Claire Hamill
Encyclopedia
Claire Hamill is a British
singer-songwriter
.
.
Her debut album was One House Left Standing
, whose cover photo showed the singer in a backdrop of her home town. Soon afterwards, she went on her first UK tour supporting John Martyn. By 1973, she had toured the United States
with Procol Harum
and Jethro Tull
, and came back to Britain to record her next album October
at Richard Branson
's Manor Studio in Oxfordshire
, the same Manor studio which Mike Oldfield
was using to compose what became Tubular Bells
. She next toured with King Crimson
.
In 1973, she met Ray Davies
of the Kinks
, who signed her to his Konk label for her third album Stage Door Johnnies, an album which included her first covers. She toured America for the second time that year and went on another UK tour supporting Gilbert O'Sullivan
. In addition, she recorded what would be her final album of the 70s and the second one for Konk, titled Abracadabra. In the early 1980s she supported Wishbone Ash
and joined the group for a short while.
Hamill had always been regarded more as an album artist but in 1980 she cut a single called "First Night in New York," which gained favourable reviews. She formed a group, Transporter, which released one now-rare single.
In 1981, she appeared on the Jon and Vangelis
album The Friends of Mr. Cairo
and also sang with British jazz
/funk/fusion group Morrissey-Mullen, appearing on their Life on the Wire
album (1982). In 1983 Hamill recorded a cover of Gene Pitney
's "24 Hours from Tulsa", produced by the American musician Richard Niles
who would later go on to arrange for many heavyweight names such as Paul McCartney
. Another single, "If You Would Only Talk to Me", suffered from a lack of radio exposure.
By the mid 80s, Hamill reinvented herself to embrace New Age
music, which gained her a new audience along with commissions from the BBC
and Channel 4
. Her first album of the 80s, Touchpaper, was followed a year later by the album which pitched her into the realms of true critical acclaim, if not the music charts. The album Voices was all Claire's own work and similar to what would later be recorded by Adiemus
and Enya
. The label Coda was run by her then husband Nick Austin and had many different New Age acts recording for it. Her music was used by the BBC for a programme called "Domesday," and her version of "Jerusalem" was issued as a 12-inch single.
After the next album, Love in the Afternoon, she cut a version of Pachelbel's Canon
in both instrumental and vocal versions, the latter featuring her own words as "Someday We Will All be Together." 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 . The one featuring the instrumental version of Pachelbel's Canon, with scenes of Arctic
penguins, was voted by viewers as the favourite.
In 1992, Hamill went to live in Hastings
, found a new partner in Andrew Warren, and cut a new album called Summer at the end of the decade.
Since then, she has released The Lost & the Lovers and a compilation album. Her song "You Take my Breath Away" from The Lost & the Lovers caught the attention of Eva Cassidy
, whose recording of it was used in a movie soundtrack.
In 2009, she supported John Lees' Barclay James Harvest
on their U.K. tour.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
.
Biography
Claire Hamill was active in the music business since age 17. In 1971, she was launched as one of Britain's first female singer-songwriters and compared by several commentators to Joni MitchellJoni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
.
Her debut album was One House Left Standing
One House Left Standing
One House Left Standing is the first album by English singer-songwriter Claire Hamill, released in 1971.- Track listing :All songs written by Claire Hamill and Mike Coles, except where noted.# "Baseball Blues" – 4:30...
, whose cover photo showed the singer in a backdrop of her home town. Soon afterwards, she went on her first UK tour supporting John Martyn. By 1973, she had toured the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with Procol Harum
Procol Harum
Procol Harum are a British rock band, formed in 1967, which contributed to the development of progressive rock, and by extension, symphonic rock. Their best-known recording is their 1967 single "A Whiter Shade of Pale"...
and Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
, and came back to Britain to record her next album October
October (Claire Hamill album)
October is the second album by English singer-songwriter Claire Hamill, released in 1973. Hamill has identified the subject of the track Speedbreaker as being John Martyn with whom she had a affair.- Track listing :# Island - 3:21...
at Richard Branson
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies....
's Manor Studio in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, the same Manor studio which Mike Oldfield
Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
was using to compose what became Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. It was the first album released by Virgin Records and an early cornerstone of the company's success...
. She next toured with King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
.
In 1973, she met Ray Davies
Ray Davies
Ray Davies, CBE is an English rock musician. He is best known as lead singer and songwriter for the Kinks, which he led with his younger brother, Dave...
of the Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
, who signed her to his Konk label for her third album Stage Door Johnnies, an album which included her first covers. She toured America for the second time that year and went on another UK tour supporting Gilbert O'Sullivan
Gilbert O'Sullivan
Gilbert O'Sullivan is an Irish-English singer-songwriter, best known for his early 1970s hits "Alone Again ", "Clair" and "Get Down". The music magazine, Record Mirror, voted him the No...
. In addition, she recorded what would be her final album of the 70s and the second one for Konk, titled Abracadabra. In the early 1980s she supported Wishbone Ash
Wishbone Ash
Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular records included Wishbone Ash , Argus , There's the Rub , and New England...
and joined the group for a short while.
Hamill had always been regarded more as an album artist but in 1980 she cut a single called "First Night in New York," which gained favourable reviews. She formed a group, Transporter, which released one now-rare single.
