At home and abroad her fans hail her as one of the Caribbean’s top vocalists and a mesmerising entertainer.
A consummate singer and songwriter, her speciality is R&B/alternative rock. Affectionately known as ‘The Diva,’ she was once rated as St. Lucia’s top female radio announcer.
Yet the truth is Claudia Edward is not only gifted and musical. She’s one of a special breed of multitalented St. Lucians with a deep sense of self, who view the world as their oyster – not just St. Lucia or even the Caribbean. This refusal to limit herself or to be contained has been her driving force since the age of 14 when she started out as a lead choir singer for her church. Later she began performing at local hotels as the lead vocalist for Magic Circle Express.
In 1998 after completing voice training classes in the USA, she featured on the Square One hit single Electricity alongside Alison Hinds. The song became a chartbuster in the English, Dutch and French Antilles. Claudia has since formed her own band, Naked Chords and has released several albums and music videos. She has performed at musical festivals and events locally and internationally, including the St. Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival and the Soul Fusion Concert at the London 2012 Olympics. She has wowed audiences in Barbados, Trinidad, Grenada, Costa Rica, Martinique, New York, Malaysia, Thailand and several other countries. She has also been contracted by the Hilton Hotel Group and the Conrad Hotel in Thailand where her talent is in high demand.
Claudia has collaborated with several internationally renowned musicians, including St. Lucians Ronald Boo Hinkson, Christopher Neil, T C Brown, Jamaican ‘Bad Gyal Cecile’, Michele Henderson of Dominica and the famed music producer, Jonathan Waller of the USA. In 2005 she toured Europe with Nobel Laureate, Derek Walcott as lead vocalist in his play ‘The Odyssey’, and also played the main female role is his play ‘Helen of Troy’.
Her latest album, On The Edge is due for release just in time for the Saint Lucia Jazz and Arts Festival 2016. Aside from her music, what endears Claudia to the hearts of St. Lucians even more is the work she does through her charitable foundation, Edward 4 Education. It provides support to local schools.
Claudia took a break from her busy schedule to chat with Dazzle about her musical career and the tremendous work being done by her charity.
Who is Claudia?
Claudia: I was born in Martinique and raised in St. Lucia. Part of my schooling was done in St. Croix. I attended university in France and studied hotel and tourism management. On returning to St. Lucia I worked as a PR manager at Sandals and subsequently with Windjammer Landing as sales and marketing manager for the French territories. I speak fluent French and English.
When did you start singing?
Claudia: I started singing in church about eight. I grew up in the Seventh Day Adventist Church. They always encourage you to sing and recite poetry on stage. I also sang in primary school and at St Joseph’s Convent at assemblies and school concerts. On leaving school I began singing with Wallace Tisson. I did my first recording with him, along with Ricky D and Friends. I then joined Arthur Tisson’s band, Magic Circle Express and started singing in the hotel circuit. Then I got a call from Allison Hinds and Square One. I did my first album with Christopher Neil. He wrote most of the music on that. Now I do music fulltime.
When did you decide to make music your career?
Claudia: All my life I knew I wanted to sing but I didn’t have enough avenues or opportunities. In St. Lucia you need to have a fulltime job and do music on the side, which is what I did for a while. Then I got married and was working at the hotels. In 2010 my husband suggested that I try singing fulltime. He said if you don’t succeed you have your education to fall back on. At a certain point while working at Windjammer, I began getting a lot of gigs outside of St. Lucia but I could only get limited time off. That’s when I decided I’m going to try doing this fulltime and take all the opportunities I can get.
What genre of music do you sing and why?
Claudia: For a long time I didn’t know where I was best suited, so I did a little bit of everything – reggae, R&B. ballads – and then with the help of Rossi (Ron Alcide) we tried alternative rock. Then it was like, oh my God, this is where I fit in! So alternative rock is what I really do but I still mix it up with reggae in between R&B.
Do you write your own songs?
Claudia: I’ve worked with a few producers. Christopher Hunt wrote the title song on my upcoming album On the Edge and it was produced by Leebo. I’ve worked with Christopher Neil who’s based in New Jersey, and with Rossi as well on his new album. I’ve also worked with Jonathan Waller of the US. I met him through Boo Hinkson. I’ve worked with Boo as well.
Do you regard yourself as a recording or performing artiste or both?
Claudia: For me, being onstage is the greatest part of it. That’s what I love more than anything else, especially with my band, Naked Chords. Being on stage is the most incredible feeling. And my band, when they play music, they play from the heart. It’s like they were born playing it.
What would you say makes you different from other St. Lucian artistes?
Claudia: I think in terms of performing out of St. Lucia, I’ve travelled a lot more than other St. Lucian female artistes. Every year I do a stint in Asia. Usually my contracts are for three months but one year I ended up staying seven months. The next year I stayed five months and last year I stayed for four.
I have a new contract coming up. Also, I think my vocal ability is different – not better or worse – just different. I have a different tone. When you hear one of my songs, there’s no question it’s Claudia and that’s important to me. Also, I think I’m the only female doing alternative rock in Saint Lucia.
What challenges do you face as a St. Lucian artiste and how do you overcome them?
Claudia: Opportunity is a big challenge in St. Lucia because apart from the Jazz Festival, and maybe carnival – and I don’t do carnival – there aren’t many opportunities, except if you’re in the hotel circuit. And the hotels don’t pay what they used to. So getting opportunities is a big challenge. I overcome this by just trying to get work outside of St. Lucia.
How do you handle criticisms?
Claudia: If it’s good, I love it. If it’s bad I hate it (laughs). Seriously though, I’ve come to realise that everybody won’t like your music or what you do, not because it isn’t good but because they favour something else. Sometimes in the negative criticism there’s something there you could use to make yourself better. I don’t take it to heart. With everything in life there are negatives and positives, so you just try and see if there’s any sense in the negative.
If you could change something about St. Lucia’s music industry what would it be?
Claudia: I would like musicians to come together. It’s almost like we’re fighting each other in the local music industry. Musicians coming together, that’s the one thing I would change.
Apart from music what does Claudia Edward do?
Claudia: I love the gym. I have a charity called ‘Edward 4 Education’. We do projects with schools, basically trying to better the learning environment. We’ve worked with the Corinth Secondary and built them a sick bay. We built a learning centre at the Ave Maria School. We’re presently working on our current project for 2016. We’ve brought in a theatre professional from the Folgers Group to conduct workshops on Shakespeare throughout the island. Basically we try to raise funds for projects and every cent that we raise goes toward that project. No one gets paid, it’s all charity. We started in 2012.
How did you conceptualize the charity?
Claudia: One day my nephew who attended the Camille Henry Memorial, came home from school and said, “The classroom is so hot, I can’t concentrate”. I thought maybe we should try to do something about that and get fans for his classroom. From that I got the idea of setting up a foundation and with the help of Sharon Williams we got it started. We decided to start off trying to help schools. A lot of us wait on the government to do everything when there are little things that we can help with. For us it’s trying to bring the schools, the communities and the business people together to make life easier for children in school.
I’ve also starting a tamarind candy business with my husband. We order tamarind candy from Thailand and it’s sold at Super J and other supermarkets. Our company is called CT Distributors. We’re the main distributors for the Caribbean.
Dress by: Kimberly ‘8ttava’ Solana
Jewellery by: Harry Edwards Jewellers
Makeup by: Vanetta Phillip of Makeup by Vanetta Modelles
