Alex Gardner, better known by his stage name, A-L-X (born 23 July 1991,
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
, Scotland) is a
Scottish pop singer. He released two singles in 2010 as Alex Gardner, "
I'm Not Mad" and "
Feeling Fine", before changing his stage name to A-L-X and releasing his third single, "Beautiful Criminal", in 2014.
Life and career
Early life and childhood
Gardner was brought up in a musical atmosphere; his mother was a violinist with an orchestra and his older brother, Adam Gardner, is a singer and guitarist in Scottish metal band,
Mind Set A Threat. He was given piano lessons from the age of five, but quit at the age of 6. He owned his first guitar when he was 10 years old. Having left The Edinburgh Academy aged 16, Gardner set out to start an early music career in London. He wrote "
I'm Not Mad", at the age of 13, and altered the song through the course of four or five years, ultimately releasing it as his first single. It peaked at No. 44 in 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 ...
.
Shelved debut album (2010–2012)
Gardner's debut single and lead single from the album "I'm Not Mad" was released on 29 March 2010 in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In the UK, Gardner performed the song on shows such as ''
GMTV'' and ''
This Morning''. He performed an acoustic set of the song on the Scottish TV show ''
The Hour'', which was Gardner's debut television appearance in the United Kingdom. Gardner is working with UK production house
Xenomania
Xenomania is an English songwriting and production team founded by Brian Higgins and based in Kent, England. Formed by Higgins with his Creative Director Miranda Cooper and Business Director Sarah Stennett of First Access Entertainment, Xenoman ...
. He has also worked with the crew members of 'Casper'. Gardner is worked on an upcoming untitled debut album and travelled to the United States to produce more songs for his album. Nick Levine of ''
Digital Spy'' gave the song a positive review stating writing that Gardner's voice is "rich, manly and blessed with an intriguing hint of huskiness to it." The tune was described as "a glossy-yet-gloomy electropop affair, and very much a grower not a shower."
Fraser McAlpine of ''
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'' Chart Blog described the song as pleasant though unmemorable background music that is "neither so offensively irksome to my refined palate that I'm tempted to smash the speakers, or so astonishingly mind-sparklingly brilliant that my productivity shoots through the floor." He follows on to criticise the repetitive nature of the whole affair with "After the first minute or so, nothing happens. We just go round and around on the same eight bar of well-mannered, polite synthpop. Oh sure, there's a breakdown section, but it's not particularly arresting and comes across as a transparent attempt to break things up and then drum up some interest in the return of that bassline again"
' starting in November 2010. However, the album was never released and Gardner was ultimately dropped from his label.
In 2014, Gardner updated his Twitter account to reflect his new stage name, A-L-X and performed his new single "Beautiful Criminal" as a
.