Biography

Many country girls grow up with dreams of being a real princess. But there’s only one genuine princess who grew up to be a country singer and songwriter: Ann Claire.

A real life daughter of a royal family line, Ann Claire debuts with persuasive talent, class and a winning streak of spunky girl power matched by sweet sensitivity on Honkytonk Princess. From the propulsive groove of the opening track “Better Girl” to the determined spirit of its closer “Somewhere,” the album is a fresh blast of contemporary country with a rocking pop kick that’s rich with emotional and musical breadth and depth.

Whether it’s the spunk and charm of “Lucky Me” or the heartache of “If I Leave Here Tonight,” Ann Claire sings and writes with a dead aim for the heart of the matter. She can get the good times rolling on the title track, summon up the full power of a woman’s love on “The Way That I Do,” cast an irresistible wooing spell on the fiery “Go With Me,” and evoke the winning power of true romance on “Dark Horse.” Be it serious stuff like family reconciliation on “Good Enough” and learning to roll with punches of heartbreak on “Getting Good At This” (co-written by Kyle Cook of Matchbox 20) or the rollicking fun of “Let’s Go To Mexico!” Ann Claire summons up emotions and stories we are all familiar with that come with a life fully lived and felt on Honkytonk Princess.

The album was co-produced by Grammy nominated songwriter Travis Howard, who first came known to country fans on the debut season of “Nashville Star,” and has since written eight songs for and with his co-star Miranda Lambert for her three best-selling albums, including her #1 single “Heart Like Mine” and “Famous in a Small Town.” He also co-wrote five numbers on Honkytonk Princess with Ann Claire, sings with her on “Dark Horse,” and assembled a crew of top country players for the album’s Nashville sessions to fashion a sound that gives the album its infectious energy and potent emotional impact behind her evocative singing. Maxwell Abrams, the only John Rich/Big Kenny Muzik Mafia member with a degree from Princeton University, lent his smooth, polished and well-thought-out sonic co-production skills to the final product.

“I’m just your average girl who ran away from home to be a country singer,” explains Ann Claire with a bit of tongue in cheek charm, though it’s really not that far from the truth! Her passion for writing and singing songs and determination to do so and make her mark did in fact prompt her to set aside a life of privilege and stature to pursue her dream, even if her unique background makes her seem at first blush a bit of a “dark horse” in the country music world. But her songs – she co-write eight of the album’s 12 cuts – and the deep-rooted country sound of her album and its immediate listener appeal give her strong odds to go the distance and further as an artist.

And Ann Claire has already been accepted her by fellow musicians and members of the Nashville industry as a legitimate quantity with a down-home spirit, attitude and sensibility. As country singer Billy Currington said on meeting Ann Claire at the Sundance Film Festival back in 2006, this royal is “to me as country as turnip greens.” And as she observes, “Country music is for everyone.”

Born in the Middle East, Ann Claire grew up in both London and Los Angeles, and was schooled in England, Switzerland and Spain before attending the University of Southern California to major in film and television and minor in sociology and graduate with honors. She followed that with studies in theatre and voice at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre, where she appeared in a number of plays.

But ever since she was young, writing songs, singing and music held a special place in her heart. Her father, a pop and R&B songwriter in London’s music scene, fired that passion and inducted her into the craft at the age of 10. “He would write a melody and tell me to go into the kitchen and listen with headphones to the track and write the lyrics,” Ann Claire recalls. “If I could fit the lyrics to the tune, he’d give me 50 pence for every one I did. So at 10 years old the structure of a pop song was ingrained in me.” She later wrote a theatrical musical that was staged at her boarding school.

She also was inspired by her grandmother who fled the royal life in 1934 to elope, get married and live in Southern California, where her social crowd included actors, artists, musicians and other creative types, including such country artists as Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and Glen Campbell. Spending her summers and holidays with her grandparents in that milieu sparked an urge to create and entertain in Ann Claire, and instilled in her a lifelong love for country music.

When she began writing songs of her own as an adult, Ann Claire found her fated path in life, especially after a musician friend who played with Jackson Browne told her how good her songs were and urged her to keep working at it. Then out of the blue came an offer to star in a reality TV show about her dilemma at that point: return to Europe and marry as her father and mother urged her to do, or follow her passion and dream to forge a career as a country singer and songwriter, even at the risk of being cut off by her parents.

