Alexander George Clare (c. 1985) is an English singer and songwriter. His debut album, '' The Lateness of the Hour'', was released in the UK on 11 July 2011 on

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anothe ...

and was produced by

Mike Spencer Michael Spencer is an English record producer and recording engineer, who has worked with pop acts ranging from Newton Faulkner to Emeli Sandé. Many of his productions have achieved platinum certification, and have won MOBO and Brit Awards, a ...

and

Major Lazer Major Lazer is an American electronic dance music DJ trio, which includes record producer Diplo, and DJs Walshy Fire and Ape Drums. It originates from Kingston, Jamaica, and was founded in 2008 by Diplo and Switch, with Switch leaving af ...

. His biggest hit, " Too Close", peaked at number 4 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and number 7 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Single at the

2013 Brit Awards Brit Awards 2013 was held on 20 February 2013. This was the 33rd edition of the British Phonographic Industry's annual Brit Awards. The awards ceremony was held at The O2 Arena in London, and was presented for the third time in three years by J ...

Early life

Clare was born and raised in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

and

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the boroughs, in whole or in part, of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Richmond, Southwark, Sut ...

, England. He grew up listening to his father's

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

records; Clare described the experience as a "...benefit of having a dad who was born in 1936... very much into bebop and cool jazz. I just loved it.” That drew the young Clare to

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

artists such as

Donny Hathaway Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, and arranger whom ''Rolling Stone'' described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include " The Ghetto", "This Christmas ...

and

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, s ...

, which eventually led to interests in

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub- ...

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

and

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. I ...

. Though he took up the trumpet and drums when he was young, he eventually placed an emphasis on guitar and songwriting, playing

open mic An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, usually taking place at night, in which audience members may perform on stage whether t ...

nights with original material. Clare attended Bishop Challoner School in Bromley and then Westminster Kingsway College from 2002, studying for an

National Vocational Qualification National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) are practical work-based awards in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that are achieved through assessment and training. The regulatory framework supporting NVQs was withdrawn in 2015 and replaced by the ...

(NVQ) in

catering Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major servi ...

Music career

A demo earned him a deal with the Island label in the UK. His debut album, '' The Lateness of the Hour'', produced by

and

was released in July 2011. The first single from the album was " Up All Night", followed by " Too Close" and " Treading Water". On 19 May 2011,

Reggie Yates Reginald (Reggie) Yates (born 31 May 1983) is a British writer and director with a career spanning three decades on screen as an actor, television presenter and radio DJ. Yates played Leo Jones in ''Doctor Who'' and has worked at the BBC in ra ...

made Alex Clare's cover of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. ...

's "

When Doves Cry "When Doves Cry" is a song by American musician Prince, and the lead single from his sixth studio album '' Purple Rain''. According to the DVD commentary of the film '' Purple Rain'' (1984), Prince was asked by director Albert Magnoli to write a ...

" his Song of the Day. A day later, the Dutch radio station

3FM NPO 3FM is a Dutch rhythmic CHR radio station controlled by public broadcaster NPO. The vast majority of the songs played on-air are rock, alternative, indie and pop, though dance and Mega Top 30 tracks may also air at times. History As R ...

announced single "Too Close" to be the '3FM's Megahit of that week. On 21 June 2011, Clare performed at the

Queens' College Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light sid ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

May Ball. On 14 August 2011, Clare performed at the Summer Well festival in

Buftea Buftea () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, located north-west of Bucharest. One village, Buciumeni, is administered by the town. The film studios MediaPro Pictures and the Buftea Palace of the Știrbei family are located in Bufte ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. Following the disappointing performance of the album, Clare was dropped from his record contract with Universal Island in the UK. In March 2012, Clare's song " Too Close" was featured in several

Internet Explorer 9 Internet Explorer 9 or IE9 (officially Windows Internet Explorer 9) is a web browser for Windows. It was released by Microsoft on March 14, 2011, as the ninth version of Internet Explorer and the successor to Internet Explorer 8, and can replace p ...

advertisements. Following its use, the song debuted at number 68 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and later reached number 7, becoming his first top 10 hit. Clare saw success on the German charts too, reaching number one. On 13 May 2012, Clare's song peaked at number 4 on the

. Soon after the song appearance in charts, Universal Republic signed Clare to a distribution deal that allowed ''The Lateness of the Hour'' to be released in America in March 2012. In mid-2012, it was announced that Universal Republic was going defunct moving artists from its roster to Republic Records including Alex Clare. In May 2014, Clare released the video for his single "War Rages On" as the lead single from his second album ''Three Hearts'', which was released on 11 August 2014. "War Rages On" has also served as the title sequence to the popular BBC Drama, '' Our Girl''. On 8 October 2014,

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

named members Alex Clare and Jim Duguid Songwriters of the Year for "Too Close". In October 2016, Clare's first single from his debut album, " Up All Night" was used as the opening theme for

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

science-fiction series ''

Class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differently ...

