Born in London and brought up in the south west of England, Alex grew up in a musical family. In bands from the age of 14, he started gigging regularly while he was at Hull University in the north of England, and on graduating in philosophy in 1988, released his first vinyl record 'Watch the Sun light up your face’.

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In September of 1989, he decided to try his musical luck in the buzz of pre-Olympic Barcelona. Alex fell in love with the Mediterranean city and with record under arm contacted all the major recording studios in Barcelona and Madrid. In  six months he found himself regularly singing sessions for TV and after a year and a half, was offered an exclusive contract to join the writing and production team at Duy Studios, one of Spain's busiest recording studios to compose and record music for CDs, TV and film. He jumped at the chance. To be 23 and working full time in music was a dream come true. Barcelona became Alex's permanent home and since 1990 he has made his living entirely through his voice and music.

 

During the 90's Alex worked as part of a very successful team on a range of musical productions for Duy studios, honing his songwriting skills and working and alongside world class session musicians. He contributed as a composer and singer to over 200 TV campaigns from Coca Cola to Playstation including orchestral recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra in addition to international prize winning ads  at Cannes and New York advertising festivals for Audi and Volkswagen and many more.

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The production team worked long hours and Alex spent many weekends burning the midnight oil. Often working from brief to broadcast master in a matter of hours, Alex's time at the studio was an invaluable apprenticeship. Over the years he would become one of the few recording artists to contribute to Lion winning TV campaigns at Cannes International Festival in three different capacities; as a composer, a singer and a voice artist.

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Although still under contract to Duy as a writer, Alex continued performing his own material and singing freelance sessions for other studios and record companies. These included both mainstream commercial CDs alongside leftfield releases such as his work with the critically acclaimed band Gringos and theatre group Fura dels Baus. In 1994 he recorded a cover of seventies track   'Hooked on a feeling' - for Blanco y Negro records that became a six-week number one summer hit in Spain and was subsequently licensed to several other European countries including Warner UK, Italy and Sweden. Alex signed to Blanco and Negro Records and promoted the record under the pseudonym Tony Wilson including TV appearances and a year of live shows promoting several successful follow up singles. A world away from Alex's own acoustic work, it was a great learning experience enabling him to see the promotional side of the music business from the inside. During this time Alex set up a music publishing company Warner Tales Music with writing partners Cales Mateu and Pito Costa and released numerous commercial releases primarily for the Spanish pop market. By the end of the 90’s he had recorded on 50 CD releases for both major and independent record companies and publishers including Rough Trade, BMG, Warner UK, Polydor, Sony, EMI, Blanco & Negro, Tempo Music, Arcade, Universal, Sony ATV

 

In 1997 wanting to spend more time on his own material, Alex brought out a CD compliation of 29 of his songs many of which had started life as ads with the aim of pitching to and placing with well known artists and publishing companies. 

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While Alex had enjoyed the challenge of working at Duy Sonido and the journey he had made up to that point as a songwriter, he also realised that some the strongest songs he had written (and certainly lyrically) were the ones written without a brief. A song from the heart always seemed to Alex to have a greater emotional intensity no matter how well crafted the 'made to measure' song might be. After many years of being asked to write and sing 'in the style of', it became increasingly important for Alex to try to find his own voice as both a performer and song-writer. As time went by his music would become more and more lyric driven, acoustic and personal.

 

In the mid 90's alongside his music career Alex's spoken voice and acting talents became increasingly in demand. He was successfully cast in many animated series and features including the lead role in Filmax's 'Goya' winning animated feature 'El Cid the legend' and as narrator for a series of 'Connie the Cow for the Disney channel in the UK and Noggin (Nickelodeon) in the USA.

 

In 1998 Alex began work on his first solo album 'Time for Life' and recording a selection of his best and most heartfelt songs both musically and lyrically to date and in an acoustic setting. There were no clicks or loops and the production was very much a counterpoint to the more polished production sounds of the work at Duy. Entirely self financed, Alex enlisted the support of Canadian producer Cece Giannotti and Catalan Joan Vinyals and after rehearsals and a warm up show with a full band, they went into Barcelona's Studio 84 for a three week recording session. The result was a fresh, passionate and compelling solo debut, blending the acoustic with the electric. His first child Sam was born in November that year.

 

In 2000 Alex become a proud father of twins - With three children under the age of two and a busier recording schedule than ever, he took a 'break' from writing and recording his own material to spend more time with his young family.

