AT a time when the latest music act may seem more like a manufactured ploy to get the cash-tills ringing rather than stir the senses, it's refreshing to see an artist breathe fresh life into the scene.

Yorkshire-born Clare Teal is such a singer - a woman who is clearly passionate about her job from the first moment you speak to her.

And the 32-year-old confounded expectations - and even surprised herself - when she was snapped up by Sony on her 31st birthday, last year.

"It came totally as a shock to me because I'm not 17 and I don't look like a pop star in any way, shape or form so it was very refreshing to get signed and it put my faith back into the industry," she said.

Clare's path into music began at a tender age while she was growing up in Skipton and developed a fascination for jazz after listening to her dad's old 45s.

After lessons on the electric organ and clarinet, the Bath-based singer took a degree at Wolverhampton Polytechnic and, during her studies, shifted her focus to singing, becoming a jingle singer for commercial radio.

"It was good fun doing jingles and certainly teaches you how to use a studio, sing harmonies and break things down," she said.

"You have to be very quick and it also teaches you not to be scared of things."

After spells singing in jazz bands for beer money and coming second in a national contest to find the next Billie Holiday, she finally got her big break filling in for a singer at a jazz festival when jazz label Candid offered her a recording contract.

Now, four albums and numerous spellbinding performances down the line, the former Malvern Link resident - who lived in the town for a year after completing her degree - is set to return for a concert at the Forum Theatre in Grange Road on Saturday, June 18.

It will be a welcome return to the venue for the singer, currently working on her next album, which is due for release next spring.

"Playing live is always really good fun and that's why I got into music in the first place," she said.

"I get really fed up if I'm not gigging because I don't know what I'm supposed to do with myself."

Tickets for the show are priced £14-16. Telephone Malvern Theatres box office on 01684 892277.