Claire Freeland took part in the British auditions for Hear'say, and she didn't make it into the final band. But apparently that was because of her image/weight more than her singing ability or lack thereof. I don't really know if some of the people in the band look a lot better than her, but anyway! Claire got her own record deal shortly after the show had ended, and she released a single.
The Music
I don't think I've heard her song, so I can't really comment. From what I've read, however, it seems that while Claire does have talent as a singer, her song wasn't great. From reviews I've read, I'd have to say that it was probably pretty awful! But this seems to be a problem that so many people have, even the Popstars bands themselves. They usually have talent, but have such bad songs that you can hardly tell. Claire's first single was called 'Free', and I think it was some kind of dance song.
Links
I'm sure I went to her website some time ago, and it was
www.clairefreeland.co.uk or www.clairefreeland.com. But those sites don't seem to exist anymore! They're still on the web, but only as single pages with an e-mail address. I don't think Claire was successful with her first single, so she's probably not singing anymore. You can read a review of her first single here: http://www.dotmusic.com/artists/Hearsay/reviews/July2001/reviews20972.aspThere's an interview with Claire here:
http://designermagazine.tripod.com/ClaireFreelandINT1.htmlThere's also an interview and some pictures here:
http://wicked-host.owta.net/interviewclarefreeland.html