Clare Maguire

Clare Maguire is a singer songwriter, 22 years old. This big-voiced belter from Birmingham doesn't need X Factor to get her talent heard. Brought up in the surroundings of a musical family in Birmingham, she began singing and writing music from the age of 7. But it wasn't until seventeen when she reached the most crucial point in her journey. After countless trips to London the breakthrough came. After posting demos on MySpace she began being courted by a host of major labels who battled for her signature. It led to some pretty "crazy stories". Like the time she went to Rick Rubin's studio, met the producer and listened to a set of unreleased Johnny Cash demos.Or when she was invited to Jay-Z's restaurant to down shots with the world's richest rapper."I wasn't thinking about it whilst I was doing it - I was just doing it. Now I look back and think, 'That's actually mental'" she laughs."I said to him, 'How can you tell if somebody is a star'. And he said he can see it in their eyes. I said, 'Can you see it in my eyes?'" Eventually she did sign. For the past year she's been in the studio with young UK producer Fraser T. Smith completing her debut album, Light After Dark, set for release in February 2011. In her words an album of "big sounds" and "epic production". "I've been waiting 22 years to do something - you've got to make sure it's right," she smiles. She has been touring with Hurts, and Plan B. "I'm extremely passionate but my main ambition is for people to believe in what I'm doing," says Maguire, signing off. "That's what this whole thing is. I want to create something which people genuinely understand."