Clare Teal

Clare Teal (born 14 May 1973, Kildwick, Yorkshire) is an English jazz singer who has become famous not only for her singing, but also for having signed the biggest ever recording contract by a British jazz singer.

Biography

Teal was brought up in the Kildwick area of Yorkshire. She developed an interest in jazz from an early age, through her father's collection of 78rpm records, becoming "obsessed" with big band singers like Ella Fitzgerald and big bands like Joe Loss. She took music lessons (first on the electronic organ, then more formally on clarinet), before going to study music at Wolverhampton University.

While at university, Teal found herself without a clarinet for an unexpected examination. Deciding to sing instead, she not only got her "best grades ever", but discovered that she loved singing in public. After graduation, she started a career in advertising, singing in her spare time with various amateur and semi-professional bands.

Personal life

In a 2007 article which appeared in The Times, Teal stated that she had recently lost about three stone (19 kilograms) in weight after discovering that she is affected by Polycystic ovary syndrome. She considers herself lucky because her record company Sony never asked her to lose weight. She says

Van Morrison

Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison, OBE (born 31 August 1945) is a British singer, songwriter and musician. He has received six Grammy Awards, the 1994 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, and has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2016 he was knighted for his musical achievements and his services to tourism and charitable causes in Northern Ireland.

Known as "Van the Man" to his fans, Morrison started his professional career when, as a teenager in the late 1950s, he played a variety of instruments including guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for various Irish showbands covering the popular hits of the day. He rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish R&B band Them, with whom he recorded the garage band classic "Gloria". His solo career began under the pop-hit oriented guidance of Bert Berns with the release of the hit single "Brown Eyed Girl" in 1967. After Berns' death, Warner Bros. Records bought out his contract and allowed him three sessions to record Astral Weeks (1968). Even though this album would gradually garner high praise, it was initially a poor seller; Moondance (1970), however, established Morrison as a major artist, and he built on his reputation throughout the 1970s with a series of acclaimed albums and live performances. Morrison continues to record and tour, producing albums and live performances that sell well and are generally warmly received, sometimes collaborating with other artists, such as Georgie Fame and the Chieftains. In 2008 he performed Astral Weeks live for the first time since 1968.