''. In November 2016, he released the album ''Tail of Lions''. The name is based on a Jewish proverb emphasizing correctness over power. It was announced in July 2018 that Clare would be releasing an acoustic album called ''Three Days at Greenmount'', to be released on 14 September 2018. The album, which features stripped-back versions of previous songs as well as unreleased tracks, was recorded during a three-day studio session in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

over the summer of 2017. In October 2021, Clare released a new single, "Why Don't Ya", through

ONErpm ONErpm (ONE Revolution People's Music) is a digital distribution service and fan engagement platform founded in 2010 by Emmanuel Zunz and Matthew Olim, the latter one of the co-founders of CDNow, a pioneer in digital music. The company offers su ...

. The song, a ballad written for his wife following a personal tragedy, marked the end of a five-year hiatus from the music industry. Clare also revealed that he had been working on new songs with songwriter/producer Jamie Hartman during the COVID-19 lockdown and was planning a new EP for early 2022. Collaborations with other artists include: *

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD wit ...

and

Switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...

(2011) produced and co-wrote material on Clare's first album. * Rudimental (2012). Clare performed a short solo on the single

Not Giving In "Not Giving In" is a song by British drum and bass band Rudimental. It features the vocals from John Newman and Alex Clare. The song was released in the United Kingdom on 18 November 2012 as the third single from their debut studio album, ''Hom ...

. * Jeff Wayne and Liam Neeson (2012): Clare sang the role of Voice of Humanity (Thunder Child) on the album ''

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds – The New Generation ''Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds – The New Generation'' is a 2012 concept album by Jeff Wayne and is a re-working of his 1978 concept album, retelling the story of the 1898 novel ''The War of the Worlds'' by H. G. Well ...

'' along with Gary Barlow,

Joss Stone Joscelyn Eve Stoker (born 11 April 1987), known professionally as Joss Stone, is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to prominence in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, ''The Soul Sessions'', which made the 2004 Merc ...

and

Liam Neeson William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed 7th on '' Th ...

. * Aqualung and Dan Wilson (2014) cowrote material for Three hearts. * Bakermat (2016). Clare was singer for the single Living. * Don Diablo (2018). Clare was singer for Heaven to Me and Give it All. * Jamie Hartman and Ivor Novello (2021). Cowriters for Why Don't Ya. Clare is also an international speaker, and has appeared in several sessions of South Africa's Sinai Indaba program.

Personal life

Brought up in what he has described as a "very, very secular" environment (though he always believed in God), Clare became a ''

baal teshuva In Judaism, a ''ba'al teshuvah'' ( he, בעל תשובה; for a woman, , or ; plural, , , 'master of return God_in_Judaism.html"_;"title="o_God_in_Judaism">God)_is_a_Jew_who_adopts_some_form_of_traditional_religious_observance_after_having_previ ...

'' to

Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses o ...

in the mid-2000s. As such, he does not perform, travel or work on

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical stori ...

or on Jewish holidays. He has said that he lost one-record deal opportunity due to this observance, but has found other ways to continue his career successfully. Clare also keeps a strictly

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

diet, and maintains a schedule of

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

study on tour. He lost an album deal with

because he had to turn down a radio concert for BBC in observance of the Succoth holiday in October 2011. Though his parents remain secular, they are supportive of his lifestyle. In 2006, before gaining critical success, Clare dated British singer

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A membe ...

, but the relationship lasted about a year. They met while he was performing and working at a bar she frequented, the Hawley Arms in Camden, North London. He lived in Golders Green, an area in northwest London, before moving to

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

in late 2015 together with his wife and daughter. He and his wife had a daughter c. 2013 and a son c. 2015, and later had a third child.

Discography

Studio albums

Acoustic albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other appearances

Music videos

As lead artist

As featured artist

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clare, Alex Living people Baalei teshuva English male singers English male singer-songwriters English multi-instrumentalists English Orthodox Jews English soul singers Jewish singers People from Golders Green People from Southwark Republic Records artists Singers from London 21st-century English singers 21st-century British male singers Year of birth missing (living people)