The series, Love Is In The Heir, ran for 10 episodes on the E! Network in 2006, earning strong ratings around the world as it aired to millions in more than 50 nations and winning her many followers that enjoyed her vibrant spirit, sometimes goofy sense of humor and devotion to achieving an unusual goal for someone from a distinguished royal family. By the end of the series Ann Claire decided to make music her life.

A few years of struggle followed in which she made her own way, moving to Nashville where she worked as a waitress in a barbecue restaurant and lived in modest circumstances (and even without a car for a spell) as she pursued her songwriting and a record deal. She shot two pilots for reality TV shows that would follow her story further, but refused to participate in the shoots as directed, and later walked away from the negotiations.
“Everyone was mad at me: people thought I was crazy to put my music above any work in TV. But it was my intention to develop as a legitimate musical artist and the demands of the television format derailed me from my true goal,” explains Ann Claire. “I did not want to continue on that road. However, I am very grateful for the opportunity, and I got a lot of great supporters from the show that I did.”





In Music City she found a number of supporters in influential places, fell in with the cutting edge Muzik Mafia outlaw clan whose founders and biggest stars include John Rich and Gretchen Wilson, forged creative alliances with top songwriters, and was offered a major label record contract. The recordings that resulted didn’t feel like the credible country style she envisioned, so Ann Claire bailed on the deal.

In 2006 she won another contract with an independent label, but it still didn’t yield a record that fulfilled the truly country sound she heard in her head and felt in her heart. As she continued to hone her writing, singing and sound, a music business friend introduced her to the uniquely talented Howard, and the result was a pivotal association that led Ann Claire to find her musical sweet spot.

“The moment we started talking, there was an instant connection. It’s one of those divine things when you meet someone who is a part of your destiny, and you know it immediately,” she recalls. “I was insecure and broke. He saw my talent and my heart, and was moved to help me, which is something you just don’t do if you’re not real country. We wrote our first song together, ‘Somewhere,’ in two hours. We connected on a very deep level, and have a real spiritual and emotional understanding of each other. He is a beautiful human being, a star, and hard as nails. He taught me to be tough and fearless in my work.” She had found the ideal collaborator and creative foil to help her bring to fruition on her own independently the debut album she knew was simmering in her soul.

Drawing from such musical icons for her as Parton and Shania Twain, Honkytonk Princess meets Ann Claire’s aspirations for the songs and recording to introduce herself as a musical quantity. And within what she has achieved and aspires to do in the future is one very clear public goal, and that is to inspire a powerful sense of self and character in others.

“What the song ‘Honkytonk Princess’ means beyond the fun and wit in its lyrics it this: I believe that every woman is a princess, and every little girl and every woman has a princess spirit. And that’s a spirit of dignity, integrity, self-respect, compassion, patience, and going above and beyond what’s expected of you,” she says. “I don’t think it matters at all whether you’re from a trailer park or a palace.” As Ann Claire strives herself to be a “better girl,” she hopes to inspire others to follow her lead.

She also devotes her spare time and energy to such causes dear to her heart as fostering rescue dogs and the Humane Society and ASPCA and the organization Share Our Strength that works to end childhood hunger in America. “I want to be part of creating a no kill and no hunger country,” she stresses.

Though proud of her heritage and legacy as the great-niece of the late Shah of Iran, Ann Claire has become an American citizen, “and I am very proud to be an American, and I love this country with my heart and soul and would never live anywhere else.” To all that meet her, she seems very much an All-American woman, and one with a Southern affinity to boot. “I definitely have always had a little bit of a Southern soul,” she asserts. “I love the South and live there half of the time. My two main co-writers, Travis and Greg Crowe, are from
Georgia and Mississippi, and they are as small town Southern as it gets. I just get more laughs and joy and a deep soulful communion with what matters in life from them than I do the aristocrats in Europe that I grew up with.”

With her songs already featured in a number of movies, Ann Claire is now on her way to fulfilling her dreams. “This has never been for me about being famous or rich,” she explains. “Those things are not of interest to me at all. All I’ve ever wanted to do is write great songs and make a difference in the world, and sing and present them in a way where they will affect people.

“I feel like this is my destiny, and I’m pretty excited about my future,” she concludes. “It has been such a long journey, but what I do now as a country songwriter and artist is so important to me and so rewarding. I can’t live without it. It gives me life, it makes me whole.”