Claudia Lennear

Worked as backing singer on Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen album and tour,Claudia Lennear (also rendered as Linnear and 'Lenier' when she appeared on Stephen Stills' albums) is an American soul singer who has worked with many acts including Ike and Tina Turner, Humble Pie and Joe Cocker. She recorded a solo album entitled Phew! in 1973. She was part of a trio of backup singers for Delaney and Bonnie, that also included Rita Coolidge. Lennear's meetings with Mick Jagger and David Bowie are often cited as inspiration for The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" (1971) and Bowie's "Lady Grinning Soul" (1973). NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray noted in 1981 that she was "yet to reply in song to either Mick or David". Lennear had a bit part in the 1974 film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, playing the secretary who asks Clint Eastwood's character for his Social Security number. She appeared in the August 1974 issue of Playboy magazine in a pictorial titled "Brown Sugar". Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.