Alex Clare Artistfacts

September 14, 1985
Alexander George Clare was born in Southwark, London and grew up listening to his father's music. "I spent a lot of time with my dad listening to jazz records and going to jazz concerts," he told Spinner. "For an English person, I think I have a weird vocal tone because I learned to sing through blues and soul records."
Alex attended Westminster Kingsway College, where he studied to be a chef taking a NVQ in catering. The celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver, Ainsley Harriott and Antony Worrall Thompson are all notable alumni as are the musicians Eliza Doolittle, Jah Wobble and the late Sid Vicious.
Alex took up the trumpet and drums as a youngster. As he grew older he graduated to guitar-based songwriting, playing gigs with original material under the stage name of Alexander G. Muertos. He adopted his current moniker, Alex Clare, in 2010.
A demo earned Alex a deal with the Island label and a debut album, The Lateness of the Hour, was released in July 2011. Following the disappointing performance of the LP, Alex was dropped from his record contract. Forced to re-evaluate his career, he moved to Israel to sell real estate for a spell. "I was in a drought. I went back to school in Israel," he told USA Today. "I was taking a few months off, to chill out for a bit."
In March 2012 Alex's song "Too Close" went viral after it was picked by Microsoft for their Internet Explorer 9 ad campaign. Once it started appearing in the charts, the owners of Island, Universal Republic signed Alex to a distribution deal that allowed The Lateness Of The Hour to be released in America.
Alex is an Orthodox Jew and adheres to laws that prohibit work on the Sabbath from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. "It definitely bolsters you in hard times," he told Spinner regarding his faith. "There's the expression of 'betochen,' which means, trust or, or what ever happens, happens for the right reason -- that's a fundamental part of Judaism.
"No matter how bad things can seem, it's just the way it has to be at that time. When you realize that, you take that understanding upon yourself. It becomes a lot easier to deal with the blows of life."
Alex briefly dated his fellow Jew, Amy Winehouse, for about a year in the mid 2000s. They met while he was performing and working at a bar she frequented, the Hawley Arms in Camden, North London. After they broke up, Alex sold his story to the British tabloid newspaper News of the World which published it under the headline "Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can't Beehive in Bed."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

More Songfacts:

Wonderful TonightEric Clapton

Eric Clapton wrote "Wonderful Tonight" while waiting for his girlfriend, Pattie Boyd, to get ready for a night out. By the time she was ready, he had written the song.

RosannaToto

"Rosanna" by Toto got its name from the actress Rosanna Arquette, who was dating Toto keyboard player Steve Porcaro.

Ms. JacksonOutKast

The "Ms. Jackson" in the OutKast song is Erykah Badu's mother. Andre 3000 had a child with Badu, and felt she was portraying him as a lousy dad.

Black WaterThe Doobie Brothers

The Doobie Brothers' swampy #1 hit "Black Water" is about the Mississippi River, evoking the rafting adventures Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn.

I Love ItIcona Pop

Icona Pop consider "I Love It" a kiss-off to their boyfriends. "We just wanted to get the song out and get the pigs to hear it," group member Jawo said.

16-tear-old Lorde wrote the lyrics to "Royals" at home in just half an hour. She was inspired by the "ridiculous, unrelatable, unattainable opulence" that runs through such albums as Kanye West and Jay-Z's Watch the Throne and Lana Del Rey's Born To Die.