Claire was born in Wimbledon in 1967. She attended The Doris Holford Stage School until she was fifteen, singing was her strongest passion with dance coming a close second. Claire studied singing with Verona Chard in London and Marilyn Johnson in New York. For two years she worked on the QE2 and Cunard Princess. Aged 21, Claire formed a quartet which featured Jim Mullen on guitar and Jonathon Gee on piano. In 1991 Claire signed to the Linn label.
Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth DBE, (born Clementina Dinah Campbell on October 28, 1927 in Middlesex, England) is a jazz singer and an actor, noted for her scat singing.
She is the only person to have received Grammy nominations in the jazz, popular and classical music awards.
Laine was born in a London suburb to a Jamaican father and English mother who sent her to singing and dancing lessons at an early age. She did not take up singing seriously until her mid-twenties, however.
This is a great 30s-era Jazz band. Listening to this band would be like listening to Al Bowlly singing with Ray Noble and His Orchestra if only high-definition recording equipment had been around 70+ years ago. I've read somewhere that Her Majesty is not displeased whenever she hears the Pasadena Roof Orchestra. The band's website is www.pasadena.co.uk
Jazziz praised Brazilian guitarist Badi Assad (pronounced Bah-Jee Ah-Sahje) as "a virtuoso of the highest order" while Guitar Player pegged her as "fearless!" Wonderland, her second for Deutsche Grammophone is not only an album fantasy and hope; it is also a plea for some sanity in this insane world of ours. The CD touches on many taboo topics including rape, prejudice, child prostitution and loss of cultural identity.
Bruce Joseph Forsyth Johnson CBE (known as Bruce Forsyth, born 22 February 1928) is a British showman and entertainer. He became well-known through the series Sunday Night at the London Palladium, and became a household name in the UK, going on to present television series such as The Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right, The Price Is Right and Strictly Come Dancing.
Frenchy is a Leeds based DJ and one of the residents at the club Back 2 Basics.
Liane Carroll was born in London and raised in Hastings, where she currently lives with her husband, bassist Roger Carey. She started playing the piano at the age of three, under the tutorage of concert pianist Phyllis Catling, but soon developed a deep passion for everything jazz, soul and beyond. Both of her parents were singers and, following their divorce when Liane was six, she stayed with her mother and sister at her grand-parents’ house, where she was lovingly encouraged to carry on making as much of a racket as possible.
Daughter of the legendary jazz musician and composer Sir John Dankworth and International singing star Dame Cleo Laine... just visit her website for a very lengthy and informative biog.
Amos Leon Thomas Jr (born 1937, died May 8, 1999) was an American avant garde jazz singer from East St. Louis, Illinois. He changed his name to Leone in 1974. Thomas is best known for his work with Pharoah Sanders, particularly the 1969 song "The Creator Has a Master Plan" from Sanders' Karma album. Thomas's most distinctive device was that he often broke out into yodeling in the middle of a vocal. This style has influenced singers James Moody and Tim Buckley,among others.