 |
A-L-X | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Alex Gardner |
| Born | 23 July 1991 Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Labels | |
Alex Gardner, better known by his stage name, A-L-X (born 23 July 1991, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish pop singer. He released two singles in 2010 as Alex Gardner, "I'm Not Mad" and "Feeling Fine", before changing his stage name to A-L-X and releasing his third single, "Beautiful Criminal", in 2014.
Gardner was brought up in a musical atmosphere; his mother was a violinist with an orchestra and his older brother, Adam Gardner, is a singer and guitarist in Scottish metal band, Mind Set A Threat. He was given piano lessons from the age of five, but quit at the age of 6. He owned his first guitar when he was 10 years old. Having left The Edinburgh Academy aged 16, Gardner set out to start an early music career in London. [1] He wrote "I'm Not Mad", at the age of 13, and altered the song through the course of four or five years, ultimately releasing it as his first single. It peaked at No. 44 in the UK Singles Chart.
Gardner's debut single and lead single from the album "I'm Not Mad" was released on 29 March 2010 in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In the UK, Gardner performed the song on shows such as GMTV and This Morning . He performed an acoustic set of the song on the Scottish TV show The Hour , which was Gardner's debut television appearance in the United Kingdom. Gardner is working with UK production house Xenomania. He has also worked with the crew members of 'Casper'. Gardner is worked on an upcoming untitled debut album and travelled to the United States to produce more songs for his album. Nick Levine of Digital Spy gave the song a positive review stating writing that Gardner's voice is "rich, manly and blessed with an intriguing hint of huskiness to it." The tune was described as "a glossy-yet-gloomy electropop affair, and very much a grower not a shower." [2]
Fraser McAlpine of BBC Chart Blog described the song as pleasant though unmemorable background music that is "neither so offensively irksome to my refined palate that I'm tempted to smash the speakers, or so astonishingly mind-sparklingly brilliant that my productivity shoots through the floor." He follows on to criticise the repetitive nature of the whole affair with "After the first minute or so, nothing happens. We just go round and around on the same eight bar of well-mannered, polite synthpop. Oh sure, there's a breakdown section, but it's not particularly arresting and comes across as a transparent attempt to break things up and then drum up some interest in the return of that bassline again" [3]
To help promote the album, Gardner was one of the support acts for Pixie Lott's 'The Crazy Cats Tour' starting in November 2010. [4] However, the album was never released and Gardner was ultimately dropped from his label.
In 2014, Gardner updated his Twitter account to reflect his new stage name, A-L-X [5] and performed his new single "Beautiful Criminal" as a BBC Introducing act at Radio 1's Big Weekend. [6]
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | SCO | ITA | |||||
| As Alex Gardner | |||||||
| 2010 | Alex Gardner (Italy) | — | — | — | |||
| As A-L-X | |||||||
| 2015 | Timebomb | — | — | — | |||
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | SCO | ||||||
| As Alex Gardner | |||||||
| 2010 | "I'm Not Mad" | 44 | 21 | ||||
| "Feeling Fine" | 140 | — | |||||
| As A-L-X | |||||||
| 2014 | "Beautiful Criminal" | — | — | ||||
| "Allure" | — | — | |||||
| "Timebomb" | — | — | |||||
The Bay City Rollers are a Scottish pop rock band known for their worldwide teen idol popularity in the 1970s. They have been called the "tartan teen sensations from Edinburgh" and "the first of many acts heralded as the 'biggest group since the Beatles'".
Michael Marra was a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician from Dundee, Scotland. Known as the Bard of Dundee, Marra was a solo performer who toured the UK and performed in arts centres, theatres, folk clubs and village halls. While mainly known as a songwriter, he also worked extensively in theatre, radio and television. His songwriting was rooted in Scottish life and he found an audience within and beyond the folk music scene, which led to him working as a support musician for performers including Van Morrison, The Proclaimers, Barbara Dickson and Deacon Blue. His song "Hermless" was somewhat humorously suggested as a potential Scottish national anthem.
Myles MacInnes, better known by his stage name Mylo, is a Scottish electronic musician and record producer. His 2004 album Destroy Rock & Roll peaked at number 26 in the UK Albums Chart. He is best known for his 2005 single "Doctor Pressure", a mashup of his own track "Drop the Pressure" and Miami Sound Machine's 1984 song "Dr. Beat"; it peaked at number 3 in the UK Singles Chart.
Kenneth McKellar was a Scottish tenor.
