Paul Clifford is from Kingston, Ontario. He began playing bass in the early 1990s in local bands and later studied jazz bass at the University of Toronto with bassists Jim Vivian and Dave Young, jazz composition with Phil Nimmons and jazz improvisation with Kirk MacDonald and Jim Lewis.
He currently plays mainly with local artists such as Dave Barton, Greg Runions, Chris Alfano, Rich Bannard, Chantal Thompson and Kyra & Tully.