Biography

Raised in the wilds of East Anglia by a Lebanese father, Clara enjoyed a culturally diverse upbringing mixed with an odd range of Middle Eastern, West African and European influences. Household musical favourites included such classics as The Beatles, Dylan, Mahler, Dire Straits and Fleetwood Mac. However, Clara’s personal influences also stretched to a wide plethora of artists discovered at the various stages of her life – from French artists such as Francis Cabrel, Mylene Farmer and Particia Kaas to rock, grunge and metal bands such as Megadeth, Tool, The Lemonheads, Fu Manchu and Nirvana; then on to singer/songwriters like Tori Amos, Heather Nova, Paula Cole and Suzanne Vega.

In the beginning...

From the age of 7 Clara played a variety of musical instruments - piano, violin, organ, flute - before eventually managing to pester her father to get her an electric guitar at 13. After learning a few AC/DC riffs she quickly gave up covering other people's music in favour of writing her own songs. Never much of a singer at school though, Clara stuck to composing songs in the safety of her own room, choosing publicly to compose for others and only play the guitar with friends and at smaller local competitions.

In the summer of 1997, shortly before heading out to University, Clara decided to accept a series of singing lessons from an old family friend and experienced live singer. These lessons, followed by 3 years of a physics degree - screaming at really hard maths - enabled Clara to at last discover her own voice.

Establishing a reputation

In 2001, after returning to Cambridge, Clara signed up for the singer/songwriter night at well known local venue The Boat Race and performed a full set of her own material. It was an amazing success and she was quickly introduced to the Cambridge music scene, to be taken under the wings of experienced local musicians including Rob W Jackson (Boo Hewerdine, The Broken Family Band) and Sam Inglis (Sound On Sound magazine, The Morning People). Following excited reviews, gig requests came in thick and fast. A heavy ‘day job’ workload forced her to keep a low profile however and she only committed to select local sets, playing most often at Cambridge favourites The Boat Race, Portland Arms, CB2 and annual festival The Strawberry Fair.

In 2003 Clara was asked to sing with local band Wild Hope. She accepted happily, taking the opportunity to continue writing and also to experience working with other musicians and performers. Together, the band recorded two EPs, performed at concerts across the region and played live on BBC Radio.

However, early in 2006 the desire to get back to solo work and song writing became overwhelming and Clara finally decided to step back into the singer/songwriter arena, making music her full time focus. Recording a 5 track demo EP called ‘In Delirium’, she began performing gigs regularly again across the Cambridgeshire region and making connections with other musicians.