 

Alex got back to songwriting in 2002, and in a matter of months, the songs which would make up his second solo acoustic album Uncut Diamond were ready to record. As Alex said on its release,   "I wanted to make an honest acoustic album, a collection of songs that articulated what I was feeling at the time and that sounded like me...for the first time I think I've managed it!'. A heartfelt return to basics, this album released in 2004 combined intimate and reflective lyrics with a gentle and low key production. Many of the vocal and acoustic guitar tracks were recorded in single takes and Alex's friends who collaborated on the CD included some of the finest musicians in Spain. Ironically, an album that had started life without any commercial pretentions began to get talked about.  Leading US online retailer CD baby.com selected Uncut Diamond as 'Editor's Pick' in several categories, and a steady stream of albums was sold across 10 countries and 18 states of the USA. Strong reviews in the music press in Spain and Germany lead to the CD being released by Acoustic Music Records / Rough Trade Distribution in Germany. A 'desert' style video was shot in 35 mm film in the Ebro Delta Spain, by director Sergi Barbera and the CD received airplay across Germany and on BBC radio in the UK. 'Uncut Diamond' also marked a return to live work for Alex teaming up with top guitarists Joan Vinyals and Cristo Fontecilla with concerts including the Open Strings festival in Osnabruck Germany and club dates in Spain and the UK. Total Guitar Magazine Spain editor Joan Sanmarti, described the album like this: 'Inspired songs, exquisite production and excellent musicianship. A truly magnificent collection of songs. Music to let yourself go'.

 

Alex continued throughout the mid 2000s, with his writing dubbing and soundtrack work with many commercially successful cuts as a writer and singer. recordings include singing and writing credits on Filmax's feature film 'Donkey Xote', adapting Eurovision single 'Casanova' sung by Spanish star 'Gisela' for Sony/ATV and singing on the Goya award-winning feature film “My Life Without Me” starring Deborah Harry and produced by Pedro Almodovar. Other recordings included vocals on David Civera’s Spanish #1 hit “Bye Bye”, and co-writing “Time to Live”, a hit for Spanish pop diva Rosa López. He has worked with and co-written songs for Spanish artists including Marta Sanchez, Gisella. Alex's recent acting work has included series and features included narrating 'Zoomix'. 'Little King Masias', 'Perez, The Hairy Tooth Fairy', 'Nocturna' , 'Goomer', 'The Three Bears' and '20-20'. He also directed the dubbing for the feature 'Flying Heroes' and was asked to direct series for Cromosoma Films. Alongside his partners Carles Mateu and Pito Costa at Warner Tales Music Publishing, they recorded and released a number of successful CDs primarily for the Spanish market following high profile International TV campaigns they had produced music for including San Miguel and Coca Cola.

 

Released in 2008, Alex's third solo acoustic album 'Green to Blue' once again distributed by Acoustic Music Records/ Rough Trade. Starkly personal, the songs had an intimacy in the lyrics rarely found.  'Green To Blue' reflected on friendship, distance, love and loss taking a fond and nostalgic look back at an idyllic childhood spent in the 'Green' of the Cotswolds in the UK, and 18 years in the 'Blue' of his Mediterranean adopted home - Barcelona. Produced by Alex, Cristo Fontecilla with a lot of help from long-time musical cohort Joan Vinyals, the new album flowed along at a more upbeat pace than Uncut Diamond, but included the crafted ballads so characteristic of Alex's work. While second and third albums sometimes falter, Alex seemed to be going from strength as both songwriter and performing artist. Once again, the group of international musicians who played on 'Green To Blue' included some of the best musical talent in Spain and they followed up with successful festival and club appearances in the UK, Germany and Spain, with Joan Vinyals and Cris Fontecilla including the Open Strings Festival in Germany.

 

Over the last decade,  Alex´s work as a voice actor has been increasingly in demand and he has become a globally recognized voice actor. With a recording schedule of 700 plus recordings a year for clients in over 90 countries worldwide he has never been busier. He has narrated numerous series and documentaries for companies including award winning documentaries for National Geographic, NBC, Sky, Fox International, CBS, Syfy and Fox Sports and contributed to numerous  cartoon series for channels including Disney, Cartoon Network, Netflix, Nickelodeon and many others. A recent highlight was a three-week session in Los Angeles recording the voice of God in NIV Live featuring the voices of Oscar, Emmy and Grammy Award nominees and winners including Cuba Gooding Jnr, Loretta Devine, Norm Lewis and Patricia Heaton.

 

In 2012 Alex started writing and playing with songwriter, guitarist and live sound maestro Robb Allan, well-known for his work as front-of-house engineer for bands including Radiohead, Massive Attack, Coldplay and The Manic Street Preachers). In 2017 they released the acoustic album Ordinary day - a life affirming album of crafted acoustic driven music; ten songs written from the heart about life, loss, love and friendship. Recorded in Barcelona, the sun shone through every chord. A collection of songs five years in the making from two musicians who have spent a lifetime in sound and music. Reflecting on their families, love and the struggle to make sense of a changing world, has resulted in the delicate, empathetic and honest lyrics on Ordinary Day. Their friendship, ‘joie de vivre’ and love of their adopted Mediterranean home make these songs shine.

 

In 2020 Alex is beginning work on a new musical project alongside a writing a children's book and is busier than ever with his International voice acting career.

 

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