Remembering Claire West Parr
• UPDATED: We were saddened to hear of the passing of Claire West Parr, multi-talented mother, record promotion veteran, singer-songwriter, hat designer and co-Founder of Live In The Vineyard, who died Monday, Feb. 1 after a lengthy battle with serious health issues.
Parr’s record promotion career started at Enigma/EMI in 1989, followed by executive stints at Geffen and Curb Records. In the early 2000s she moved to Connecticut and hung out the shingle on The Navigator Company, an independent promotion and marketing firm. It was a decade ago when she and Bobbii Hach-Jacobs founded the massively successful Napa Valley concert/wine/food series, Live In The Vineyard, which has become the launching pad for many budding recording artists. In 2017 Claire relocated to Nashville and launched a hat-making business, Claire West Design, which became so popular it earned her a feature story in Forbes.
“Claire played a major role in my professional career,” said Sam Kaiser of MVP Entertainment. “In 1989, I moved from New York to Los Angeles to take a position with Enigma/EMI Records. Claire West was referred to me by (the late) Kevin Metheny. I hired her immediately, put her in charge of our Adult Pop Promotion and she was an immediate star in the music promotion world. I left Enigma/EMI in 1991 and it was around this time that Claire moved on to Geffen Records… And the rest is history. What an extraordinary career and one-of-a-kind human being. I am forever grateful to be blessed to call her my friend and mourn her passing. We have lost one of the good ones.”
Bob Catania of What’s In Store Music shared his fond memories of Claire in a Facebook post that reads, in part, “While I knew Claire from the industry, we really connected during my days at Curb Records. She not only helped me get the job there… she was a partner in all I did in my time there. Claire was one of the top promotion executives I ever worked with and also an innovator who never stopped coming up with ways to help promote all the artists she loved dearly. Her health issues the last few years showed her tenacity for life and it is heartbreaking to see her battle lost. Claire was a force of nature and a one of a kind personality. She will be missed… RIP Claire.”
Claire is survived her son, Elijah and former husband, Bob Parr, who said that Claire did not want any memorial services or a burial… she will be cremated. Claire’s Facebook page is already filled with loving remembrances from all of the people whose lives she touched over the years.
