Alice Florence Clarissa Merton (born 13 September 1993) is a German-Canadian singer and songwriter.
Merton achieved mainstream success with her debut single, "
No Roots".
In 2017, she released her first EP
of the same name and in 2018, she released her debut album ''
Mint'' and in 2022, her second album,''
S.I.D.E.S.'' was released.
Early life
Merton was born on 13 September 1993 in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...
, Germany to a German mother and an Irish-born father. Merton's family moved frequently due to her father's job as a mining consultant. When she was three months old, Merton moved to
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
.
Shortly thereafter, they relocated to
Oakville, Ontario
Oakville is a town in Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Lake Ontario between Toronto and Hamilton. At its 2021 census population of 213,759, it is Ontario's largest town. Oakville is part of the Greater Toronto Area, one of t ...
, Canada where she was raised until the age of thirteen, learning classical piano and singing. Her family then relocated to
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
.
Merton's return to Germany prompted her to learn German which enabled her to speak with her German grandmother whom she had only seen annually growing up.
While in Germany, Merton wrote her first song and attended a German-language high school before graduating and moving to England.
Merton moved frequently in her early life, living in
Oakville, Ontario
Oakville is a town in Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Lake Ontario between Toronto and Hamilton. At its 2021 census population of 213,759, it is Ontario's largest town. Oakville is part of the Greater Toronto Area, one of t ...
,
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
,
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
,
Bournemouth
Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the English ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, and
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
, among other cities.
Through her upbringing, Merton has stated she has felt connected to Canada, England, Germany, and France where her mother lived.
In 2013, she started her studies at the
Popakademie Baden-Württemberg in
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...
, where she earned a bachelor's degree in composition and song writing,
and met the members of her future band.
Career
2015–2017: ''The Book of Nature'', ''No Roots'', and mainstream success
Merton first drew major attention in 2015 as a songwriter and singer on
Fahrenhaidt's album ''The Book of Nature''. On 14 November 2016 while in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...
, she won the annual award for the promotion of talented newcomers in the category ''Acoustic Pop''.
After moving to Berlin, Merton and her manager Paul Grauwinkel founded the record label Paper Plane Records International, and released the song "
No Roots" at the end of 2016. The song's lyrics were inspired by her feeling of "There's no one place where my home is."
On both
Hype Machine
Hype Machine is a music blog aggregator created by Anthony Volodkin.
History
Hype Machine was originally a music database created in 2005 by Anthony Volodkin, then a sophomore computer science major at Hunter College.Heilemann, JohCapturing th ...
and
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
's ''Global Viral 50'' charts the song reached number one, and was soon included on the "Hit Play" lists of several radio stations. The song was also featured on episode 5x09 of the NBC TV series, ''
The Blacklist
''The Blacklist'' is an American crime thriller television series that premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013. The show follows Raymond "Red" Reddington ( James Spader), a former U.S. Navy officer turned high-profile criminal who voluntarily s ...
''.
![Alice Merton 12 11 2017 -23 (39345441732)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Alice_Merton_12_11_2017_-23_%2839345441732%29.jpg)
On the basis of this success, Merton officially released her first EP, ''
No Roots'', on 3 February 2017. ''No Roots'' reached number one on the French charts, number two on the German charts, number three in Austria, number 25 in Switzerland and number one in US alternative radio charts.
Vodafone Germany even included the song in one of its commercials. Merton signed with
Mom + Pop Music
Mom + Pop Music is a New York City-based independent record label whose current roster includes Courtney Barnett, Madeon, Tom Morello, Porter Robinson, Tycho, Tash Sultana, Sunflower Bean, Beach Bunny, Caamp, Del Water Gap and more. Founder an ...
in August 2017 for marketing within the United States,
and on 2 August 2017 she released her second single ''Hit the Ground Running'' with her new record label.