Leslie Cameron Harvey was a guitarist in several Scottish bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s, most notably Stone the Crows. He was the brother of Alex Harvey.
Kerry McGregor was a Scottish singer-songwriter and actress from West Lothian. McGregor appeared on the third UK series of The X Factor, where she was mentored by Sharon Osbourne. McGregor died on 4 January 2012 of complications from bladder cancer, a disease she had suffered from for years.
Leon Jackson is a Scottish singer. He won the fourth series of British talent show The X Factor in 2007. Following his win, Jackson was the main star of his on-web series entitled Leon's Life, which ran from 2007 until 2008. Jackson's début album, Right Now (2008) finished the year as the 75th best-selling album in the UK, and included the singles, "Don't Call This Love", "Creative" and "Stargazing".
Paolo Giovanni Nutini is a Scottish singer, songwriter and musician from Paisley. Nutini's debut album, These Streets (2006), peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart. Its follow-up, Sunny Side Up (2009), debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart. Both albums have been certified quintuple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. Five years later, Nutini released his third studio album, Caustic Love, in April 2014. The album received positive reviews from music critics. Caustic Love debuted at number one on the UK Album Charts and was certified platinum by the BPI in June 2014. While Nutini has not formally addressed it, he has been on a hiatus since 2017.
Alex Cornish is an Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter. He was educated at The Harvey Grammar School, Folkestone.
"Oopsy Daisy" is a song by British rapper Chipmunk. It features uncredited vocals by R&B singer Dayo Olatunji, who performs the bridge and chorus. The song was produced by the pop production duo Kyle James & Parker Ighile, who co-wrote the top line alongside Talay Riley. The song was officially released on 4 October 2009. An official remix has been made with Boy Better Know.
"Pencil Full of Lead" is a song by Scottish recording artist Paolo Nutini. The song was released in the United Kingdom on 2 November 2009 as the third single from his second studio album, Sunny Side Up (2009). A music video of the song having been released on 20 October 2009. The song peaked at #17 on the UK Singles Chart and #33 on the Irish Singles Chart.
"Many of Horror" is an alternative rock song written by Simon Neil of Scottish band Biffy Clyro for their fifth studio album Only Revolutions. The song was released as the fourth single from the album on 18 January 2010. The song was recorded at Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood, California and mastered at Masterdisk. The lyrics of the song concern Neil's wife and family. Jacknife Lee, who previously remixed "Silhouettes" for the Biffy Clyro and Sucioperro side project Marmaduke Duke, recorded a remix for the song.
"I'm Not Mad" is the debut single from Scottish pop singer Alex Gardner. It was released as a CD single and download on 29 March 2010 in the United Kingdom and Ireland on A&M Records. The song was produced by Xenomania.
"Best Behaviour" is a song by British hip hop group N-Dubz. The song was produced by Dino Contostavlos and Richard Rawson and co-written by Tula Contostavlos, Mr Hudson, Tony Dixon, Fazer and Dappy. It was released on 17 October 2010 as the second single from N-Dubz's third studio album, Love.Live.Life. Musically, the song is a R&B ballad with prominent British hip hop characteristics. The initial writing consisted of the group being inspired to pen a song for their launch in the United States in addition to Dappy's feelings for his girlfriend, Kaye Vassell. It was inspired by the group's touring lifestyle and their enthusiastic fans. Lyrically, it is about trading one-night stands with people in favour of real love.
"Runaway" is the second official single by British MC and rapper, Devlin which features DJ Yasmin. The single was released in October 2010 for digital download.
"Gold Dust" is a song by British-based DJ and record producer DJ Fresh. It is the third single released from his second album Kryptonite.
"Monster" is a song by British rapper Professor Green. This is the third single from his second album, Alive Till I'm Dead, featuring uncredited vocals from British singer and rapper Example. It was released on 1 October 2010 by digital download and on 4 October 2010 by CD single. The song was added to the BBC Radio 1 A-List.
"Take Control" is the third single from London-based collective Roll Deep's album, Winner Stays On, and preludes the album release by a week. The song, which features vocals from singer Alesha Dixon, released in the UK on 31 October.
Nina Lindberg Nesbitt is a Scottish singer and songwriter. She has two top 40 singles, and is known for her single "Stay Out", which peaked at 21 on the UK Singles Chart in April 2013.
Brad McKay is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Scottish League One club, Falkirk. McKay has previously played for Heart of Midlothian, St Johnstone and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, as well as Penicuik Athletic, Stenhousemuir and Dunfermline Athletic on loan.
