Alex was born in a small village down south to a somewhat musical family. Music was always a huge part of her everyday life and so it wasn’t long before she started to play various instruments. Her childhood was dominated by the sound of drums from her father and brothers incessant playing and so there was always a competition for the spotlight. Music at home was heavily influenced by her fathers love for country music. “From an early age I could sing word for word every Garth Brooks song. I loved it! My friends to this day still think I’m mad.” Other huge musical influences were the likes of the legendary Frank Sinatra, the Dire Straits, Dr Hook and Mozart. “My father had a very diverse taste in music and he would say – “there are only two types of music, good and bad” I think he nicked that of Louis Armstrong” At the age of twelve Alex joined the local Stage Coach, a weekend stage school for singing, dancing and drama. “I knew when I was very young that I was going to be a performer. I used to spend hours singing ‘The Little Mermaid’ and making up dance routines to Flashdance” It wasn’t until stage coach that she realised singing was her thing and like all young children she wanted a guitar to accompany her. “I remember getting my first guitar for Christmas, It was a Fender Stratocaster Squier. I never realised playing something was going to be so difficult and it wasn’t long before I had almost given up with the guitar completely” Alex continued to take lessons for years with a great teacher Andy Boulton who went on to become a great friend and incredibly influential person in Alex’s musical roots. “ I did my first gig with Andy, I can’t have been any older than 14 and absolutely petrified. I played Baker Street on the saxophone. It was fantastic” There as a turning point in Alex’s life when someone so influential burst onto the scene and it was inevitable that she was to become a singer. “My father came home one day clutching a record with a excited grin. It was the first time I had ever heard an Eva Cassidy record. Something inside me said ‘I want to be like that’ and that was it. I got an acoustic guitar and spent hours trying to recreate Eva Cassidy records, and I did it. Months later I reached the point where I could finger pick to a good standard and recreate her records with ease. This led me on to performing covers but adapting them similarly to the way Eva would have had she covered them, and what a buzz!” After mastering finger picking Alex continued lessons and joined a covers band with Andy, with the occasional acoustic gig around Salisbury. But it was short lived as Alex wanted more. “I realised if I was going to make it in music I would have to leave Salisbury. I had gone up to London to record a demo at Tin Pan Alley Studio, and by the second day I had been offered the job as studio manager. I moved to London a week later to start work” Whilst working at the studio Alex met some fantastic musicians and consequently got involved in various gigs around London at which time she was also gigging acoustically. This is really where her passion for song writing kicked in. “I always knew that the money in the industry was in writing so it was something that I had to try to see if I had it in me. My parents have a house in Spain so I jumped in the car and drove there to spend six weeks writing in solitude. It was the most idyllic setting. I have to isolate myself to write, when I’m in London I find to many distractions” Having returned from Spain Alex has been recording her new EP …like gold dust on my soul She is also currently performing with an indie pop band called ‘their hearts were full of spring’ check out their myspace. – www.myspace.com/theirheartswerefullofspring