She performed at the
Life Ball
The Life Ball in Vienna is the biggest charity event in Europe supporting people with HIV or AIDS. The event is organized by the nonprofit organization AIDS LIFE, which was founded in 1992 by Gery Keszler and Torgom Petrosian.
AIDS LIFE support ...
in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
on 10 June 2017, and ended the year touring throughout Germany, appearing as opening act for
Bosse
Bosse may refer to:
* Bosse (name)
* Bosse (musician), German singer and songwriter
* La Bosse (disambiguation)
* Benjamin Bosse High School, Evansville, IN, USA
* Bosse Field, stadium for minor league baseball team in Evansville, IN, USA
See al ...
and
Philipp Poisel
Philipp Poisel (born 18 June 1983 in Ludwigsburg) is a German singer-songwriter.
Biography
Early life and career beginnings
Philipp Poisel has produced music since he was a child when he started to play drums and guitar. He recorded his co ...
, among others. In late 2017 she won the 2018
European Border Breakers Award
The European Border Breakers Award (EBBA) was an annual prize awarded to recognise the success of ten emerging artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year. ...
.
2018–2020: ''Mint''
On 7 September 2018, Merton released "
Why So Serious", the lead single from her debut album, ''
Mint''. She released two other singles since then. The album was released on 18 January 2019. The second official single "Funny Business" was released 30 November. The video for the single was premiered 9 January. Also, this day she released her brand new song from album "Homesick".
Merton dueted with British singer-songwriter
Tom Odell
Thomas Peter Odell (born 24 November 1990) is an English singer-songwriter. He released his debut extended play, '' Songs from Another Love'', in 2012. It won the BRITs Critics' Choice Award in early 2013. Odell's debut studio album, '' Long W ...
in the single "Half As Good As You" that was released on 28 September 2018.
On 1 February 2019, Merton released the first part of the Making of Mint documentary and announced an April 2019 USA concert tour.
Alice Merton live at 2019">Southside Festival 2019
In 2019, Merton was a coach on ninth series of ''
The Voice of Germany
''The Voice of Germany'' is a German reality talent show created by John de Mol, based on the concept ''The Voice of Holland'' and its international series. It began airing on ProSieben and Sat.1 on 24 November 2011.
There are five different s ...
'', and became the first female coach to win a series with
Claudia Emmanuela Santoso.
On 18 October 2019, Merton released her album ''
Mint'' again with four additional songs (Back To Berlin, PCH, Easy and Keeps Me Awake). Later, in the beginning of 2020, she toured across
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
,
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...
and
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establishe ...
singing these new songs, as well as the ones from her previous album.
2021–present: ''S.I.D.E.S''
On 8 April 2021, Merton released "Vertigo". On 9 September, she released "Hero" and "Island", both of which are from her upcoming second studio album, ''
S.I.D.E.S.'', which she revealed the name
on 23 February 2022, along with its tracklist. Her new work will count with 15 tracks, of which 6 have already been released. On TikTok she released a video announcing the release of the next song “Same Team” would be on 4 March 2022. Later in April 2022, she released her next single "Blindside", and lastly "Love Back" in May 2022.
![Alice Merton - Southside Festival 2022 - IMG 4099 - 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Alice_Merton_-_Southside_Festival_2022_-_IMG_4099_-_3.jpg)
She is touring with the British band
Bastille
The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stor ...
in their "Give me the Future" American tour. Later in 2022, she performed in 7 different countries through all Europe, in her second album ''S.I.D.E.S tour.''
On 17 June, ''S.I.D.E.S.'' was released.
Personal life
Merton currently resides in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
Discography
Albums
Extended plays
Singles
Guest appearances
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merton, Alice
1993 births
Living people
Singers from London
People from Connecticut
Canadian women pop singers
English women pop singers
Canadian people of Irish descent
Canadian people of German descent
English people of Irish descent
English people of German descent
21st-century Canadian women singers
21st-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
Mom + Pop Music artists