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Hailing from the funk capital, Davenport, IA, Claire Finley is a Bassist / Producer / Arranger / 2008 Berklee College of Music graduate with a major in Electric Bass Performance as well as Music Business/Management. Her musical career began at the age of 4 taking classical piano lessons until age 18. After creating a strong musical foundation, she began playing Violin in 4th grade, and continued throughout high school.

While playing in the elementary school orchestra, she noticed that a few of her older classmates were playing in something called “Jazz Band”. This intrigued her very much to the point where one day she came home and told her parents, “I want to be in jazz band, and I want to play bass.” From seeing her progress in other musical endeavors, her parents agreed to take her to the music store and “do some research.” Later that day she had her very first Fender Jazz Bass. From there she went on to play in countless big bands and jazz combos regionally.

Even though she had finally found her true musical passion, she still wanted to learn more about other instruments and other styles besides classical and jazz. One year after starting private bass lessons, she also picked up guitar, French horn, and marching percussion/drum line. Once it came time to apply to Berklee, she realized that bass was still her main musical passion.

Since attending Berklee, Claire has been given the opportunity to travel all over the world. She was a semi-finalist in the 2005 International Blues Challenge, Memphis, TN, participated in the first study abroad program in Athens, Greece, traveled with the Berklee West African Ensemble to Ghana for almost 4 weeks to study African drumming and dancing, performed for numerous Berklee recruiting events including one at a Los Angeles inner-city high school with Berklee Alum Dauwan Parker, and more recently at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. with Berklee Alumnae JOY. Claire works in the Berklee Admissions Office, and has represented the college during World Scholarship Tour many times in Boston, their Fall '06 trip to Los Angeles, their '07 trip to Chicago, the '07 International Bassists Convention in Oklahoma City, their Spring '08 trip to Monterrey, CA, for the Monterrey High School Jazz Fest, and most recently to the Seoul Jazz Academy in South Korea.

Lady B was the recipient of the 2007 Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship, the house bassist for Singers Night Fall '07, Storytellers '07 Spring, Storytellers '07 Fall, Storytellers '08 Spring, performed with Christopher Guest in Those go to Eleven: Christopher Guest Meets Berklee in Fall '07, was a featured student in the Berklee Bass Department Concert Spring '08, and was the main bassist for Berklee's 2008 Commencement Concert featuring Steve Winwood, Phillip Bailey, and Howard Shore. At Berklee she has played in numerous ensembles including; The Joni Mitchell Ensemble, The Hip Hop Ensemble, The Parliment Funkadellic Ensemble, The Neo-Soul Ensemble, and The Bob Marley Ensemble.

Lady B is the bassist in numerous projects, offers private lessons, and works as a session bass player providing that stank nasty groove for countless projects around the globe. Who knows, Lady B might be the missing link in the low end for your next musical endeavor.

Looking forward to continuing her adventures around the world playing live shows and doing session work as a professional bass player, Lady B keeps the people on the dance floor with her funky style, high heels, and grace....on and off the bass....