Alexander George Clare (born 14 September 1985) is a British singer and songwriter based in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
,
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
. His debut album, ''
The Lateness of the Hour'', was released in the UK on 8 July 2011 on
Island Records
Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...
and was produced by
Mike Spencer and
Major Lazer
Major Lazer is an American electronic dance music and DJ trio, which includes record producer Diplo, and DJs Walshy Fire and Ape Drums. They were founded in 2008 by Diplo and Switch, with Switch leaving after three years in 2011. He was the ...
.
His biggest hit, "
Too Close", peaked at number 4 on the
UK Singles Chart 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.
Early life
Clare was born in London on 14 September 1985.
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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
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 that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
and
soul
The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
artists such as
Donny Hathaway
Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger who ''Rolling Stone'' described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include " The Ghetto" ...
and
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...
, which eventually led to interests in
drum and bass
Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...
,
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 ...
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 and jungle production methods, but also incorporates elements from ...
. 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, often taking place at night (an open mic night), in which audience members may perform on ...
nights with original material.
Clare attended
Bishop Challoner School in Bromley and then
Westminster Kingsway College
Westminster Kingsway College is a large college for further education in central London with centres in Kings Cross, London, King's Cross in London Borough of Camden, Camden, together with Victoria, London, Victoria and Soho, London, Soho centres ...
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 training and assessment. The regulatory framework supporting NVQs was withdrawn in 2015 and replaced by th ...
(NVQ) in
catering
Catering is the business of providing food services 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 service ...
.
Career
A demo earned him a deal with the Island label in the UK. His debut album, ''
The Lateness of the Hour'', produced by
Mike Spencer and
Major Lazer
Major Lazer is an American electronic dance music and DJ trio, which includes record producer Diplo, and DJs Walshy Fire and Ape Drums. They were founded in 2008 by Diplo and Switch, with Switch leaving after three years in 2011. He was the ...
was released in July 2011. The first single from the album was "
Up All Night", followed by "
Too Close" and "
Treading Water
Treading water or water treading is what a Human swimming, swimmer can do while in a vertical position to keep their head above the surface of the water, while not providing sufficient directional thrust to overcome inertia and propel the swimme ...
".
On 19 May 2011,
Reggie Yates
Reginald Yates (born 31 May 1983) is a British television presenter, actor, 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 wo ...
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. The ...
's "
When Doves Cry" his Song of the Day. A day later, the Dutch radio station
3FM announced single "Too Close" to be the '3FM's Megahit of that week.
On 21 June 2011, Clare performed at the
Queens' College,
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
May Ball
A May Ball is a ball (dance), ball at the end of the academic term, academic year that takes place at any of the colleges of the University of Cambridge. They are elaborate and lavish formal affairs, requiring black tie or sometimes white tie, w ...
. 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
Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Rom ...
,
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
. 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 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
UK Singles Chart. 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, broadc ...
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 service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...
science-fiction series ''
Class
Class, Classes, 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 d ...
''.
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 in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
over the summer of 2017.
In October 2021, Clare released a new single, "Why Don't Ya", through
ONErpm. 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
During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numero ...
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 a co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer; a member of the supergroup LSD (group), ...
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 o ...
(2011) produced and co-wrote material on Clare's first album.
* Rudimental (2012). Clare performed a short solo on the single "
Not Giving In".
* Jeff Wayne and Liam Neeson (2012): Clare sang the role of Voice of Humanity (Thunder Child) on the album ''
'' along with
Gary Barlow
Gary Barlow (born 20 January 1971) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He is the lead singer of the pop group Take That.
Barlow is one of the United Kingdom's most successful songwriters, having writ ...
,
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 List of awards and nominations received by Liam Neeson, several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, BAFT ...
.
*
Aqualung and
Dan Wilson (2014) cowrote material for Three hearts.
*
Bakermat (2016). Clare was singer for the single Living.
*
Don Diablo
Don Pepijn Schipper (; born 27 February 1980), better known by his stage name Don Diablo, is a Dutch DJ, digital artist, record producer, musician and songwriter of electronic dance music. He is one of the pioneers of the future house genre and ...
(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
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
's Sinai Indaba program.
Personal life
Brought up in what he has described as a "very, very
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...
" environment (though he always believed in God),
Clare became a ''
baal teshuva
In Judaism, a ''ba'al teshuvah'' (; for a woman, , or ; plural, , , 'owner of return God or his way]') is a Jew who adopts some form of traditional religious observance after having previously followed a Jewish secularism, secular lifestyle or ...
'' to
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Torah, Written and Oral Torah, Oral, as literally revelation, revealed by God in Ju ...
in the mid-2000s.
As such, he does not perform, travel or work on
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...
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, ), from the Ashke ...
diet and maintains a schedule of
Talmud
The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
study on tour.
He lost an album deal with
Island Records
Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...
because he had to turn down a radio concert for
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
in observance of the
Sukkot
Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths, is a Torah-commanded Jewish holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelite ...
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, songwriter, musician, and businesswoman. With over 30 million records sold worldwide, she was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix ...
(with whom he shared a birthday), but the relationship only lasted about a year.
They met while he was performing and working at a bar she frequented, the Hawley Arms in
Camden, North London. When Winehouse started dating other men, Clare sold his story regarding his relationship with her to the tabloid ''
News of the World
The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national "Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top" Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling ...
'', which ran it with the headline "Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can't Beehive in Bed".
He lived in
Golders Green, an area in northwest London,
before moving to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
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
1985 births
Living people
21st-century British male singers
21st-century English singers
Baalei teshuva
English male singers
English male singer-songwriters
English 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 the London Borough of Barnet
Singers from the London Borough of Southwark