Claire Martin appointed an O.B.E.

We are thrilled to announce that Claire Martin has been appointed an O.B.E. in the Queen's Birthday 2011 Honours List for her services to music.  This is a fantastic honour for Claire, and, as her record label of nearly twenty years, we could not be more proud.  Congratulations Claire!

This honour reflects not only her brilliant recording career but also her dedication to jazz music as a whole.  Claire has been a driving force behind the UK jazz scene for the past 25 years with career highlights including winning six British Jazz Awards, presenting BBC Radio 3's Jazz Line-Up and performing with musical luminaries such as Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, John Martyn and Stephane Grappelli.

Claire is overwhelmed and delighted to be receiving such an honour, saying: "Having dedicated my life to singing and to jazz music, it is a terrific feeling and an honour to gain such public recognition, especially for this wonderful art form, which so often gets overlooked. I wish to thank all the world class musicians who have, over the years, worked with me to create the music of which I am immensely proud. Enormous thanks also to my record label, Linn Records who have afforded me the luxury of total artistic freedom throughout my career. I look forward to more exciting music-making and to keeping the jazz flame burning brightly."

If you want to hear the First Lady of British Jazz for yourself you can enjoy her superb voice on any one of her bestelling albums or, for a more personal experience, catch Claire at one of her many live dates.  Claire is currently performing at The Algonquin, NYC and will be performing throughout the UK and Scandinavia this year.  Claire will make her Royal Albert Hall debut at this year's BBC Proms in September where she will sing with the BBC Big Band.