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| Clare Teal & Peter Grant to perform together Two of Yorkshire's most successful jazz singers are to make a special concert appearance together on Sunday 18th June. Award winning artist Clare Teal has invited newcomer Peter Grant, whose debut album "New Vintage" shot straight into the National charts at No.8, to join her for her performance at The Grand Opera House in York. The two artists met while recording a special "Friday Night Is Music Night" for BBC Radio 2 at Cheltenham Jazz Festival and struck up a real friendship. After chatting for a while Clare invited Peter to sing with her in York and he returned the offer by asking her to sing with him at his show in Leeds on June 8th. "Peter has the most amazing voice and he's such a lovely guy, we got on immediately and as we are both from Yorkshire it seemed only right that we should do something together for the show in York. We didn't get to sing together for "Friday Night Is Music Night" so I'm really looking forward to working out some duets for us to sing." Clare Teal Clare Teal is without doubt the most successful young female jazz singer in the UK today. She signed to Sony/BMG in 2004 with a deal that broke records for a UK jazz singer, the talented singer and songwriter is poised to become a household name around the World as presenter of BBC Radio 2's "Big Band Special". She has appeared on the Parkinson TV show twice and is regularly featured on his Sunday Radio show as well as other TV appearances like "Des & Mel", "Breakfast TV", "The South Bank Show" and "ITV Christmas Mania". Her album "Don't Talk" was named "Album Of The Year" by Michael Parkinson and won her the title of "Best Vocalist" at the British Jazz Awards. Her live shows, with an all-star band, are a wonderful blend of songs and light comedy. Inspired by his dad, an old-school tenor of some repute, Peter Grant was grafting away at his keyboard at an age when most boys were busy breaking Nintendos; hanging out at smoky jazz clubs near his native Guisley (a small town in Yorkshire), while his classmates were still trying to get into pubs. Watching his dad, who had to take on another job, Peter realised from an early age just how hard it was to make a living out of music, but this just made him more focussed. All his spare time went into following his dreams and this soon even spilled over into his daytime. Smart as a tack but with a passion for music rather than academia, which his parents and his teachers eventually fully understood (well, when you have a special talent like this, maths homework does seem to slip down the list of priorities somewhat), Peter was touring the nation by the age of 14, desperate to play to anyone who would listen. He decided that he would risk it all to be able to do what he loved. Armed with a single GCSE – A* in music! - and a voice that just kept developing and gradually became this unique gift, he secured a record deal and was soon working in the studio while his mates were signing on to sixth-form colleges. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |