Alexandra Naumik (formerly Alexandra Sandøy; 12 August 1949 – 17 September 2013), better known by her stage name Alex, was a Lithuanian-born, Polish-Norwegian rock and pop artist who rose to fame in the late 1970s.

Biography

Naumik was born in 1949 to Polish parents in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania, was '' de facto'' one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its terr ...

. During the

Stalinist Stalinism (, ) is the totalitarian means of governing and Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1927 to 1953 by dictator Joseph Stalin and in Soviet satellite states between 1944 and 1953. Stalinism in ...

era she was deported to Siberia together with her family and only arrived in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

6 years later. With her talented voice, spanning more than four octaves, Naumik won several competitions and prizes while still a teenager and recorded records with renowned artists such as

Agnieszka Osiecka Agnieszka Osiecka (Polish pronunciation: ; 9 October 1936 – 7 March 1997) was a Polish poet, writer, author of theatre and television screenplays, film director and journalist. She was a prominent Polish songwriter, having authored the lyrics to ...

and Adam Slawinski. Having graduated from the Pedagogy Institute in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

in 1969, she moved to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

in 1970 after marrying Norwegian

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

Haakon Sandøy Haakon may refer to: Given names * Haakon (given name) * Håkon, modern Norwegian spelling of the name * Håkan, Swedish spelling of the name * Hakon, Danish spelling of the name People Norwegian royalty * Haakon I of Norway (c. 920–961), the ...

. Following her move to Norway, Naumik resumed her music career, adopting the stage name Alex. The stage name itself was created and given by writer

Jens Bjørneboe Jens Ingvald Bjørneboe (9 October 1920 – 9 May 1976) was a Norwegian writer whose work spanned a number of literary formats. He was also a painter and a Waldorf school teacher. Bjørneboe was a harsh and eloquent critic of Norwegian society a ...

, who dedicated on his novel "Powderhouse" (''Kruttårnet'' in Norw.) - «To little Alex from old Jens». Her eponymous 1977 debut album launched funk-rock in Norway while her album received both critical acclaim and the Norwegian Album of the Year award, also selling to both silver and gold records. Her first band, also named "Alex", was formed in 1976 together with Bjørn Christiansen, Svein Gundersen (from the earlier noted Rock group Aunt Mary),

Brynjulf Blix Brynjulf Blix (born December 20, 1951) is a Norwegian pianist. Known from his collaboration with Terje Rypdal, Blix received broader notoriety as a member of the group Alex, supporting the singer Alex Naumik. Blix is also known for his knowledg ...

and Per Ivar Johansen. She was also the first Norwegian artist to sign international recording contracts in 1977 with PolyGram International (now

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

) and in 1978 with

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

, working with artists such as

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

Andrae Crouch Andrae, Andræ (Danish) or Andrä is a surname and given name, which is a variant of Andreae, itself a patronymic (via the Latin genitive case) from the personal name Andreas. Notable persons with this name include: Surname * Ahmed-Tobias Andr ...

Andy Summers Andrew James Summers (born 31 December 1942) is an English guitarist best known as a member of the rock band the Police. Prior to joining the Police, Summers had been a member of several bands during the 1960s, including Zoot Money's Big Roll ...

and

Glen Matlock Glen Matlock (born 27 August 1956) is an English musician, best known for being the bass guitarist in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is credited as a songwriter on 10 of the 12 songs on the Sex Pistols' only offic ...

. In addition to performing all over the world, Alex was also given her own television special in the German

Musikladen ''Der Musikladen'' () was a West German music television programme that ran from 13 December 1972 to 29 November 1984. The show continued the 1960s ''Beat-Club'' under a new name, and in turn was replaced by ''Extratour''. History Around 90 ep ...

series, which was viewed by 20 million people in over 18 countries worldwide. During the early 80s, Naumik took part in ''Melodi Grand Prix'', the Norwegian national finals of the ''

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

'', on four occasions, with her third place in 1980 as her best result. That same year, she and her band were involved in a bus crash, which killed her drummer, Per Ivar Johansen, and seriously injured several other members. Following the peak of her popularity in the mid-80s, Naumik gradually turned to producing records and writing material for other artists, spending several years working in both the United States and Japan, before returning to Norway in the early 2000s. During this time, Naumik only released two albums herself, in 1991 and -93. Her most recent success was her work with Swedish-born artist Leana's album ''Faith'', which reached number one on the ''Billboard'' charts in June 2006 and January 2007. She contributed as a writer and producer along with her daughter, Naomi Naumik, and her collaborator for 25 years, Grammy winner Atle Bakken. In October 2008, Naumik began re-releasing her recordings, both digitally and on CD, marking her debut on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

, and her own website. At the same time, several brand new recordings and remixes were released. During her lifetime, Naumik received several international prizes and distinctions in addition to national ones. These have included the "Nordring" prize in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

(1981), Spellemansprisen, the Norwegian Grammy (1977), for two albums, and being voted "Female Artist of the Year" by the readers of ''Det Nye'' magazine in 1980

Image

Alex also became renowned as a trend-setter in several areas ("Alex-hair" was a common expression) and she became the first female artist in Norway to take full control over her music, personal and public image at a time when an independent female artist was unusual. As she was also a pioneer in co-operation between the music and commercial sector and became a spokesperson for Helen Curtis Shampoos,

BASF BASF SE (), an initialism of its original name , is a European Multinational corporation, multinational company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Ge ...

Levi's Levi Strauss & Co. ( ) is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's ( ) brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, ...

and

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

amongst others.

Personal life and death

Naumik married Norwegian film director Haakon Sandøy in 1969, but they later divorced. She spent most of her life, including her final years, in Oslo, but also lived in USA, Japan and Sweden. On 17 September 2013 Naumik was found dead in her Oslo apartment. She was 64.

Discography

Solo albums

* ''Alex'' (Mercury, 1977) * ''Handle With Care'' (Mercury, 1977) * ''Hello, I Love You'' (Mercury, 1979) * ''Daddy’s Child'' (Polydor, 1980) * ''Alex’ beste'' (Polydor, 1981) (compilation) * ''Always'' (CBS, 1983) * ''Almost'' (Ventura Records, 1991) * ''Living In Color'' (MTG, 1993)

Singles

*''Heartbreak Queen'' (1977) *''Listen To The Music'' (1978) *''Flying High'' (1978) *''Rock Machine'' (1979) *''Univers'' (1980) *''Rock'N'Roller'' (1981) *''I Love Warszawa'' (1982) *''Dreamboy'' (1984) *''Don't Break down My Heart'' (1984) *''Almost'' (1991) *''Home Is Where The Hatred Is'' (2008) *''I Wanna Fly'' (2008)