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

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". Traumzeit 2013 Alex Clare 03

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 ''

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. Wel ...

'' 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

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

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