Introducing Claire Hamilton

Q: How does what you sing impact how you live?
A: It causes me to think about others more...

The interview went on longer and the answers were fuller, but if you were looking for a way to get to know Kingsway’s recent signing, Claire Hamilton, you’d do well to start here.

For Claire Hamilton - worship leader, songwriter and music teacher within her local high school - the act of making worship music is not the final destination. Instead Claire understands the link between what we sing and how we live. And across ‘Introducing Claire Hamilton’ her debut solo EP, there’s an infectious desire to make our worship count.

All this started for Claire more than 11 years ago. Under the wings of Alan and Kathryn Scott (writer of the songs ‘Hungry’ and ‘At the Foot of the Cross’), Claire started to lead worship. Things moved on with Claire joining the Johnny Parks Band, where she co-wrote a number of songs including ‘All Is Well’.

A music degree at Queens University (Belfast) led to the start of another calling as a music teacher. Joining Rend Collective Experiment in 2009 coincided with Claire signing to Kingsway and releasing a digital 3 track release, ‘Lend Me Your Heart’.

2011 opens up the door for Claire’s debut EP solo album. Introducing Claire Hamilton is a perfect blend of Kathryn Scott with Kim Walker-Smith, full of organic, heart-felt, unhindered worship that charms, stretches and inspires. In ‘Breathe On Me’ she offers one of the most simple, yet powerful songs around today, while ‘Lend Me Your Heart’ is a uniquely challenging and engaging song.

"I guess I write out of my own experience," explains Claire. "I write about what I feel at the time and so the songs are not generally planned. It’s kind of like I’m cataloging my experiences in songs. What have I learnt from it all? To write about what I feel and what I care about even if I feel like it’s something we already know."

She’s right, too. The Church has never needed offers of magic formulas or easy shortcuts. Our mission is clear, and true worship reflects that:

"I think the songs communicate justice, serving the least, God’s mercy, God’s comfort. I feel like the church needs to hear this as it’s Jesus’ call to us. My prayer is that our songs will compel us to action, service, love, justice."

Over the years Claire has shared the stage with the likes of Robin Mark, Bluetree, Rend Collective Experiment, Brian Houston and so many more. She has opened for Brenton Brown and Chris
McClarney and been a member of Eoghan Heaslip’s worship team at New Wine. She is one of the worship leaders at CFC Belfast – a church with a great history of nurturing leaders like Robin Mark, Johnny Parks, Brian Houston and others. Claire has led worship at Global Day of Prayer and New Wine Ireland, all along remaining true to her conviction of the essential link between worship through song and worship through action.

"The songs help me to deal with difficult times and remind me of God being present. Like ‘Breathe On Me’ - it reminds me of the simple fact that God is present in suffering. There’s great perspective to be found in the promise to worship God and have his praise on my lips despite things not going as I would like. Those words don’t just leave me once they are written and recorded - they are my prayer, they are my promise."