Alexander Paul Kapranos Huntley (born 20 March 1972) is a Scottish musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and author. He is best known as the lead singer and guitarist of Scottish rock band

Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. Fr ...

. He has also been a part of the supergroups FFS and BNQT.

Early life

Alexander Paul Kapranos Huntley was born on 20 March 1972 in Almondsbury, South Gloucestershire, the son of an English mother and Greek father. As a two-month-old he moved to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, moving to Scotland when he was 7. He attended the

University of Aberdeen , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

to study Theology. After dropping out, he continued studying at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

, gaining a BA. In 2005, he was awarded Strathclyde's Alumnus of the Year. Kapranos worked as a chef, barman, music promoter, driver, welder and IT lecturer prior to his success in music. From the early 1990s, he was a fixture of the Glasgow music scene, running live nights at The 13th Note Café, most notably The Kazoo Club. While working at the city's Anniesland College, he played in some of Glasgow's popular bands, including The Blisters (later known as

The Karelia ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

), The Amphetameanies and

The Yummy Fur : ''See also Yummy Fur (comic) by Chester Brown..'' The Yummy Fur were a Scottish indie rock band from Glasgow, formed in 1992, and disbanded 1999. The band consisted of lead singer and guitarist John McKeown and a regularly changing line-up of ...

. He is also known to have contributed to the noise act Urusei Yatsura and Lung Leg recordings.

Career

Performing

After dropping "Huntley" from his name, Kapranos formed

in 2001. The band was composed of Kapranos, Nick McCarthy (guitar, keyboard, backup vocals), Paul Thomson (drums, backup vocals, sometimes guitar) and Bob Hardy (bass). The band saw chart success after their second single " Take Me Out" was released on 12 January 2004 and reached Number 3 in the UK Charts followed by their debut album ''

'' (released 9 February 2004), which debuted on the UK album chart at Number 3. The band went on to win the 2004

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

and two

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

in 2005 for Best British Group and Best British Rock Act. In 2015, the band collaborated with American band Sparks to form a supergroup named FFS.

Producing

Kapranos produced ''

Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever ''Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever'' is the third studio album by English indie rock band The Cribs. It was released on 21 May 2007 through Wichita Recordings in the UK and Warner Bros. Records in the U.S. Critically acclaimed, the album p ...

'' – the third album by British

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...

group

The Cribs The Cribs are a British indie rock band originally from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, that formed in 2001. The band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The Smiths guit ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, B.C., released on 14 May 2007. He also produced their single-only track " Don't You Wanna Be Relevant?", which was featured with "Our Bovine Public" (from ''Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever'') as a double A-side. Kapranos makes a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

in the video for "

Our Bovine Public "Don't You Wanna Be Relevant? / Our Bovine Public" arrived in October 2007 as a Double A-side single by British indie rock band The Cribs. The first song, "Don't You Wanna be Relevant?', provides listeners with a new non-LP single, whereas the se ...

". His remix of the single "

New in Town ''New in Town'' is a 2009 American-Canadian romantic comedy drama film, directed by Jonas Elmer, starring Renée Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr., and Siobhan Fallon Hogan. It was filmed in Winnipeg and Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada, and in Los Angeles ...

" by British pop singer

Little Boots Victoria Christina Hesketh (born 4 May 1984), better known by her stage name Little Boots, is an English electropop singer-songwriter and DJ. She was previously a member of the band Dead Disco. Since performing as a solo artist she has releas ...

was featured on various formats of the singles release. He produced the debut album by British indie rock band

Citizens! Citizens! are an English indie rock band from London, formed in the summer of 2010. The band consists of Tom Burke (vocals), Thom Rhoades (guitar), Martyn Richmond (bass), Lawrence Diamond (keyboards) and Mike Evans (drums). Their debut album '' ...

– ''Here We Are'', which was released by Kitsuné on 28 May 2012. He produced the second album of Scottish guitarist

RM Hubbert RM Hubbert (Robert McArthur Hubbert, born 12 May 1974 in Glasgow, Scotland), commonly known as Hubby, is a Scottish guitarist and singer. Best known for his solo work as RM Hubbert and as a member of Scottish post rock band El Hombre Trajeado, ...

, ''Thirteen Lost & Found''. In 2019, he produced the single "Pista (Great Start)" by London-based band Los Bitchos, which he described thus: “Truly international with cumbia beats, Turkish psychedelia, a hint of Swedish pop and a touch of shoegaze shimmer. More than anything, they put you in a really good mood when you listen to them. Celebratory trills and whoops energise the vibrant Dick Dale-esque guitars and brass, making for a blistering escape to a rip-roaring desert session."

Other work

Writing

In September 2005, Kapranos began "Soundbites", a weekly food column for G2 in ''The Guardian'' newspaper, which detailed his culinary adventures as Franz Ferdinand traversed the globe on their world tour. '' Sound Bites: Eating on Tour with Franz Ferdinand'', a book of the column and unreleased material illustrated by

Andy Knowles Andy Knowles (born Andrew John Knowles; 30 June 1981, in Bolton) is an artist, director and musician. Knowles started his drumming career with Skuta, and then in 2003 formed the cult group I Love Lucy out of the Glaswegian Art rock scene. Tour ...

