Clare Maguire

Clare Maguire (born 15.9.1987)
Clare Maguire is an English singer and songwriter. She signed to the Universal Music Group Polydor Records label in 2008 and in 2011, she was shortlisted in the BBC's annual 'Sound of' poll, which was eventually won by Jessie J. Vocally, she is occasionally compared to Stevie Nicks (of Fleetwood Mac) and Annie Lennox (of Eurythmics).

Early career: Clare Maguire started travelling to London at the age of 17, in order to forge relationships in the record industry. She also started posting songs on her MySpace page. The most popular of these tracks was 'Strangest Thing', recorded with Joe Flory (Primary1), which had soon received over 500,000 plays.

As a result of this popularity, she received interest from a number of major record labels. She was even invited to Jay Z's restaurant to meet him. Additionally, Jarvis Cocker was interested in her music and offered her one of his songs. Eventually, she signed to Polydor and spent the next few years working on her debut album.

The album, released in 2011, is entitled Light After Dark. It was produced by Fraser T. Smith, who has also worked with Adele and Kylie Minogue.

Childhood: Clare Maguire was born in Solihull and is part of a large musical family. Her parents are Caroline and Francis Maguire Sr.

As a child and developing musician, Clare listened to Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Johnny Cash and Prince.

Beginnings of Success: Clare Maguire embarked on a concert tour in 2010, supporting Plan B and Hurts. She also wrote a song with Mike Skinner of The Streets, named 'Lock the Locks'. The song will feature on the final Streets album, Computers and Blues. She also features on the track 'Midnight Caller' by Chase and Status.

On 18th October 2010, Clare Maguire's debut single, 'Ain't Nobody' was released in the UK. Another track, 'You're Electric' was selected as iTunes' 'Single of the Week'.

Towards the end of 2010, Clare Maguire was included in the BBC's end of year poll, along with other acts, including Jessie J, Anna Calvi, Esben and the Witch, James Blake and Jamie Woon.

On New Year's Eve, another of Maguire's tracks, 'Lucky', was released as a free download on Amazon. It was not included on the tracklisting for the album, though. It was confirmed, soon after, on Huw Stephens' BBC Radio 1 show, that the second single would be 'The Last Dance'.