Alex Winston | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Alexandra Leigh Winston |
| Born | 28 September 1987 Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, United States |
| Genres | Pop, Indie |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, piano |
| Years active | 2007 - present |
| Labels |
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Alexandra Leigh Winston (born September 28, 1987) is an American indie pop rock singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. [1]
Alex Winston grew up just outside Detroit. She is classically trained as an opera singer, and a self-taught guitarist, songwriter, and pianist. [2] Winston moved to New York City in 2010, where she began performing as both a solo artist and with bands. [3]
Working with the production duo The Knocks, [3] [4] Winston released her first EP, The Basement Covers, on independent label Heavy Roc Music later that year. Recorded in GarageBand, the EP received significant attention, particularly in the UK, where Winston was often compared to Kate Bush, Joanna Newsom, and PJ Harvey. In reviewing the record, The Guardian noted that "there hasn't really been a breakthrough US female from what you might call the alternative/Pitchfork camp, but Alex Winston stands a better chance than most." [5]
Two singles, "Choice Notes" (2010) and "Locomotive" (2011) were released and a music video was made for the latter. These two songs would later appear on the Sister Wife EP, released in February 2011. [6] In 2011, Winston signed with Island Records, [7] [8] and subsequently re-released The Sister Wife EP as well as a collection of Sister Wife remixes. Winston's debut album, King Con, came out on V2 Cooperative Music, a Universal imprint. The album was produced by Charlie Hugall (Florence and the Machine, Ed Sheeran, Crystal Fighters), Bjorn Yttling (Lykke Li), and The Knocks. [9]
"Choice Notes" was used as the music bed for a European and UK advertisement for the Hyundai ix20 [10] and in an ad for TJ Maxx. [11] Winston's 2011 track, "Velvet Elvis" was used as the background music to the Google Chrome advert entitled Julie Deane. [12] She has performed extensively in the US and in Europe, where she supported Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Gotye, among others. She has also played at UK festivals including Bestival, VFest, and the Underage Festival. [13] [14] [15]
Winston released the single "101 Vultures" on her own Rat Rizzo Records imprint in September 2013. [16] [17]
In 2015, Winston released The Day I Died EP on 300 Entertainment. [18]
On September 29, 2017, it was announced via Twitter that Winston had embarked on a new pop project entitled Post Precious with Max Hershenow of MS MR. [19] The duo released their Crown EP on July 13, 2018. [20]
Winston released the single, "Tourist," her first solo music in three years, on August 7, 2018. [21]
Winston's second album, Bingo!, released on July 23, 2024. [22]
The Bangles are an American all-female pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1981. The band recorded several singles that reached the U.S. top 10 during the 1980s, including "Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), "Manic Monday" (1986), "Hazy Shade of Winter" (1987), "In Your Room" (1988), and "Eternal Flame" (1989).
Lewis Allan Reed was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band The Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Although not commercially successful during its existence, the Velvet Underground came to be regarded as one of the most influential bands in the history of underground and alternative rock music. Reed's distinctive deadpan voice, poetic and transgressive lyrics, and experimental guitar playing were trademarks throughout his long career.
Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1971 by Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). They have been described as the "quintessential American power pop band", and "one of the most mythic and influential cult acts in all of rock & roll". In its first era, the band's musical style drew influence from 1960s pop acts such as the Beatles and the Byrds, producing a style that foreshadowed the alternative rock of the 1980s and 1990s. Before they broke up, Big Star created a "seminal body of work that never stopped inspiring succeeding generations" according to Rolling Stone. Three of Big Star's studio albums are included in the Rolling Stone list of the Top 500 Albums of All-Time.
Nicholas Drain Lowe is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in pub rock, power pop and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with being a vocalist, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica.
Christopher C. Rouleau, known professionally by his pseudonym Blaze Ya Dead Homie or simply Blaze, is an American rapper from Mount Clemens, Michigan. A representative of the hip hop music subgenres gangsta rap and horrorcore, his stage persona is a resurrected gang member who had been killed in the late 1980s.
Mitchell Blake Easter is a musician, songwriter, and record producer. Frequently associated with the jangle pop style of guitar music, he is known as producer of R.E.M.'s early albums from 1981 through 1984, and as frontman of the 1980s band Let's Active.
"Black Velvet" is a song written by Canadian songwriters Christopher Ward and David Tyson, and recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Alannah Myles. It was released as one of four singles from Myles' 1989 eponymous album from Atlantic Records. It became a number-one hit for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1990 and reached number one on the Album Rock Tracks chart, as well as number ten in her native Canada and number two on the UK Singles Chart. The power ballad also reached number one in Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland and was a major success in several other countries. It contains blues verses with a rock chorus.
WouterAndré "Wally" De Backer, known professionally as Gotye, is a Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His 2011 single "Somebody That I Used to Know", reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the best-selling song of 2012. This made him the fifth Australian-based artist to top the chart and the second born in Belgium.
Menahan Street Band is an American, Brooklyn, New York–based instrumental band formed in 2007, that plays funk and soul music. The band features musicians from Antibalas, El Michels Affair, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and the Budos Band. The group was founded by Thomas Brenneck while living in an apartment on Menahan Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. Their debut album, Make the Road by Walking, was released in 2008 on Dunham, a sublabel of Daptone Records and was followed by The Crossing in 2012.