, was released in 2006. ''Sound Bites: Eating on Tour with Franz Ferdinand'' was read by Kapranos on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's ''Book of the Week'' for 4–8 December 2006, described as "his account about what he ate while touring the world."

Narration

Kapranos narrated the 2008 BBC Scotland documentary ''Edwyn Collins: Home Again'' on the recovery of

Orange Juice Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. As well as vari ...

singer

Edwyn Collins Edwyn Stephen Collins (born 23 August 1959) is a Scottish musician, producer and record label owner from Edinburgh, Scotland. Collins was the lead singer for the 1980s post-punk band Orange Juice, which he co-founded. After the group split in ...

. Also in 2008, Kapranos narrated the BBC Radio 1 documentary ''The Story of Kraftwerk''.

Film

In 2016, Kapranos took part in a documentary about Glasgow music, and

Chemikal Underground Records Chemikal Underground is an independent record label set up in 1994 at Glasgow, Scotland by rock band The Delgados. It was set up to release their first single, "Monica Webster" / "Brand New Car" and went on to break many new Scottish bands in ...

, calle
''Lost in France''
The film was directed by Niall McCann and brought Kapranos (along with members of

The Delgados The Delgados are a Scottish indie rock band formed in Glasgow in 1994. The band is composed of Alun Woodward (vocals, guitar), Emma Pollock (vocals, guitar), Stewart Henderson (bass guitar), and Paul Savage (drums). Biography The band was fo ...

Mogwai Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mog ...

and others) to

Mauron Mauron (; br, Maoron) is a commune in the Morbihan department and Brittany region of north-western France. It lies close to the borders of both Côtes d'Armor and Ille-et-Vilaine. Mauron's location make it a crossroads on the routes connectin ...

, Brittany, to recreate a gig they played when Kapranos was in his earlier band,

. The film features Kapranos playing live with

Stuart Braithwaite Stuart Leslie Braithwaite (born 10 May 1976) is a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter. He is the guitarist of post-rock band Mogwai, with whom he has recorded ten studio albums. He is also a member of the British alternative rock supergrou ...

of Mogwai, and other musicians such as

Emma Pollock Emma Pollock (born 20 December 1972) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, musician, and a founding member of the bands the Delgados and the Burns Unit. She is also one of the founders of The Fruit Tree Foundation project and a regular contributor ...

and

, and Holy Mountain, as well as interviews with Kapranos and his old label-mates. ''Lost in France'' premiered at the

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

to wholly positive reviews and was called "Funny, vital and sobering" by Scotland's arts publication, '' The Skinny''. Kapranos was interviewed for

Edgar Wright Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English filmmaker. He is known for his fast-paced and kinetic, satirical genre films, which feature extensive utilisation of expressive popular music, Steadicam tracking shots, dolly zooms and a ...

's 2021 documentary film ''

The Sparks Brothers ''The Sparks Brothers'' is a 2021 British-American documentary film about Ron and Russell Mael, members of the pop and rock duo Sparks. The film, directed by Edgar Wright, and produced by Wright, Nira Park, George Hencken and Laura Richards ...

'', centered around the band Sparks, with whom Franz Ferdinand formed supergroup FFS.

Radio presenting

From 7 August to 11 September 2022, Kapranos presented a six part Sunday night radio programme titled "The Alex Kapranos Show" on Absolute Radio.

Personal life

In his spare time, Kapranos enjoys crafting abstract furniture in his carpentry workshop. In June 2005, Kapranos was detained for around an hour by officials at

Domodedovo Airport Domodedovo Airport ( rus, links=no, Домодедово аэропорт, p=dəmɐˈdʲɛdəvə) ( IATA: DME, ICAO: UUDD), formally Domodedovo Mikhail Lomonosov International Airport, is an international airport serving Moscow, the capital of ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

after being mistakenly identified as belonging on a U.S. "no-fly" list. This occurred due to the surname on his passport, Huntley, also having been previously used as an alias by the former MI6 agent

Richard Tomlinson Richard John Charles Tomlinson (born 13 January 1963) is a former officer of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). He argued that he was subjected to unfair dismissal from MI6 in 1995, and attempted to take his former employer to a ...

. Tomlinson had been fired, imprisoned, and labelled a security risk after circulating to publishers a draft of a book on MI6. Kapranos was released after officials determined that he did not fit Tomlinson's description. Growing up in

, he supported the local football club

Sunderland A.F.C. Sunderland Association Football Club (, ) is an English professional football club based in the city of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Formed in 1879, Sunderland play in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club has won six t ...

Kapranos is asthmatic and allergic to peanuts.

References

External links

Franz Ferdinand official websiteAlex Kapranos interview with World HumAlex Kapranos interview
with SPIN {{DEFAULTSORT:Kapranos, Alex 1972 births Living people 20th-century Scottish male singers Scottish rock singers Scottish rock guitarists Scottish male guitarists Scottish songwriters Scottish singer-songwriters Scottish people of English descent Scottish people of Greek descent Franz Ferdinand (band) members Ivor Novello Award winners Alumni of the University of Strathclyde Alumni of the University of Aberdeen People from Almondsbury People educated at Bearsden Academy FFS (band) members BNQT members The Yummy Fur members The Cribs members British post-punk musicians 21st-century Scottish male singers