A formidable talent and on stage presence which melds subtle glamour and high-octane exuberance, she has emerged as Singapore's most exciting jazz personality. In performance Claressa Monteiro owns the stage, performing with purring intimacy or soaring joie de vie. Her recorded works have earned her international rave reviews for her beautiful, soaring voice and masterful delivery.

A career which begun in 1986, Claressa was introduced to the scene as a member of the Polygram stable of talents. She now has a discography which includes worldwide releases on Polygram/Phillips, Universal/EmArcy and EMI. Her music is heard on radio stations from Singapore to North America.

In 2002, Claressa released her landmark debut album 'Now & Then'.  It was the first worldwide jazz release by a South East Asian on a Universal Music label. A compelling endorsement by the world’s largest music group. She followed that release with a move to a new label, EMI and the unveiling of both a new image and a new musical direction.

Her EMI CD release “Words Can’t Describe” was released in November 2003. Response to the CD was immediate. It made the HMV Jazz Charts within the first week of its release and remained on the best seller lists at various major retailers islandwide for six months. By the end of 2004, “Words Can’t Describe” was available internationally crossing genres to become EMI Music’s best selling English language CD by a Singaporean artiste.

In July 2001, ELLE Magazine named Claressa one of Singapore's hottest music makers, an acknowledgement she continues to warrant through her high profile performance appearances and her ever growing versatility as both an artiste and a producer.  

Claressa has performed at the Singapore Arts Festival, the ChiJazz Festival-Singapore, Heineken Jazz under the Stars-Singapore, Heineken Hanoi Festival-Vietnam, Jazz Yatra, Mumbai-India and was presented twice during the 2002 StarHub Lunchtime Concert Series. In 2002 she was presented in her first full concert by Starhub over two nights at the famed Jubilee Hall-Singapore. In 2004 she was presented in a performance showcase by Daimler-Benz in Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia. In 2005, she performed at the Esplanade Concert Hall for the Inaugural Concert of The Mosaic Music Festival, singing alongside jazz legend James Moody.

In 2003, the singer’s unique talent saw her as the only singer presented at the Singapore Quality Awards with two other music artistes highlighted for excellence in their chosen music genre.  Enthralled by her performance, the organizers of the awards invited her back in 2004 to present the winner of the year’s SQA through a musical tribute.

Claressa Monteiro has been the subject of numerous feature profiles for TV including Channel News Asia’s ‘High Life’ which dubbed her Singapore’s most prominent jazz vocalist. Claressa is the first jazz vocalist in Asia to endorse Sennheiser microphones and has lent her name in product endorsement and awareness programs for Ebel, MontBlanc/UNICEF and Kerastase.

From Giorgio Armani’s choice of the singer as the epitome of the ‘Sensi’ woman to her stellar performance at Jazz to Say Thank You-A Concert for President S.R Nathan in 2005, Claressa Monteiro is the chanteuse du jour.

Claressa supports the following charities through fund raising and involvement in awareness programs. They need your help too.

Support them please. Claressa.

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