The Menzingers are an American punk rock band from Scranton, Pennsylvania, formed in 2006. The band consists of Greg Barnett, Tom May, Eric Keen (bass) and Joe Godino (drums). To date, the band has released eight studio albums, with their most recent, Some of It Was True, released on October 13, 2023.
Bridget Kelly is an American singer and songwriter from New York City. Kelly, an R&B recording artist, has written songs for Kelly Clarkson. In 2008, she secured a recording contract with American rapper and hip-hop mogul Jay-Z's record label Roc Nation.
Terrace Jamahl Martin is an American musician, rapper, singer, and record producer. He is perhaps best known for producing records for several prominent artists in the music industry, including Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, the Game, Busta Rhymes, Stevie Wonder, Charlie Wilson, Raphael Saadiq and YG, among others. Martin is a multi-instrumentalist whose music production embodies funk, jazz, classical and soul. Martin released his sixth studio album, Velvet Portraits, on his label, Sounds of Crenshaw Records, through Ropeadope Records.
Kimbra Lee Johnson, known mononymously as Kimbra, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. Known for mixing pop with R&B, jazz and rock musical elements, her accolades include four ARIA Music Awards, two Grammy Awards and seven New Zealand Music Awards.
The Knocks is an American electronic music duo consisting of Ben "B-Roc" Ruttner and James "JPatt" Patterson. They have released 3 full length albums and 5 EPs on record labels Big Beat Records, Neon Gold, Atlantic Records, and their label HeavyRoc Music. They are known for their singles, "Classic" featuring the duo Powers, "Ride or Die" ft. Foster The People, "Bodies" ft. MUNA, collaborations with Sofi Tukker "Best Friend", Purple Disco Machine "Fireworks", ODESZA "Love Letter", and their remixes.
Making Mirrors is the third studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Gotye, released in Australia on 19 August 2011.
"Somebody That I Used to Know" is a song written, produced and performed by Belgian-Australian musician and singer Gotye, featuring vocals from New Zealand singer Kimbra. The song samples Luiz Bonfá's 1967 instrumental song "Seville", with additional instrumentations of beats and a xylophone playing a melody based on "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep". The song was released in Australia and New Zealand through Eleven Music on 5 July 2011 as the second single from Gotye's third studio album, Making Mirrors (2011). It was later released by Universal Music in December 2011 in the United Kingdom, and 20 January 2012 in Ireland and the United States. "Somebody That I Used to Know" was written and recorded by Gotye at his parents' house on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia, and is lyrically related to the experiences he has had with romantic relationships.
Belgian-Australian singer Gotye has released three studio albums, one remix album, one live album, one collaborative album, one video album, twelve singles, and at least twenty music videos. Having developed a passion for music in his childhood years, he began his musical career as the lead singer of Australian rock band Downstares. Following the group's dissolution, Gotye turned his interest to creating sample-based electronic music; he sent out demo tapes of his music to several Australian radio stations. In 2002, he formed the indie pop band The Basics with fellow singer-songwriter Kris Schroeder. Gotye later signed to Creative Vibes as a solo artist and released his debut studio album Boardface in February 2003.
HalfNoise is the musical project of Zac Farro, drummer of the American rock band Paramore. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Farro formed the project alongside Jason Clark following Farro's departure from Paramore in 2010. The project now consists of Farro alone. He released the debut self-titled EP of the project, HalfNoise, in 2012. Since then, he released four studio albums, Volcano Crowe (2014), Sudden Feeling (2016), Natural Disguise (2019), Motif (2021), and City Talk (2023); and two EPs The Velvet Face (2017) and Flowerss (2018).
DNCE was an American dance-rock band consisting of lead singer Joe Jonas, drummer Jack Lawless, and guitarist JinJoo Lee. Bassist and keyboardist Cole Whittle was a part of the band from when it started in 2015 to when it went on hiatus in 2018. DNCE's music is mainly dance-rock, dance-pop, pop rock, and funk-pop. The band signed with Republic Records, who gave them a record deal to release their debut single, "Cake by the Ocean", which was released on September 18, 2015. The song reached the top 10 on several charts, including on the US Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at number nine. Their debut extended play (EP), Swaay, was released on October 23, 2015. Their self-titled debut studio album was released on November 18, 2016. Their second EP, People to People, was released on June 15, 2018. They were also nominated for Favorite New Artist for the 2016 Kids' Choice Awards and Best Song to Lip Sync and Best Anthem for the 2016 Radio Disney Music Awards. The group performed at the 2017 Fashion Meets Music Festival. In February 2022, DNCE returned after their hiatus with a collaboration with Kygo titled "Dancing Feet". The band went back on hiatus in mid-2023.
Tim Shiel is an Australian radio announcer and electronic musician, best known for hosting the radio shows Something More on Triple J, and Arvos on Double J. Shiel has been releasing music since 2005 and has been used for film, television, advertising and award-winning video games. As a producer, mix engineer and consultant he has worked with artists including Flight Facilities, Planète, Georgia Fields, Hachiku, Braille Face, Huntly, Ben Abraham and Wrabel.
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