Clare Grogan's Altered Images

The singer and actress Clare Grogan started her 30 year long career as a schoolgirl pop star in her band, Altered Images. By day she was studying for her A Levels and at night she was touring with Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees, playing festivals alongside Echo and the Bunnymen, The Human League, U2 and recording sessions for legendary DJ, John Peel. The band were signed to Epic Records in 1981 the same year Clare appeared in the BAFTA winning comedy 'Gregory’s Girl'. Clare didn't get to finish her exams – she wasn’t too upset! Altered Images quickly had worldwide success, selling millions of records, which topped the charts in several countries. They recorded 3 Top 10 Albums – 'Happy Birthday', 'Pinky Blue' and 'Bite'. They had 6 Top Ten Singles working with world famous producers - Martin Rushent, Tony Visconti and Mike Chapman. They were voted Best New Group at the NME awards in the same year they were invited to play at The Royal Command Performance. After an eighteen-year gap in performing with Altered Images, Clare was persuaded to sing their hits again and continues to play in front of huge and enthusiastic crowds. Altered Images have an array of famous artistes who happily describe themselves as fans, from Florence + the Machine to the Foo Fighters. Their hit song 'Happy Birthday' has been covered by Courtney Love, The Ting Tings and The Wedding Party to name but a few. Their songs constantly turn up in the soundtracks to movies and adverts and Clare recently performed on stage with hit band of the moment, The Drums, who described her as ‘their favorite pop idol’. For the past 30 years Clare has worked extensively in Film, Television, Theatre, Radio and Radio Drama. Appearing as a presenter on BBC 6Music, BBC Radio London, BBC Scotland, STV, SKY 1, VH1, The One Show, Scotland's Greatest Album and more. She was a finalist in 2011's 'Let's Dance for Comic Relief'. She has had roles in some of the UK’s best-loved TV shows, Eastenders, Red Dwarf, Father Ted, Taggart, Sea of Souls. Her film credits include: Gregory's Girl, Comfort and Joy, Jilting Jo, The Penalty King, The Smallest Game in Town. The Award winning playwright Russell Barr wrote the part of Scrachett with her in mind in his play 'Vantastic' which she performed last year in London. Over the years she has contributed to various magazines including The Word, Red and Preview and her debut novel 'Tallulah and the Teenstars' reached No 2 in the Waterstones Children’s Book Chart. Clare is enormously proud of her role as patron of the British Association of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) and speaks regularly on the subject to help high light the plight of children in care who are desperate for parents. More recently, Clare became the wayward mum of lead character Mimi in Channel 4’s new series of Skins. She has acted in ‘The Wee Man’, a film that tells the true story of Glasgow Gangster Paul Ferris with Martin Compston and has been know to step out at Christmas, performing at the Kings Theatre in Glasgow in the UK’s biggest and most traditional Panto playing Carabosse in 'Sleeping Beauty'. Clare and her band have been touring the UK to play Altered Images Greatest Hits and Clare has had recent appearances in BBC1's Waterloo Road. Altered Images were an early 1980s Scottish New Wave/post-punk band. Led by lead singer Clare Grogan, the band branched into mainstream pop music, and had six UK Top 40 hit singles and three Top 30 albums between 1981 and 1983.