Birmingham soul and jazz singer/songwriter Clare Maguire set for hometown gig
Soul and jazz singer/songwriter Clare Maguire will return to her native Birmingham for a headline gig at the city's Glee Club.
The Solihull-born star, who was rated fifth in the BBC's Sound of 2011, will feature today.
Her voice has been likened to Stevie Nicks and Annie Lennox and her Birmingham gig will feature songs from her second album, Stranger Things Have Happened.
She will also select tunes from her debut, Light After Dark, released in 2011 and which peaked at No 7 on the chart, earning a silver disc.
Maguire had to walk a rocky road to make her new album. Earlier challenges in her career had driven her to drink.
"It got really, really bad," she says. "I'd wake up in the morning and drink two bottles of vodka. I was out of it all the time. I wanted this intense feeling of oblivion. Always, constantly. Like I wanted everything to stop."
In 2012, she realised things had to change. A doctor gave her a few weeks to live and she was packed off to rehab. "My sister had to pack my bags. I guess I was ready. You have to be ready. Everyone I went to rehab with, none of them were ready and a lot of them have died."
