Anne-Claire Niver (born May 5, 1990), known professionally as Anne-Claire, is an American singer-songwriter and recording artist. A North Carolina native, Niver studied opera at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro before starting her career. She is a former lead singer of the band Anne-Claire and the Wild Mystics, which disbanded in 2016. She has since performed as a solo artist.
After college, Niver moved to Thailand where she worked as an English language teacher.[1][4] Niver later moved back to the United States to receive treatment for an eating disorder, which she had been suffering from since her adolescent years.[4] Niver then worked at Prodigal Farm, a goat farm in Rougemont, overseeing the care of hundreds of goats and assisting in the farm's cheese production.[6][7][8]
Music career
Niver's style is influenced by her love of "soul divas" and she has cited PJ Harvey, Frank Ocean, k.d. lang, Björk, Lucius, and Neko Case as musical influences.[1][4] She began her music career after her future producer and band member, Alex Bingham, encouraged her to share her work.[6] She had recently moved back to the United States from Thailand and had been recording music with the software program GarageBand.[4] While at college, Niver said she felt she was "always singing someone else's music", which had encouraged her to start songwriting.[6]
Niver fronted the band Anne-Claire and the Wild Mystics, composed of Charles Cleaver on keyboard, David Dollar and Ryan Johnson on guitar, Bingham on bass, and Dan Faust on drums.[9][10] Her first album, named Anne-Claire Niver and the Wild Mystics after the band, was released in 2015.[7] She partnered with Kris Hilbert at Legitimate Business in Greensboro to produce the album.[6]
The track Give it Up, which was later featured on her second album, was released as a single on July 20, 2018.[9] The album was recorded in January and February 2018 at Fidelitorium Studioes in Kernersville with recording engineer Jeff Crawford and was produced by Bingham.[9][15] Niver's second album, I Still Look For You, was released for digital download on July 31, 2018.[6] The formal release was celebrated with a release party and performance on August 3, 2018 at the Carolina Theatre of Greensboro.[16][17] The album, centered on loss and the stages of grief, was inspired by the loss of Niver's grandmother who died from a heart attack in 2016.[6][18][19] A single on the album titled Second Time references a dream Niver later had about being visited by her grandmother, which she saw as a reflection of her own grief.[6] The day before she was scheduled to record the song, her grandfather died.[6][20]
In September 2019 Niver released the single Mosquitos, which she said she wrote while hiking in the DuPont State Forest after a bad breakup.[18][21] The music video for Mosquitos, also released in September, was directed by Wilson Hester and filmed by Peyton Lea.[18]
In February 2021, Niver released the single Jean Jacket and a remix of the single, called I Remember.[22]
