Biography

Hi there. I’m Annie Clements. I play bass and I sing and I love doing it! Here’s some info about me:

I was raised in New Orleans in a musical family. My dad is a phenomenal guitar player and toured with dozens of notable New Orleans fixtures while I was growing up. I studied piano for about 8 years until dad gave me a bass for my 13th birthday (basically because he needed a bassist for his band). I spent my high school years gigging around New Orleans with him, playing clubs in the French Quarter, some pretty wild Mardi Gras balls, and appearing at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival on numerous occasions. I’m the oldest of 6 kids, the rest of which are extremely talented and wonderful people.

I moved to Boston after high school to attend the Berklee College of Music where I majored in Bass Performance with Voice as a doubling instrument. I learned a lot at Berklee, most importantly how to function effectively as a bassist and vocalist in tons of different bands. It was very cold in Boston. After graduation, I moved back to New Orleans.

Back home I signed up with a great New Orleans artist named Theresa Andersson. This was a huge opportunity for me. Theresa was signed to Basin Street Records and was (and continues to be) a hugely popular artist down in New Orleans. While working with Theresa I got to perform at Wembley Stadium for Fender’s 50th Anniversary of the Stratocaster alongside members of The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Pink Floyd and Queen. This was one of the top 10 musical moments of my lifetime. We also played a part in the movie “The Brooke Ellison Story” which was the last film directed by Christopher Reeve before he passed away. Pretty inspiring stuff!

I later joined up with a band of brothers in a southern rock trio called the Sons of William. We spent a year and a half opening for one of my all time favorite artists, Marc Broussard. This was a period of intense musical and personal growth for me. I loved every minute of every show and really played my heart out every night. I made a record with these guys of which I’m extremely proud and the Sons are a band I hope you will check out.

At the end of August, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit. I was living in Mid City in a small apartment that was high enough off of the ground to not flood. My mom’s house flooded however, and regardless of which parts of the city did or did not flood, everyone was evacuated and not allowed to come back for a month and a half. Luckily, my mom’s office had a branch in Baton Rouge so we found an apartment up there and moved back in together, along with my aunt, her boyfriend, my brother Joey, and the guy who fixed computers at my mom’s firm. As sad as it was to lose so much in the flood, it was very inspiring to come together with everyone around me and move forward with our lives.

We were able to relocate to an apartment near my mom’s house in New Orleans around Christmas time so she could over-see the rebuilding of our home. It was while I was living in this apartment that I received a call from Kristian Bush and was asked to audition for Sugarland. I wasn’t too familiar with country music at the time but had a feeling that this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. I went to Best Buy and bought the CD and learned “Something More,” “Just Might,” and “Fly Away,” in the kitchen of the apartment. Then I drove up to Nashville on a wing and prayer and auditioned. I was hobbling over to Walmart on my spare doughnut-tire to replace a flat when I got the call telling me I’d gotten the gig. I screamed my head off for about 10 minutes.

Now, I’m touring with Sugarland, the multi-platinum country group on Mercury records. Highlights with Sugarland include appearances on their records and in several music videos, performances on Jay Leno and the Grand Ole Opry, performing live with Beyonce’ at the American Music Awards (totally awesome) and with Bon Jovi on Good Morning America, and amazing opening slots on Kenny Chesney and Brooks and Dunn’s tours. Sugarland’s latest release “Love on the Inside” broke records in it’s first weeks of release reaching the number 1 position on both the country AND pop charts. Sugarland is currently headlining arenas around the country.

I now live in Nashville, which is a city I’ve grown to love. I’m finding my little niches out here but am always looking for suggestions for cool places to hang. (I need to find a good sports bar to watch Saints football). I really enjoy tracking background vocals in the studio and am available for any and all projects, either in town or while out on the road using our portable pro-tools rig. Hit me up if you need some sweet background sounds.

So that’s my story for now!

Thanks for reading! — Annie