JAZZ queen Clare Teal will be back on home turf when she headlines this year’s Fallfest.

The Kildwick-born singer will perform at Glusburn Institute this summer with her band.

Clare recorded several albums, after landing the biggest-ever recording contract for a British jazz singer, but is perhaps these days best known as a radio presenter.

She has a weekly BBC Radio 2 show and has regularly presented the BBC’s Big Band Special and Friday Night Is Music Night.

Clare opened the first Fallfest in 2011 and became one of the event’s two official patrons.

Fallfest spokesman Jason Smith said: “Having grown up locally, it is very much a ‘home-coming gig’ for Clare.

“After playing some big venues and festivals recently, she still revels in playing more intimate venues such as ours and is delighted to be joining us.”

This year’s Fallfest will take place from September 11 to 13 in and around Glusburn Institute, and tickets for all events including Clare’s concert will go on sale on June 8.

Jason added: “Our full programme will also be launched on June 8. Tickets are expected to sell fast."

Clare, 42, fostered an early interest in jazz through listening to her father's collection of 78rpm records, and she developed a passion for big band singers like Ella Fitzgerald.

"I found a big stack of 78s in the attic and was hooked," she recalls. "I never told anyone I was into jazz though, it was far too uncool. I used to buy Smash Hits but really I was losing myself in music from the 1930s and 1940s."

Studying music at Wolverhampton University, Clare fell into singing by accident when she forgot her clarinet for an exam, so sang instead and realised she loved to sing in public. She sang in jam sessions with friends then, after coming second in a Billie Holiday soundalike competition, she went into session singing. "I sang advert jingles about mobile phones and kitchen fittings, it was good recording experience," she says.

At the age of 27, fate stepped in. A pianist friend of Clare's needed a singer to perform alongside him. She went for it and it turned out to be her foot in the door of the music industry. After making demos and guest-singing with jazz bands, she signed a record deal and Michael Parkinson featured her album, Orsino's Songs, on his Radio 2 show.

Clare’s big break came after standing in for leading jazz singer Stacey Kent at a weekend festival in Llandrindod Wells, and she landed a three-album contract with the jazz-specialist label Candid Records.

The former South Craven School pupil went on to sign with Sony, landing a multi-million pound album deal, in what was the biggest recording deal by any British jazz singer, and her 2004 album Don't Talk reached number one in the UK Jazz Chart.

In 2013, she released her album And So It Goes featuring the song Another Language from Tim Rice's new musical From Here to Eternity. More recently she has been paying tribute to Doris Day in a live show.

* Clare Teal is at Fallfest on Saturday, September 12. For tickets or more details visit fallfest.co.uk