We’re not even a month in and Claire Richards’ year is already going from strength to strength. Her debut solo album My Wildest Dreams is released in just one week, she performs her favourite track These Wings on Graham Norton’s BBC show tonight and she is announced today as support for Celine Dion’s highly anticipated BST Hyde Park show this Summer.
On hearing tracks from My Wildest Dreams, Celine Dion personally invited Claire to support her show at BST Hyde Park on July 5th. Claire says “I am so excited to perform tracks from my album with my live band. Performing at Hyde Park on the same stage as my idol Celine really is a dream come true”.
Claire is set to release My Wildest Dreams next Friday 1st February via Sony Music. She began working on My Wildest Dreams three years ago, working with some of the world’s top pop songwriters on the album including Steve Anderson (Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue), Richard “Biff” Stannard (Spice Girls, Kylie Minogue), Cutfather (Christina Aguilera, Pussycat Dolls), Anne Preven (Katy Perry, Leona Lewis) and Mat Rad (One Direction, Olly Murs).
Claire is extremely proud that every song on the album is one she’s really connected with.“This album is literally beyond my wildest dreams – it’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was very young, singing at the top of voice along to my favourite artists in the mirror at home. I am so proud of this album – it was important to me that every song tells a story and is filled with real emotion and I think we’ve achieved that.”
Claire is set to perform album track These Wings on Graham Norton’s TV show tonight and comments: “The track I’m most excited about people hearing is called ‘These Wings’. It captures the feeling of being in love so powerfully, it’s got such lush strings and it’s all very dramatic – and everyone knows I love a bit of drama!”
Shame On You is the current single to be taken from My Wildest Dreams and is available to stream / download here. Shame On You is a stylish and contemporary slice of pop, which sees Claire pushing her music into a more anthemic, uptempo-inspired sound and is already playlisted at Radio 2. This, coupled with Claire’s unmistakably powerful vocal, means that Shame On You is the perfect song to have you dancing into 2019. Shame On You was written by Cutfather (Kylie, Little Mix), Chelcee Grimes (Dua Lipa, Olly Murs) and Karen Harding. The accompanying video, directed by Phil Griffin (Amy Winehouse, Annie Lennox, Adele) can be viewed now here.
Claire capped an incredible 2018 with four sold out shows around the UK, finishing at London’s prestigious Union Chapel on 6th December. Claire received several rave reviews and the emotional shows saw a number of standing ovations and calls for more songs. On the tour, Claire performed her first two singles On My Own and End Before We Start, previously unheard album tracks including These Wings and Brave, and brilliant covers of Shawn Mendes’ In My Blood and Ike and Tina Turner’s River Deep Mountain High. She also performed very special versions of Steps classics One For Sorrow and Deeper Shade Of Blue.