In 1981, she appeared on the Jon and Vangelis
Jon and Vangelis
Jon and Vangelis is the collaborative effort between the singer Jon Anderson and the Greek synthesizer musician Evangelos Papathanassiou who is usually known as "Vangelis"...
album The Friends of Mr. Cairo
The Friends of Mr. Cairo
The Friends of Mr Cairo is the second album by Jon and Vangelis.There are two editions of this album, with different sleeves. Both versions were released in 1981 within a few weeks of each other. The title track, "The Friends Of Mr Cairo", peaked at #1 for 5 consecutive weeks on the Canadian...
and also sang with British jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
/funk/fusion group Morrissey-Mullen, appearing on their Life on the Wire
Life on the Wire
Life on the Wire is British jazz fusion duo Morrissey-Mullen's fourth album. It was released in 1982, reaching no. 47 in the UK charts.- Track listing :# "Life on the Wire" # "Takin' Time" # "Face of a Child" # "Come and Get Me"...
album (1982). In 1983 Hamill recorded a cover of Gene Pitney
Gene Pitney
Eugene Francis Alan Pitney, known as Gene Pitney , was an American singer-songwriter, musician and sound engineer. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic and was among the group of early 1960s American acts who continued to enjoy hits after the...
's "24 Hours from Tulsa", produced by the American musician Richard Niles
Richard Niles
Richard Niles is an American composer, arranger, producer, guitarist, broadcaster and journalist. He has lived in London since 1975. Because of his extensive work across many genres Sound on Sound magazine referred to him as "one of the most versatile men in modern music".-Early years:Niles was...
who would later go on to arrange for many heavyweight names such as Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
. Another single, "If You Would Only Talk to Me", suffered from a lack of radio exposure.
By the mid 80s, Hamill reinvented herself to embrace New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
music, which gained her a new audience along with commissions from the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
. Her first album of the 80s, Touchpaper, was followed a year later by the album which pitched her into the realms of true critical acclaim, if not the music charts. The album Voices was all Claire's own work and similar to what would later be recorded by Adiemus
Adiemus
-Concept:Each Adiemus album is a collection of song-length pieces featuring harmonised vocal melody against an orchestral background. There are no lyrics as such: instead the vocalists sing syllables and 'words' invented by Jenkins...
and Enya
Enya
Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...
. The label Coda was run by her then husband Nick Austin and had many different New Age acts recording for it. Her music was used by the BBC for a programme called "Domesday," and her version of "Jerusalem" was issued as a 12-inch single.
After the next album, Love in the Afternoon, she cut a version of Pachelbel's Canon
Canon in D
Pachelbel's Canon is the most famous piece of music by German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel. It was originally scored for three violins and basso continuo and paired with a gigue in the same key. Like most other works by Pachelbel and other pre-1700 composers, the Canon remained forgotten for...
in both instrumental and vocal versions, the latter featuring her own words as "Someday We Will All be Together." Both this and the Voices album were used extensively by Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
for a series of music videos collectively titled 'The Art of Landscape' and shown every morning in the early 1990s . The one featuring the instrumental version of Pachelbel's Canon, with scenes of Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
penguins, was voted by viewers as the favourite.
In 1992, Hamill went to live in Hastings
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
, found a new partner in Andrew Warren, and cut a new album called Summer at the end of the decade.
Since then, she has released The Lost & the Lovers and a compilation album. Her song "You Take my Breath Away" from The Lost & the Lovers caught the attention of Eva Cassidy
Eva Cassidy
Eva Marie Cassidy was an American vocalist known for her interpretations of jazz, blues, folk, gospel, country and pop classics. In 1992 she released her first album, The Other Side, a set of duets with go-go musician Chuck Brown, followed by a live solo album, Live at Blues Alley in 1996...
, whose recording of it was used in a movie soundtrack.
In 2009, she supported John Lees' Barclay James Harvest
Barclay James Harvest
Barclay James Harvest are an English progressive rock band. They were founded in Saddleworth, Lancashire, in September 1966 by John Lees, Les Holroyd, Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme , and Mel Pritchard .-History:...
on their U.K. tour.
Discography
- 1971 : One House Left StandingOne House Left StandingOne House Left Standing is the first album by English singer-songwriter Claire Hamill, released in 1971.- Track listing :All songs written by Claire Hamill and Mike Coles, except where noted.# "Baseball Blues" – 4:30...
- 1973 : OctoberOctober (Claire Hamill album)October is the second album by English singer-songwriter Claire Hamill, released in 1973. Hamill has identified the subject of the track Speedbreaker as being John Martyn with whom she had a affair.- Track listing :# Island - 3:21...
- 1974 : Stage Door JohnniesStage Door Johnnies (album)Stage Door Johnnies is the third album by English singer-songwriter Claire Hamill, released in 1974.- Track listing :# We Gotta Get out of This Place - 3:20# Oh Daddy - 3:44...
- 1975 : AbracadabraAbracadabra (Claire Hamill album)Abracadabra is the fourth album by English singer-songwriter Claire Hamill, released in 1975.- Track listing :# Rory - 2:50# Forbidden Fruit - 3:00# One Sunday Morning - 3:30# I Love You So - 3:16# For Sailors - 4:22# Jamaica - 2:14...
- 1984 : TouchpaperTouchpaperTouchpaper is the fifth album by English singer-songwriter Claire Hamill, released in 1984.- Track listing :All songs written by Hamill.# The Moon Is a Powerful Lover - 5:04# Denmark - 3:25# Fools in a Storm - 3:47# First Night in New York - 4:26...
- 1986 : VoicesVoices (Claire Hamill album)Voices is the sixth album by English singer-songwriter Claire Hamill, released in 1986.- Track listing :All songs written by Hamill.# Awaken...Larkrise - 4:01# Tides - 4:37# Moss - 3:10# Afternoon in a Wheatfield - 5:11# Stars - 3:02...
- 1988 : Love in the Afternoon
- 1997 : Summer
- 2004 : The Lost & the Lovers
- 2007 : The Minor Fall the Major Lift: the Best of Josephine Claire Hamill