THE Road Less Travelled is a fitting name for Clare Teal's new album. For Skipton-born Clare has never done things the easy way.

She explained: "As a jazz singer that's what you do -- you take the road less travelled.

"Jazz has always been a niche market, although it's becoming more mainstream."

It was perhaps thanks to her very specific appeal that Clare decided to adopt the Robert Frost poem as her maxim and indeed The Road Less Travelled, her album's title track, is so replete with playful lyrics and modulating gear changes it could only have been written by her.

Surprisingly, though, 30-year-old Clare took a while to foster her unique style.

"I never thought I would be a singer," she said. "And it wasn't until I was 26 I could be sure that if I opened my mouth it would be my voice that came out and not somebody else's."

The reason for Clare's confusion stems from her childhood shyness and her Little Voice-style introduction to jazz.

She explained: "Singing was always a very private thing for me. I only discovered jazz when I crept up into my grandmother's attic and found an old trunk full of 78s. I used to sit up there imitating singers like Ella Fitzgerald and Doris Day.

"Even when I left university I was employed as a sound-alike, rather than a singer in my own right. I used to do a bit of everything -- Karen Carpenter, Julie Andrews . . . even Madonna."

Although Clare went to the University of Wolverhampton to study music, she had no ambitions to be a professional singer. Instead her focus was the clarinet.

She explained: "My dad used to play the clarinet, so I just followed him into it.

"My parents were really proud that I was studying music at university. But I still remember the day I told them I wanted to be a singer, instead of a clarinetist. They looked absolutely terrified that I was throwing away this nice, stable career."

Clare's sudden transition from a orchestra member to jazz diva came about when she was thrown headlong into a practical exam and discovered a previously latent talent for improvisation.

She explained: "There was this exam I'd forgotten about and when I remembered I only had about 20 minutes to prepare. So some friends and I decided to go in as an improvised trio with me as the singer.

"We ended up getting better grades for that than anything we'd ever practised. And because it was improvised, it was double brownie points all round."

After university Clare went into advertising, before "retiring" at the age of 23 and settling in Bath to sing with a swing band. She said: "Out of the blue, I got a phone call from this guy who was organising this jazz festival in Wales.

"Stacey Kent had pulled out and he wanted me to stand in.

"I said 'yes', thinking, 'no way!' Can you imagine -- this crowd was there expecting Stacey Kent and they were going to get me?

"I think I lost about four stone in the car on the way there. But once I was on stage, it just kind of worked.

"On the back of that I recorded a demo and, in 2001, we were signed by a record company. It was as easy as that."

Clare's subsequent albums, That's The Way It Is and Orsino's Songs, brought her to the attention of the media man who has launched so many young jazz names -- Michael Parkinson. She said: "I got my big break last year when Parky started raving about my music on his Radio Two show. I actually met him at an awards do this year. I said, 'Excuse me -- I'm Clare Teal,' and he turned around and said, 'I love Clare Teal!'"

So impressed was the gravel-voiced Yorkshireman he has asked Clare to appear on his TV show this autumn.

Meanwhile, you can catch Clare on Sunday at the St Catherine's Hospice Jazz Festival in the Guild Hall Foyer, Preston, where she lines up alongside names like Jacqui Dankworth and the Stan Tracey Trio. For tickets call (01772) 258858.