Claire Stahlecker

You may hear familiar elements in newcomer Claire Stahlecker's music, but it doesn't take long to realize the music is hers alone. The Chicago singer/songwriter's audience is growing quickly as she hits a sweet spot with her soul-infused urban folk tales of life and love.

Beginning with a thoughtful acoustic guitar canvas, Claire writes and delivers her songs like a seasoned old soul, embodying the spirit of classic blues and jazz artists while incorporating the influence of contemporaries like India Arie, Sara Bareilles and Dave Barnes.

At age 23 she may still have a lot to learn, but there's a confidence—and irreverence—that radiates from the young woman and her songs that leaves you convinced she's lived and learned from a few lifetimes already.

As a child growing up on the North Side of Chicago, she loved the freedom and diversity of the big city. However, at age 15 her life changed drastically when her parents moved her to a remote suburb and enrolled her in a private Catholic high school. The summer before her freshman year she found herself twiddling her thumbs in boredom. "With no friends, no drivers license and no job I figured I might as well spend my time doing something productive." So she dusted off the electric guitar abandoned in her closet since sixth grade and begged her parents to pay for lessons.

"I took lessons for two years without singing a peep until words starting forming on my lips and melodies began dancing through my head," she says. She began writing songs vigorously, but remained self-conscious about her voice, refusing to sing for anyone "...except Franklin, Mary, Pepé and Louis, otherwise known as the four walls of my bedroom!" After some encouragement from her mentor and guitar instructor Roger Adler, Claire was finally convinced to sign up for a high school talent show her junior year. "I played a song called 'Don't Hold Your Breath.' When I heard the roar of applause afterward I knew there was no turning back."

Claire's official EP "A LITTLE PIECE OF HEAVEN" is available on iTunes. For more information or booking requests contact ClaireStahleckerMusic@hotmail.com

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