Biographies – Storm Deva

Storm Deva

…is composer/singer/pianist Carollyn Eden and writer/astronomer/musician Stuart Clark. First meeting in 2012 while working on The Enlightenment Café, an interactive science theatre show at London’s Old Vic Tunnels, Waterloo, it was here that they discovered their shared passion for music and the natural world. Carried by life on separate paths for several years it was only in 2017 after performing two of Carollyn’s songs together at the Spice of Life, Leicester Square, that they made the decision to form a band. The name Storm Deva had been chosen a few years earlier by Carollyn, while on that seemingly elusive quest to find a still available, captivating band name.

Working together on the music, they began to search for the sound world that best expressed their love of classical, rock and folk and would bring each song fully alive. Much experimentation followed. Eventually, the rich harmonic world of classical music formed around a solid core that beats with a rock heart. The final touch was to combine these strong elements with a subtle blend of folk and world elements to create the sound of Storm Deva.

During this exciting time new songs were also written. For the first time they featured rock guitar from the outset. The Journey was born out of Stuart’s powerful verse guitar riff and Carpe Diem featured a restless guitar riff of his as its opening.

Having travelled upon many stormy seas and at times through seemingly insurmountable challenges, Storm Deva is now ready to venture out into the world. We invite you to join the adventure.

Let this journey begin.

Carollyn Eden

As a young person In Leeds, Carollyn learnt piano, flute and singing. She played and sang in many groups including the Leeds Youth Orchestra, and regularly performed in concerts and competitive festivals as a soloist and group member. At nineteen she went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she was a 1st study pianist, also studying singing, composition and orchestration.

Following Guildhall, Carollyn further studied singing with a host of teachers, including Paula Anglin, Mary Hammond, Laura Sarti, Sally Burgess and Emma Kirkby. During this time Carollyn began writing her own songs and recorded two EPs as Astraea and performed the material with a small band at venues including The Half Moon- Putney and the 12 Bar Blues Club.

Keen to keep developing her singing voice, Carollyn then returned to classical singing for some years and in 2008 wrote the libretto for the short opera, Blood Rose by composer Mark Glentworth. This was followed by the opera Ula in 2009, also with Mark Glentworth, for which she wrote the original story and libretto. She sang the lead role in both operas. Then in 2010 early music started to enter her life and she performed with My Lady’s Chamber, Chelys, and harpsichordist Masumi Yamamoto, as well as forming her own trio The Nightingale Consort with cellist Hannah Reeves, who plays on Storm Deva’s debut album. The beauty and simplicity of this music, coupled with some dramatic life events, led Carollyn back to songwriting, and it was then she realised composing music lay at the heart of who she is. Composition has been at the centre of her life since then. Her varied musical background has meant that a blend of rock, folk and world music combined with a classical core is her natural style.

As well as being a songwriter, Carollyn has composed the original score for the BBC Radio 3 Essay Series Music of the Spheres. She also wrote music for the BBC World Service documentary Space 1977, and arranged and recorded music for the BBC Radio 4 dramas The Hours and Echo Point. She has composed and recorded music for videos by the European Space Agency including The Motion of Two Million Stars which was shown at the 2017 Paris Air Show. She recently composed music for the video announcing the United Nation’s inaugural International Moon Day.

Carollyn co-founded Storm Deva with guitarist Stuart Clark. She is the principal song writer, lead singer and pianist. “Carollyn’s gift is her ability to take the listener to the very heart of the moment that has inspired her,” says Stuart.

Stuart Clark

Despite loving music from a young child, Stuart didn’t really pick up the guitar until he got to university. There, while studying astrophysics, he found that everyone who loved music as much as he did played an instrument.

Years of self taught experimentation followed, learning from tabs and picking up a multitude of bad technique habits that he now spends his time trying to correct. His influences include great rock acts such as Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, and his all time favourite band, Rush, and the film soundtracks of John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner.

Stuart studied jazz guitar improvisation for several years and was later coached by Lorenzo de Feo who helped him understand guitar playing in much greater depth, which made it easier for Stuart to accept who he was as a player rather than chase some mirage of what he thought being a guitar player meant.

Over the years Stuart has played in local bands. Mainly these have been cover bands and pit bands for local theatre productions. He has played lead guitar in a Little Shop of Horrors, A Slice of Saturday Night (Barn Theatre, Welwyn), Jesus Christ Superstar (Sandpit Theatre, St. Albans), Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds, The Book of Mirrors, and mandolin in Martin Guerre (Minack Theatre, Cornwall).

When Carollyn played Stuart her songs, they immediately spoke to him. He identified with their sophisticated interplay of power and beauty, and he knew he wanted to be involved in bringing them to an audience. Together, they co-founded Storm Deva. Stuart helped arrange the material into a rock setting and contributed riffs to the songs Carpe Diem and The Journey.

“Stuart responds to music viscerally and his ability to connect to a song’s heart and its every detail is a joy to experience,” says Carollyn.