Matt Alber (born February 6, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter, filmmaker, and youth advocate based in Portland, Oregon.

Early life

Alber was born in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

, and raised in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. He began singing as a child and studied music and vocal training at

Truman State University Truman State University (TSU or Truman) is a public university in Kirksville, Missouri. It had 4,225 enrolled students in the fall of 2021 pursuing degrees in 52 undergraduate and 11 graduate programs. The university is named for U.S. Presiden ...

Kirksville, Missouri Kirksville is the county seat and most populous city in Adair County, Missouri. Located in Benton Township, its population was 17,530 at the 2020 census. Kirksville is home to two colleges: Truman State University and A.T. Still University. ...

Career

Alber was a member of the

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

-award-winning all-male vocal ensemble Chanticleer from 1998 until 2003 when he left to pursue a solo career. Alber released his first album, ''Nonchalant'', in 2005. It was co-produced with Jeff Crerie at Utmosis Studios in San Francisco. Some of the album's material was re-worked for his major label debut three years later. The album has since gone out of print. In 2008, Alber released ''Hide Nothing'' through Silver Label, a division of

Tommy Boy Records Tommy Boy Entertainment is an American independent record label and multimedia brand founded in 1981 by Tom Silverman. The label is credited with helping and launching the music careers of Queen Latifah, Afrika Bambaataa, Stetsasonic, Digital U ...

. The leading single from the album, "End of the World" went viral after gay-entertainment television channel

Logo TV Logo TV (often shortened to Logo, and stylized as Logo.) is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched in 2005, Logo was originally dedicated to lifestyle and entertainment progra ...

popularized its accompanying music video through its now-defunct "Click List" segment. At the time, Alber's relationship was suffering, and the song was written as a last-attempt to save it. Unhappy with his label's approach to creating music, Alber left Tommy Boy Records in 2010 and has since been releasing his music independently. Alber followed ''Hide Nothing'' with 2011's ''Constant Crows'', which found the singer experimenting more with folk music and torch songs. Alber stated in an interview with The ''Herald Palladium'' that the second record was influenced by his stripped-down, acoustic live performances, which was a change from the "dreamy" and starry-eyed sound from his debut. This sound was later further expanded on 2014's ''Wind Sand Stars'', which was Alber's first full-length LP to be released on vinyl. Following the release of his second album, Alber became an icon for the

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

community, modeling as a pin-up for ''Meat Magazine'' in 2013.

Personal life

Alber is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

and advocates for LGBTQ youth as part of his career. In an interview with About.com's travel section, Alber was quoting as saying, "I am very happy to have a lot of gay fans. I'm not saying I'm a spokesman for my people, but I love singing to my people. Especially gay guys who are all lovey dovey with each other. Because so often I cruise men, clicking them away in omputerwindows, and being predictably kind of cold to them." Alber has a tattoo on his wrist that reads "Squire", which is one of his nicknames.

Discography

*''Nonchalant'' (2005) *''Hide Nothing'' (2008) *''Constant Crows'' (2011) *''Wind Sand Stars'' (2014) *''Matt Alber – Live in San Francisco'' (2016) *''How High the Moon'' (2018)

DVDs

*''Matt Alber with Strings Attached: The Cello Street Quartet Sessions'' (2012)

References