His debut album, The Lateness of the Hour, was released in the UK on 11 July 2011 on Island Records[3] and was produced by Mike Spencer and Major Lazer.

That drew the young Clare to blues and soul artists such as Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder, which eventually led to interests in drum and bass, dubstep and UK garage.

Though he took up the trumpet and drums when he was young, he eventually placed an emphasis on guitar and songwriting, playing open mic nights with original material.

[8] Clare attended Bishop Challoner School in Bromley and then Westminster Kingsway College from 2002, studying for an National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in catering.

[15] Soon after the song appearance in charts, Universal Republic signed Clare to a distribution deal that allowed The Lateness of the Hour to be released in America in March 2012.

The album, which features stripped-back versions of previous songs as well as unreleased tracks, was recorded during a three-day studio session in Leeds over the summer of 2017.

[23][24] Collaborations with other artists include: Clare is also an international speaker, and has appeared in several sessions of South Africa's Sinai Indaba program.

[21] In 2006, before gaining critical success, Clare dated British singer Amy Winehouse (with whom he shared a birthday), but the relationship only lasted about a year.

When Winehouse started dating other men, Clare sold his story regarding his relationship with her to the tabloid News of the World, which ran it with the headline "Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can't Beehive in Bed".