Claire Martin
Biography Claire Martin
Claire Martin
has established herself as a tour de force on the UK jazz scene. She has enjoyed worldwide critical acclaim and gained many honours, including eight British Jazz Awards, during a career of over three decades. In 2018 she was the proud recipient of the BASCA Gold Badge Award for her contribution to jazz and was voted Jazz Vocalist of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards in 2022. Claire became a professional singer at nineteen and signed to the prestigious Glasgow based Linn Records in 1990, Claire has since released twenty albums with the label, collaborating with musical luminaries including Martin Taylor, John Martyn, Stéphane Grappelli, Kenny Barron, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett and Jim Mullen on many of these recordings. She has also recorded three albums for the Copenhagen-based Stunt Records, including the highly praised ‘Songs & Stories’ album with Callum Au in 2020. Claire has performed worldwide with her trio and, until his death in 2012, worked extensively with the celebrated composer and pianist Sir Richard Rodney Bennett in a cabaret duo setting both in England and the US where they played to sell-out houses at venues. Claire has appeared as a featured soloist with the Hallé, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the BBC Big Band and the BBC Concert Orchestra. She co-presented BBC Radio 3’s flagship jazz program ‘Jazz Line-Up’ from 2000 to 2017 and interviewed many of her musical heroes, including Pat Metheny and the late Michael Brecker. At the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2011 Claire was delighted to be awarded an OBE for services to Jazz.
