| Clare Grogan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Claire Patricia Grogan 17 March 1962 Glasgow, Scotland |
| Occupation | Singer Actress |
Clare Grogan (born Claire Patricia Grogan, 17 March 1962, Glasgow) is a Scottish actress and singer. Despite the original spelling of her first name, she is known as 'Clare', without the i. She is sometimes also credited as C. P. Grogan.
Contents |
Grogan and her two sisters all attended the Notre Dame Convent School. She was discovered by film director Bill Forsyth when she was waitressing in a Glasgow restaurant. She subsequently shot to fame at the age of nineteen in Forsyth's film, Gregory's Girl.
Grogan developed her singing career as the lead singer of Altered Images, a five-piece including Johnny McElhone (later of the Scottish rock band Texas) who she met while studying for her Highers, and later a four-piece after two members left, with the addition of Stephen Lironi, who played both guitar and drums. The band had a string of hits in the 1980s, including "Happy Birthday", "Don't Talk To Me About Love", "I Could Be Happy" and "Bring Me Closer". The group split up after the mixed reception of their third album, Bite.
Grogan did attempt a solo career, but after her single "Love Bomb" flopped in 1987, her album, Trash Mad was never released. Grogan formed Universal Love School in 1989 with now husband Stephen Lironi performing a series of gigs around the UK. However it was short-lived and produced no hit singles. In 2000 she contributed vocals to the song "Night Falls Like A Grand Piano" on The 6ths' album, Hyacinths and Thistles. She recorded a version of "Angels With Dirty Faces" for the Frankie Miller tribute album. The track "Her Hooped Dream" appears on The Ultimate Celtic Album.
Altered Images reunited in name only, as only Grogan performed, in a Here and Now tour in 2005, 2008 and again in 2009.
Obliged to appear as C. P. Grogan because there was already a member of Equity named Claire Grogan {the other Claire Grogan went on to become a photographer[1]} her breakthrough role was in Gregory's Girl (1981). In 1984 she played Charlotte in Comfort and Joy. In 1985 she was the receptionist in the BBC Television version of Blott on the Landscape. She had a recurring role playing Dave Lister's would-be love-interest, Kristine Kochanski, in series 1, 2 and 6 of the TV show Red Dwarf. When offered the same part in series 7, she declined in order to focus on stage acting and singing and was replaced by Chloë Annett. Grogan has also appeared in Father Ted (episode "Rock-a-Hula Ted") and in EastEnders as Ian Beale's love interest, Ros Thorne (1997-1998).
In recent years, she has been a talk show host in the UK. She played control-freak office manager Sandra Reeves in the 2006 film The Penalty King. She appears in the video for Peter Kay and Matt Lucas' charity single "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day 2007. She also played Danny's mother in Legit.
Grogan sometimes covers for presenters on BBC 6 Music, most often for Nemone and sometimes Liz Kershaw.
Grogan married fellow band member Stephen Lironi in Glasgow in 1994. The couple live in the London Borough of Haringey. Over the years the couple have had six miscarriages and four failed IVF attempts and as a result of this decided to adopt instead. In 2005 they adopted a daughter, Lucia.[1]
Grogan's first book was launched in October 2008. Titled Tallulah and the Teenstars, a children's novel (aimed at age 7 and up) which tells the story of a girl who forms a pop band.
She is also an avid supporter of Celtic FC.
Sports a scar on the left side of her face, she received during a duel scene, (later cut) in Gregory's Girl.
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
