Clare Teal and her Trio come to Durham's Gala Theatre

CLARE TEAL and her Trio have announced a new tour for next year, which includes Durham’s Gala Theatre on Friday, February 14. Clare is one of the UK’s most celebrated and much loved singers, with her stunning voice, encyclopaedic knowledge of jazz, swing and big band music, and her innate warmth and wit, she is a sought after singer throughout the country as well as a prolific recording artist and popular BBC Radio 2 broadcaster.

After signing to independent label Candid in 2001 and releasing 3 acclaimed titles, it was Clare’s first album for Sony Jazz which became her breakthrough record. Released in 2004, ‘Don’t Talk’ topped the Jazz charts and entered the UK Top 20, garnering extraordinary plaudits and several awards. By the middle of this year she will have recorded and released 15 albums to public and critical acclaim, 7 of them on her own label MUD Records.

Clare continues to surge ahead on her mission to bring big band and swing to music lovers everywhere, to demonstrate that this genre is ever evolving and still relevant in todays world. Alongside her own weekly 2 hour live radio show on BBC Radio 2, Clare performs across the length and breadth of the UK, and internationally, with either her Pianist, Trio, Mini Big Band or Hollywood Orchestra (Mini Big Band with Strings), celebrating the singers and songwriters of yesteryear and today alongside her own original material. She also guests with the Hallé, BBC Concert, RTÉ Concert and The John Wilson orchestras as well as other top big bands. In August 2015, in addition to a packed touring schedule, Clare produced and presented her second full scale concert for the Proms Season at the Royal Albert Hall. ‘Story of Swing’ featured two roaring big bands and many special guests it was broadcast on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3 and televised on BBC Four.

Spring 2016 saw the release of her new album, and most ambitious project to date, Twelve O’Clock Tales, recorded with the famed Hallé orchestra launching on April 30th. . To support the release Clare will be touring Twelve O'Clock Tales throughout 2016, conducted and arranged by world-class trumpet and composer Guy Barker. The inaugural concert is at Bridgewater Hall with the Hallé on April 30th 2016.

Other highlights of Clare’s live work include collaborating with Sir Van Morrison on his album ‘Duets: Reworking the Catalogue’ resulting in the A listed Radio single ‘Carrying A Torch’, opening twice for Liza Minnelli at Kenwood House and the Royal Festival Hall, singing with the BBC Big Band at Proms in the Park, headlining the Bourbon Street Tent at Glastonbury Festival, performing regularly at the world renowned Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, storming the Marlborough Jazz Festival and producing, presenting and performing ‘Battle of the Bands Duke Ellington v Count Basie’ for the 2014 Proms Season at the Royal Albert Hall, which was broadcast simultaneously on BBC Radio 2 & 3 and was the most viewed prom of 2014 on BBC Four.

Clare won British Jazz Singer of the year in 2005, 2007 and 2015, and BBC Jazz Singer of the Year in 2006. She was awarded Arts & Entertainment Personality of the Year in 2004 & 2011 Yorkshire Awards, a coveted Gold Badge by BASCA (British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors) in 2011 and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music by the University of Wolverhampton in 2015.

Clare Teal and her Trio, Gala Theatre, Durham, Friday, February 14 2020. For tickets call the Gala box office on 03000 266600 or go to galadurham.co.uk