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Alexandra Rebecca Parks (born 26 July 1984) is an English singer-songwriter. Parks was entered into the
BBC Television programme, ''
Fame Academy
''Fame Academy'' was a British television talent competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner received a chance to become a successful music artist and part of the international franchise ''Star Academy'' known under va ...
'' by her father. It was a show that she went on to win. Soon after winning ''Fame Academy'', she released her first album entitled ''
Introduction
Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to:
General use
* Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music
* Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...
'', which went double platinum in the United Kingdom and gold in several other European countries. In 2005 she released her second album, ''
Honesty
Honesty or truthfulness is a facet of moral character that connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, straightforwardness, including straightforwardness of conduct, along with the absence of lying, cheating, theft ...
''.
Parks was dropped by her label,
Polydor
Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States ...
, on 8 February 2006. Parks stated that the move was a mutual decision and that things had not worked out.
Biography
Alex Parks was born in July 1984 and was raised in the village of
Mount Hawke, Cornwall. She is the youngest of four siblings.
[
] Parks attended college at The Hub in St Austell.
Parks began fronting a local band, ''One Trick Pony'', which performed mostly cover songs by artists such as
Joni Mitchell,
Ani Di Franco and
Michelle Branch
Michelle Jacquet DeSevren Branch (born July 2, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. During the early 2000s, she released two top-selling albums: '' The Spirit Room'' and '' Hotel Paper.'' She won a Grammy Award for Best Pop C ...
. For two years they played in bars around Cornwall, but the momentum of the band gradually ran down, leaving Parks in her bedroom with a four-track tape machine and a bunch of her own songs-in-progress.
Parks initially planned to move to Amsterdam to learn the art of clowning, but her career path changed when her father submitted an application for the second season of the
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. ...
...
Television series, ''
Fame Academy
''Fame Academy'' was a British television talent competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner received a chance to become a successful music artist and part of the international franchise ''Star Academy'' known under va ...
''.
Parks is
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 before entering Fame Academy had a long-term girlfriend from Newquay.
[
]
Fame Academy
Having been prompted by her father to take part in auditions for the show, which threw her in amongst 12,000 hopefuls, the 18-year-old Alex found herself the youngest student chosen for the two-month stay at Witanhurst House in north London.
The final showdown between Parks and
Alistair Griffin
Alistair Richard Griffin (born 1 November 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Already an established songwriter, he first became famous as a solo artist through his appearances on the BBC television show ''Fame Academy 2'' in 2 ...
was screened live and generated so many angry messages from viewers after
Daniel Bedingfield
Daniel John Bedingfield (born 3 December 1979) is a New Zealand-British singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is the eldest brother of fellow singers Natasha Bedingfield and Nikola Rachelle. He was a judge on '' The X Factor New Z ...
who duetted with both finalists, made his feelings clear by urging viewers that they should "just vote for Alex". This outburst by Bedingfield led to claims of favouritism. The BBC was forced to close down the Points of View message boards as negative messages flooded the board. Bedingfield made a public apology to Griffin for his behaviour and outburst. The actual voting figures have never been publicly released. Parks went on to win the show.
Recording career
Her song "Maybe That's What It Takes" was released on 17 November 2003 and peaked at number 3 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 ...
the following week.
Her debut album ''
Introduction
Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to:
General use
* Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music
* Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...
'' was subsequently released and sold over 500,000 copies. She expressed an interest in a recording career.
''Honesty'' was eventually released in October 2005, preceded by the lead single, "Looking For Water", in October 2005. The album peaked at No. 24 in the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
.
After being dropped by her label,
Polydor
Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States ...
, Parks wrote a statement to her fans on her official website stating that she had almost no support from the media – hardly any coverage on the radio, TV or in the press and that she was disappointed in how things had turned out. She was not sure whether she was not promoted well enough because they did not like her music, her personally or the fact she had become famous via a reality TV programme.
In 2013, she told her fans she would like to be known as Lexi and said she hoped to be recording again by the end of the year. In 2014, she was spotted at Music Sales Film & TV Songwriters Week in London with
Joe McElderry
Joseph McElderry (; born 16 June 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. He won the sixth series of the ITV show ''The X Factor'' in 2009. His first single " The Climb" reached number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Singl ...
from ''
The X Factor
''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...
''.
Parks has been inactive in music since 2006.
Discography
Studio albums
Singles
1 On downloads only
See also
*
List of singer-songwriters
This is a list of singer-songwriters who write, compose, and perform their own musical material. The list is divided into two sections to differentiate between artists categorized as singer-songwriters and others who do not fall under the definiti ...
*
List of people from Cornwall
This is a list of people from Cornwall, a county of England in the United Kingdom. Those included are either native Cornish people or others who have been long-term residents. The demonym of Cornwall is Cornish. This list is arranged alphabetica ...
*
List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people: P-Q
*
List of Polydor Records artists
*
List of performers on Top of the Pops
__NOTOC__
This list of performers on ''Top of the Pops'' includes popular music recording artists and musical ensembles who have performed on ''Top of the Pops'', a weekly BBC television programme that featured artists from the UK Singles Ch ...
References
External links
; Feature articles
Guardian interview, November 2003Scotsman interview, November 2003
; Reviews
Shakenstir – ''Introduction'' reviewGuardian Unlimited – ''Introduction'' reviewPlaylouder – ''Introduction'' reviewShakenstir – ''Honesty'' reviewBBC Pop/Chart Reviews – ''Honesty'' reviewShakenstir – Shepherds Bush Empire gig review, February 2006Shakenstir – Special Awards for 2006, December 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parks, Alex
1984 births
Living people
English women singer-songwriters
Lesbian musicians
LGBT musicians from England
LGBT singers from the United Kingdom
LGBT songwriters
People from Cornwall
Star Academy winners
21st-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people