiggs Whigham, and guest musical directors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benny Bailey</span> American jazz trumpeter

Ernest Harold "Benny" Bailey was an American jazz trumpeter.

Malcolm Richard Laycock was an English radio presenter who hosted jazz, big band, and dance band programmes for BBC Radio 2 and the BBC World Service.

Nigel Stonier is an English rock, roots and pop record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.

Malcolm Edmonstone is a British jazz pianist and pop arranger. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he became Head of Jazz. Edmonstone provided orchestral arrangements for Gary Barlow’s 2020 album Music Played by Humans. He has conducted and arranged for the BBC Concert Orchestra numerous times for BBC Radio 2, featuring vocalists Rick Astley, Katie Melua, Mark King, Ruby Turner, Tommy Blaize, Tony Momrelle and Heather Small. In 2020 he was Music Director at the National Theatre for Tony Kushner’s adaptation of The Visit (play). In 2016 he made his BBC Proms debut, arranging and conducting for Iain Ballamy and Liane Carroll.

Big Band Special was a BBC Radio 2 series which launched in September 1979, as a showcase for the BBC Big Band in session and in concert. Big Band Special was a 30-minute programme broadcast on Monday nights at 9.30pm and presented by Clare Teal since April 2006. Big Band Special was also available to listen to for a further seven days following each broadcast via the BBC iPlayer.

Sunday Night At 10, also known as The Age of Swing, was a weekly hour long programme on BBC Radio 2 in the United Kingdom. Aired on Sunday evenings at 10pm, it featured big band music from the late 1930s and early 1940s through to the present day. Presented by jazz singer Clare Teal it regularly drew a weekly listening audience of 360,000. The programme was subsumed into a two-hour show after its content was merged with that of Big Band Special in September 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juliette Pochin</span>

Juliette Louise B. Pochin is a Welsh classically trained mezzo-soprano singer, composer/arranger, and record producer. She is known not only for her performances in operas and as a classical recitalist but also for her recordings of operatically styled crossover music. Morgan Pochin Music Productions Ltd, the company she formed with her husband James Morgan, is known for its record productions for artists such as Katherine Jenkins and Alfie Boe, as well as its arrangements for film and television scores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Williams (singer)</span> Musical artist

Gary Williams is a British jazz singer, writer, and broadcaster whose performances include concerts, cabaret shows, and theatre. Williams has recorded ten solo albums and written Cabaret Secrets, a book on stagecraft.

Simon Wallace is a British composer and pianist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Stilgoe</span> British singer, pianist and songwriter (born 1979)

Joe Stilgoe is a British singer, pianist and songwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Holder (musician)</span> British musician

Frank Holder was a Guyanese jazz singer and percussionist. He was a member of bands led by Jiver Hutchinson, Johnny Dankworth and Joe Harriott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Pite</span> British musician

Richard Pite is a British professional musician and jazz historian specialising in the jazz of the early 20th Century. He is founder of two music companies - PartyJazz and The Jazz Repertory Company and is also the Director of Music for Boisdale which presents jazz and other live music on a nightly basis at its four London venues. For many years he specialised in 1920s music and the drum techniques and visual tricks of the era's jazz drummers and over the last 12 years has worked together with musical partner Pete Long, to preserve jazz history through live performance. Together they have recreated historic moments from jazz in association with The National Jazz Archive. For the 100th Anniversary of Gene Krupa's birth in 2009, Pite staged the only UK concert celebrating the life and work of the artist who was one of the most important and flamboyant drummers in jazz history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Munro</span> Musical artist

Sarah Munro is an English singer-songwriter from Hertfordshire. Her debut album, Say Hello To You, was released on 14 September 2016. Her debut single 'For Eternity' received airplay across BBC Radio 2, in particular from Michael Ball who described her as, "What a gorgeous voice! I think she's absolutely fabulous – real purity and clarity to her voice".

A timeline of notable events relating to Jazz FM, a radio station in the United Kingdom, and its predecessors 102.2 Jazz FM and 100.4 Jazz FM.

References

  1. ↑ Fordham, John (22 February 2008). "Clare Teal, Get Happy". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
  2. 1 2 "Clare Teal Biography". BBC Radio 2 . Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dodd, Celia (12 May 2007). "Into a new groove". The Times . London. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  4. 1 2 Kasriel, Alex (16 August 2005). "Jazz singer leaves it late". This Is Local London. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  5. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 550. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  6. ↑ "REVIEW/ PHOTOS/ BAND AND SET LISTS: Prom 57 – Swing No End". Londonjazznews.com. 27 August 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  7. ↑ "Clare Teal Biography". BBC Radio 2 . Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 31 May 2007.
  8. ↑ Gammell, Caroline (4 August 2009). "Radio 2 listeners 'appalled' at presenter's sudden departure". London: Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 August 2009.
  9. ↑ "Clare Teal to leave BBC Radio 2 after 15 years".
  10. ↑ "Clare Teal is joining Bauer for new Jazz FM show".
  11. ↑ "Gold Badge Awards in pictures". M Magazine . 26 October 2011. Archived from the original on 20 January 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.