Clara Chung (born October 31, 1987), known by her stage name CLARA (previously Clara C), is an American

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

, producer and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. She is a music artist who rose to fame on Youtube when she won numerous talent competitions in a row including JC Penney's Talent Search,

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

’ Kollaboration 10, KAC Media Juice Night, and ISA 2009. CLARA is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist who writes, produces, and directs her own content. CLARA's sweet, sultry vocals paired with soul-stirring music make her an artist to remember. CLARA has independently sold out tours worldwide and has performed at the Hollywood Bowl, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and for the White House's U.S. Department of Education. CLARA's music has been featured in commercials, Film & TV (Netflix's ''Big Mouth)'' and can be heard in public spaces all around the globe. CLARA also composes for cosmetics industry titan Bobbi Brown.

Early life and education

Chung was born in New York on October 31, 1987, to South Korean-born parents who currently reside in

Northridge, California Northridge is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles. The community is home to California State University, Northridge, and the Northridge Fashion Center. Originally named List of minor biblica ...

. Chung graduated from the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and a minor in Education in 2010 and is currently enrolled in a graduate program for Psychology at Pepperdine University. She is now a full-time professional music artist, but had taught children with autism prior to all her music endeavors.

Career

In a 2011 interview after the release of her first album, Chung said that she initially was not particularly motivated to post videos of her singing and guitar playing on YouTube, but was encouraged by her friends to try it out. Chung describes the music in her album, ''The Art in My Heart'', as being diverse and "taking on a lot of different sounds." "There are songs that are very much like

Sara Bareilles Sara Beth Bareilles ( ; born December 7, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. She has sold over three million albums and over 15 million singles in the United States. Bareilles has earned various accolades, including ...

and others that are more like

Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...

. And there are other songs that I can't categorize. I guess if you want to sum up influences, I’d say definitely Sara Bareilles,

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left for Atlanta in 1997 with fellow guitarist Clay Cook, with whom he formed the short-liv ...

, Feist." In 2010, Chung won the Kollaboration LA competition after writing her first hit original song "Offbeat", and performing it at the competition held at the Shrine located near

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. In April 2010, Chung worked with other popular artists such as rappers

Dumbfoundead Jonathan Edgar Park (born February 18, 1986), known by his stage name Dumbfoundead (), is an Argentinian-born American rapper and actor. He began his career in the 2000s as a battle rapper in Los Angeles and has since become one of the most pro ...

and

Jay Park Jay Park (born April 25, 1987), Korean name Park Jae-beom (), is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and dancer based in South Korea. He is a member of the Seattle-based breakdancing, b-boy crew Art of Movement (AOM), and founder and former ...

. In September 2010, she released her album ''Art in My Heart'' in conjunction with her music video for the lead single "Offbeat". The video for "Offbeat" was directed by viral video director

Ross Ching Ross Ching is an American filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California. Early life and education Ching grew up in San Jose, California. He started making skateboarding videos as a teenager. Ching went on to study film at San Diego State Universit ...

(of

Kina Grannis Kina Kasuya Grannis (born August 4, 1985) is an American guitarist, singer and Internet personalities, YouTuber. Grannis was the winner of the 2008 Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest, earning a recording contract with Interscope Records and ha ...

' "Valentine" music video fame) and produced by Don Le of Fusion3Films. The concept for the video was Chung singing amongst inspiring visuals in a world filled with bubbles. It has amassed over 13,000,000 unique YouTube views so far. DJ Descry and My Parasol have produced the only known remixes to date. In 2011, director

and producer Don Le followed up with a second music video, "The Camel Song". The video featured YouTube personality,

Nigahiga Ryan Higa (born June 6, 1990), also known as nigahiga ( ), is an American internet personality. Best known for his comedy videos on YouTube, Higa began making YouTube videos in 2006 and was one of the most popular creators on the platform in i ...

, as her love interest. In February 2011, Chung announced her Loveprint mini-tour (March–April) in which she makes stops in Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle and San Diego. On June 6, 2011, on an interview with Robert Herrera of Front Row Live Entertainment, Chung stated that she is currently writing a new album. On September 15, Chung released her 2nd Album titled ''esc''. Chung also toured with David Choi on their Fall Tour presented by YesStyle, visiting 19 different cities from Canada and the United States. On September 30, Chung released her acoustic album ''Organika'', and in October toured the United States and Canada, visiting 14 cities. This tour was an acoustic tour that is based on her album ''Organika''. Chung and her husband were featured in Andy Grammer's music video for "Honey I'm Good."

Discography

Studio albums

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chung, Clara Living people American musicians of Korean descent American people of South Korean descent 1987 births American women singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from California Guitarists from Los Angeles 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American guitarists University of California, Irvine alumni Musicians from New York City Singer-songwriters from New York (state) YouTubers from New York City YouTubers from Los Angeles