International fame and fortune seemed a pipedream for Claire Hamill as she struggled to make a living on the pub music circuit.

At the age of 49 and with three children to support, dropping everything to make one last push for stardom was out of the question.

But as Claire sat in St Leonards wondering what the future held, she had no idea her musical heroine Eva Cassidy had been performing a song she had written 30 years before.

Claire's amazing break came two years ago when she surfed the internet for information about Eva, who died of skin cancer in 1996.

By sheer chance she found an interview from the Washington Post published six years before where Eva revealed some of the songs she had recorded.

One of them was You Take My Breath Away, which Claire had written as a struggling 19-year-old songwriter in 1973.

Claire said: "I had known a couple had recorded and released my song in America in the Seventies. Eva must have heard their version and liked it so much she decided to record it herself.

"I knew nothing about it until I had read that article, having tapped in Eva's name on the internet."

Claire, of Mercatoria, St Leonards, rang Eva's record company, Billingshurst-based Hot Records, to get confirmation it was her song the star had recorded. It said it could not help.

More than 12 months later, she received a call from Hot Records' executive Andrew Bowles who said: "Are you sitting down? I've got some good news for you."

Claire said: "He told me they had found my song and had decided to release it on Eva's album American Tune.

You Take My Breath Away is being released as a single next month, which could net Claire royalties of up to £100,000.

She said: "It is going to change my life in so many positive ways. After all these years of struggling, I will now be given the recognition as a successful songwriter which will help me enormously."

Claire, who has three daughters, Tara, 18, Susannah, 16, and Issy, 13, has produced eight albums, her first on Island Records at the age of 17.

She toured the UK, America and Europe with Gilbert O'Sullivan, Wishbone Ash and former Strawbs and Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman.

In 1973, she was introduced to the legendary Ray Davies and signed for his label, Konk, to record her third album, Stage Door Johnnies.