Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
COUNTRY STRONG
Aussie singer and actress Clare Bowen tells MARION McMULLEN how she battled with cancer and made the daunting move to the US, before finding fame in TV show Nashville
AUSSIE performer Clare Bowen proudly declares on her Twitter account “Stay Weird. Normal’s a setting on a dryer.”
The former Home And Away star certainly follows her own advice. She propelled her career to the next level when she took a gamble and bought a one-way plane ticket to America.
The move proved a good one – she found love, music and TV fame as singer Scarlett O’Connor alongside Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere in American drama Nashville.
“I sold everything I owned at a market in Sydney and just bought a one-way ticket to Los Angeles,” remembers Clare with a smile. “My Dad works for Qantas airline and my parents were so supportive. It was kind of scary but they always encouraged me to travel and used to take me to a lot of places when I was a child.
“I did think ‘what am I doing?’ but my brother Tim, who is a wonderful person, encouraged me to go to America.”
Clare made her American film debut in 2012 in the western Dead Man’s Burden before being cast in musical drama Nashville.
The multiple Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated show is now watched in 225 countries worldwide and has inspired 22 soundtracks, including a Christmas album.
Nashville is set against the backdrop of the city’s famous music scene and follows the lives of country music superstars as well as the up-and-coming performers and songwriters trying to get ahead in the business.
“It was the opportunity of a lifetime,” says Clare, “I read the entire script for Nashville standing at my manager’s desk.”
She and the cast have filmed the final episodes of the TV hit, but are saying goodbye in style with a farewell tour of the UK.
The tour begins on Saturday and sees Clare in concert with fellow Nashville cast members Chris Carmack, Charles Esten, Jonathan Jackson and Sam Palladio.
The tour, follows sell-out visits in 2016 and 2017, and will feature songs from the series as well as original material from the artists.
“The first time we toured the UK it scared the s**t out of me,” admits Clare with a laugh, “but now I can’t wait. The audiences are just so incredible. It’s sad that Nashville is ending and we’ve recorded the final songs, but doing the tour takes the edge off the sadness. We’re all going to be together, enjoying every moment.
“I think it’s such a great honour to be included in the sphere of country music.”
Clare has brought out her own album and found love with singersongwriter Brandon Robert Young. He proposed to her at the legendary Grand Ole Opry music venue in Nashville and they had wedding ceremonies in both Australia and America.
“He’s my soul mate,” says the 33-year-old happily, “but we’ve been so busy we’ve not had time to do the honeymoon thing yet. The first time we met I thought ‘I’ll keep an eye on this one’ but we didn’t start going out until a year after that.
“He’s written most of my album with me and there’s nothing more easy than being with Brandon on stage. I just look across the stage and he’s there.”
Clare’s positive outlook follows early years battling childhood cancer when surgeons had to operate on her when she was only four to remove a tumour.
Her brother Tim was also diagnosed with Stage 4 Lymphoma shortly after Clare’s engagement.
Clare says she would not be the person she is today if she had not been through everything she has done so far... and she says her family have been with her every step of the way.
“I could live without music, but I could not live without my family,” she says. “My illness was a make or break thing and my Dad gave me his own blood at one point in hospital. We’re a very close family and they are incredible. I would not change anything.
“Mum and Dad came to see all the shows when we toured Nashville, and my brother came out of chemo to see me as well.”
I could live without music, but I could not live without my family. Clare on her close bond with her family