Clare uses her platform to bring awareness on all mental health matters while being a spiritual and physical advocate too. Having faced a lot of adversities in her own life, Clare feels it’s her duty to give back to her listeners and be real, raw and honest to help de-stigmatize the conversations around mental health including addiction, suicide, anxiety, depression and many more problems our world is facing. Her latest EP ”MERCY”, released September 2022 does exactly just this. Clare exclaims ‘If I can leave this world a little better off than when I entered, I’ll know I fulfilled my life’s purpose. I just want to be a voice for those who feel they can’t express themselves or are too afraid to speak up, and be a vessel of inspiration, hope, love, truth and faith for those around me so that nobody ever feels like they are in this alone’,
Clare is very thankful and proud of restoring her relationship with Jesus (2020) and stepped into writing faith based songs as part of her new journey and is also on a mission to show that her outer appearance does not reflect what’s on the inside. ‘I want people to get to know me and spend a few moments in my presence before judgement is passed but I know GOD uses me as an example and I am fine with surprising people’.
Clare has worked alongside non profit organizations ‘The Nantucket Project’ and ‘The Volunteers of America’ and has helped many charities to help those in need.
Having toured all over the world, Clare now resides in Music City – Nashville TN, USA.
Dubbed as having a vocal register similar to Adele (GAFFA) and for having a ‘Powerful and killer voice’ from Lzzy Hale (Halestorm) and Phil Campbell (Motörhead) it’s no wonder Clare Cunningham is making waves across the world with her music.
Steve Cropper (Blues Brothers) who featured on guitar on Clare’s single ‘Heart of Mine’ (2020) and who co-produced the vocals on ‘Éireann i mo chroí’ (On her EP ‘Dear Ireland’ 2021) has said ‘ Clare has such a tremendous voice. She makes me want to play because she sings with passion and feeling.’
Cunningham, was raised in Collon, Co. Louth, (the smallest village in Ireland) and her love of music showed early on. At 6 years of age her first instrument was the keys and by the time she was 8 she was already playing Mozart. She self taught guitar at 16. This was the start of her budding song-writing career. She was highly praised by Irelands own singer songwriter ‘Juliet Turner’ and spent a week at a song-writing camp hosted by Turner. She saw the natural talent Cunningham possessed for writing and told her this was most definitely the path she needed to embark on.
Cunningham took Turner’s advice and moved to Dublin after high school at age 18, where she secured a national diploma in Popular Music performance and technology.
With this at hand she then headed overseas and studied at the ‘London College of music’ (Vocal Tech) where Cunningham had her first TV appearance on ‘Sky TV’ singing one of her own penned songs.
Graduating with a BA Hon’s Degree in Music Performance and Technology, Cunningham then moved to Cardiff, Wales, UK, where she started up her own business and become a professional musician, running and being part of a full time function/corporate/originals band, called ‘Smokin Aces’. They were extremely popular all across the country playing between 350-395 shows per year.
Clare and guitarist Jamie Hiscox created a duo from the band and it was after Cunningham’s decision to put up some acoustic material onto YouTube which changed her life overnight. A phone call from Stockholm, Sweden landed her the position of lead singer for the very successful Swedish all female rock quintet ‘Thundermother’. Cunningham received the phone call, from the band’s founder, asking if she would be willing to take on the role as lead singer in the band, exclaiming her ‘whiskey voice’ was perfect for the band. With an offer Cunningham couldn’t refuse – to open up for ‘Motorhead’ at ‘Metaltown festival’, Sweden, Clare was on a flight to Sweden in less than 4 weeks. Life as she knew it would drastically change. After appearing on prime TV in Sweden that night, the band gained popularity and were head-hunted by ‘Warner Music’ boss who gave them a record deal they couldn’t refuse. Clare moved full time to Sweden in 2013.
The five hard-core rock chicks had major success in the rock charts with their first album ‘Rock n Roll Disaster.’ The band left their label and signed ‘Despotz Records’ for their second album ‘Road Fever’ gaining support from artists such as ‘Mötorhead (Lemmy would play their albums on his tour bus!) Airbourne, D.A.D, Zakk Wylde, Halestorm, Michael Monroe, In Flames, Opeth, Danko Jones and many more, touring all over Europe and playing some of the biggest European festivals including ‘Sweden Rock Festival’, ‘Bravalla’, ‘Alcatraz’, ‘Getaway Rock Festival’ ‘Barcelona rock Fest’ and many more.
