Clare Maguire has been announced as 5th place in the Sound of 2011.
This Birmingham chanteuse has kept her early fans waiting patiently before stepping into the limelight. Signed two years ago after a stream of impressive online demos, the singer has been hidden away since 2008 working on debut album Light After Dark.
Maguire has dreamt of a career in music since the age of seven. It wasn't until a teacher encouraged her to give up the dream at 17 that the Sister Rosetta Tharpe influenced singer found the motivation to quit school and go after her goals full-time. Demos on MySpace and Last FM soon showcased Maguire's impressive voice to a host of enthusiastic labels, and the Midlands girl flew stateside for meetings with Rick Rubin and shots with Jay-Z before finally settling on a deal with Universal.
The label carefully managed the hype around their new starlet, hiding Maguire away with Cee-Lo, Kylie and Adele producer Fraser T. Smith to work on Light After Dark. Recent months have seen the singer emerge from this process, touring with Sound of 2006 singer Plan B and Sound of 2010 group Hurts on the eve of her debut single release Ain't Nobody. 2011 is sure to be a momentous year for the 22 year old.
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Warpaint formed in 2011 and released various singles and e.p.'s in 2009 and their debut LP in 2010. How are they the sound of 2011? Surprised Killing Joke didn't get a nomination based on that logic...
As with Everything Everything last year, nominees have been around for a few years. Esben & the Witch released singles in 2009 and 2010 - so is their inclusion just marketing as they have a long-player out soon?
I dislike this award as it just seems to be another form of marketing by the industry and compliant journalists/DJ's who are one step from working in p.r...
Whether the artists are any good is a different question - previous winners being Ellie Goulding, Little Boots, Corrine Bailey Rae indicate that is not very likely. I find it hilarious that everyone is told what the Sound of 2011 will be and goes out and compliantly buys what is cool.
I can let you know the Sound of 2011 - in December of this year at the following location:
http://www.flashlightmusic.co.uk/editorial/article/flashlight-best-albums-of-2010-30-to-21.html
But what do I know ? - I only spend thousands a year on albums...
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& when were the killers of Top of the Pops - Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates ever "music critics"?
Good to see Paul Lester nominated Esben and the Witch...who he wrote about in the Guardian in 2009 !!
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this is a great list, however the sound of 2011 must include Simon Williams, the 20 year old from London.
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I was partial to a bit of Simple Minds and that's exactly what the above track reminds me of…However it's the late 80s version SM. Not bad though.
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Just working my way through the list (4 down) and so far this is the only artist that has caught my eye. I don't think the music is entirely new or out of the world original, but I have played this tune twice now - and will probably give it another spin.
I am going to keep tabs on Clare and will be interested to hear the album.
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luvin clare maquire,already preordered the album from amazon :-)
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