Alexandra Rebecca Parks (born 26 July 1984) is a retired English singer-songwriter. In 2003 Parks won the second series of the

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

programme ''

Fame Academy ''Fame Academy'' was a British television talent competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner would receive a chance to become a successful music artist and part of the international franchise ''Star Academy'' known un ...

'' immediately followed by the release of 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 virtue, virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, straightforwardness (including straightforwardness of conduct: Good faith, earnestness), along with the ...

'', but was subsequently dropped by her record label in February 2006. Parks has been inactive in music since 2006.

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 Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

, Ani Di Franco and

Michelle Branch Michelle Jacquet Branch (born July 2, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. She won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals with Santana for their 2002 single, " The Game of Love". As a solo recording artist, Bran ...

. 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 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 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 ...

Television series, ''

''. 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 ...

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. His debut studio album, '' Gotta Get thru This'' (2002), spawned three UK number ones, " Gotta Get thru This", " If You're ...

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 following week. Her debut album ''

'' 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 the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. After being dropped by her label,

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a 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 ...

, Parks wrote a statement to her fans on her official website stating that she had almost no support from the media 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.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

¹ On downloads only

References

External links

; Feature articles
Guardian interview, November 2003

Scotsman interview, November 2003
; Reviews
Shakenstir – ''Introduction'' review

Guardian Unlimited – ''Introduction'' review

Playlouder – ''Introduction'' review

Shakenstir – ''Honesty'' review

BBC Pop/Chart Reviews – ''Honesty'' review

Shakenstir – Shepherds Bush Empire gig review, February 2006

Shakenstir – Special Awards for 2006, December 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parks, Alex 1984 births Living people English women singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English lesbian musicians English LGBTQ singers English LGBTQ songwriters Musicians from Cornwall Star Academy winners 21st-century English women singers Lesbian singers Lesbian songwriters 20th-century English LGBTQ people 21st-century English LGBTQ people