Clive Carroll + Paul Mckee + Tom Gamble
Clive Carroll was described by Acoustic Guitar magazine as ‘Probably the Best and Most Original Young Acoustic Guitar Player and Composer in Britain’. Born into a family of musicians in 1975, Clive has been immersed in a diverse range of music ever since. His father made him his first banjo in 1977 and a few years later he was playing in the family band. At 9 he started to play the guitar and a few years later he joined a Soul group and several orchestras.
In 1998, he gained a 1st Class Honours Degree in Composition & Guitar from Trinity College, London and whilst there he was also awarded a Prize to record Rodrigo's 'Concierto de Aranjuez' with the Trinity orchestra, the John Halford Prize for Composition (1994), Gladys Puttick Memorial Prize for Extemporisation (‘94,’98), Ivor Mairants Guitar Award (1997), Montagu Cleeve Prize for Guitar (1998) and the Essex Young Musician of the Year (1999).
One night in 1998, Clive was given the opportunity to play a local show alongside British guitar hero John Renbourn. That night Renbourn encouraged him to record a solo album, and finally in 1999 after opening up for World class Guitar/Harp duo Chris Newman & Maire Ni Chathasaigh (who also happen to own the ‘Old Bridge Music’ record company) Clive was given his first record deal. The result was Sixth Sense (2000) and it has since been described as ‘a milestone in the journey of the steel-string guitar’. Over the next two years John Renbourn took Clive on tour throughout Europe and the USA.
2002 saw the recording of Pachelbel’s Canon for BMG/RCA Victor but Clive’s next full-length solo album, ‘The Red Guitar’, wasn’t completed until late 2004. Earlier that year he was also introduced to Australian Guitar Legend, Tommy Emmanuel and he invited Clive to join him on a tour of Australia. Clive then continued to play shows with both Emmanuel and Renbourn all over the World and in 2005 he collaborated with Renbourn on the 2005 Sony Picture Classics film, ‘Driving Lessons’ starring Julie Walters & Rupert Grint.
The following year, Clive embarked on his own solo tours and he was also invited to play with the International Guitar Night of America (IGN). He has since played several tours with the IGN, collaborating with World Class guitarists such as Ralph Towner, D’Gary & Vishwa Moham Bhatt. 2006 also saw the release of a ‘Guitar Maestros’ DVD for the legendary recording studio company Sound Techniques. Other players in this series include Martin Simpson, Big Jim Sullivan & Martin Carthy.
Between tours Clive has been involved in many other side projects: he is a visiting artist and tutor at the Irish World Music Centre in Limerick, he has been asked to play at events in the UK by celebrities ranging from film director Guy Ritchie to top-chef Jean-Christophe Novelli, he holds an Annual Guitar Workshop in his local village and last summer Clive even took in a trip to the Middle East to play the Strings of Freedom Concert for the Sultanate of Oman.
November 2008 saw the release of Clive’s 3rd solo album, ‘Life in Colour’ and he is currently working on two non-solo recordings! (watch this space!)
He lives in North Essex, and has two beautiful children. His eldest is learning the fiddle and Hebrew and the youngest is currently memorizing the lyrics of Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash.
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