Cunningham departed Thundermother in January 2017. With her self titled EP (2016) already gaining attraction from some industry folk, her solo career really kicked off after her move to the USA. After securing an 0-1 visa Clare made the move in 2018. She recorded her first project at iconic RCA studios, with her team ‘Eddie & Justy Productions’ on Music Row (Nashville) The band on the recording consist of Audley Freed on Guitar (Sheryl Crowe, Dixie Chicks, Black Crowe’s, Joe Perry) Steve Mackey on bass (Garth Brooke’s, Dolly Parton) and Jared Kneele on drums (Lauren Daigle, Kacey Musgraves)
She is now on her second 01-visa and has been having an amazing response so far, having played at ‘The Nantucket Project’ (2018) and at world renowned ‘Sundance film Festival’ (2019) and a host of other major festivals. She’s also had a song placement in a Lionsgate movie (‘Bernie the Dolphin 2’) Her second EP, ‘DEAR IRELAND’ is a fantastic showcase of Clare’s Celtic roots and culture showcasing her unwavering honesty and songwriting skills. She has been receiving support globally and has been getting worldwide radio play helping her make a lasting impression on those listening. And most recently she stars in the new Garth Brooks documentary ”GARTH BROOKS : COMING HOME” – An exploration of the life of the country music star, looking at his biggest songs, the relationships that have influenced his career and his love-affair with Ireland.
To date, Clare’s achievements include :
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‘ARTIST OF THE YEAR’ – Multi-Genre (Josie Music Awards 2022)
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‘Songwriter Achievement’ – “This is Me” (Josie Music Awards 2022)
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5 time nominee (Josie Music Awards 2022)
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Best Music Video ‘Angel of the Emerald Isle’ (World Songwriting Awards, Spring 2022)
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‘Best Pop Song’ – ‘I Swear’ (World Songwriting Awards, Summer 2022)
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Winner (Honorable mention) – “Angel of the Emerald Isle” (Unsigned Only’ music competition 2022)
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Finalist- “Angel of the Emerald Isle” (Unsigned Only’ music competition 2022)
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Semi finalist – “Angel of the Emerald Isle” (Unsigned Only’ music competition 2022)
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Semi finalist – “I Swear” (Unsigned Only’ music competition 2022)
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‘SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR’ – GOLD (International singer songwriters Association 2021)
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‘VOCALIST OF THE YEAR’- Multi-Genre (Josie Music Awards 2021)
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Pop/Contemporary Song of the year – ‘Heart of Mine’ (Josie Music Awards 2021)
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Songwriter achievement for an unreleased song – ‘I swear’ (Josie Music Awards 2021)
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2nd place (Performance category) – Angel of the Emerald Isle” (International songwriting competition 2021)
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Honourable mention – ‘Clovers’ (International songwriting competition 2021)
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Semi finalist – “Angel of the Emerald Isle” – Performance (International songwriting competition 2021)
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Semi finalist – “Angel of the Emerald Isle” – Music Video (International songwriting competition 2021)
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Semi finalist – “Clovers” – Christian (International songwriting competition 2021)
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‘Best Alternative Song’ – ‘Clovers’ (World Songwriting Awards, Spring 2021)
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Semi-finalist – ‘Clovers’ (Unsigned Only music competition 2021)
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Finalist – ‘Watercolor world’ (World Songwriting Awards, Winter 2021)
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Finalist – ‘Clovers’ (Unsigned Only Music competition 2021)
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Finalist – ‘Éireann i mo chroí’ (World Songwriting Awards, Summer 2021)
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Finalist – ‘Angel of the Emerald Isle’ (World Songwriting Awards, Fall 2021)
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6 time nominee (International singer songwriters Association 2021)
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8 time nominee (Josie Music awards 2021)
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Nominee ‘Aim to Misbehave’ (The International music Awards, Holland 2021)
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‘FOLK/AMERICANA ARTIST OF THE YEAR’ (Josie Music Awards 2020)
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‘SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR’ – Silver (International singer songwriters Association 2020)
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‘Folk Americana song of the year’ – ‘Angel of the Emerald Isle’ (Josie Music Awards 2020)
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‘Best Pop Song’ – ‘Heart Of Mine’ (World Songwriting Awards, Summer 2020)
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‘Best Alternative Song’ – ‘Carry Me’ (World Songwriting Awards, spring 2020)
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Finalist & honorable mention – ‘Éireann i mo chroí’ live performance (International songwriting competition 2020)
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5 time nominee (International singer songwriters Association 2020)
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6 time nominee (Josie music awards 2020)
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‘Aint your momma’ Ttitle of album and song Clare co-wrote with Rhonda Funk) was up for consideration for a nomination for the Grammys 2021 in October 2020 and has now has over 1 million streams