Alexander Vincent Tanas (born February 28, 1986), known professionally as Alex Tanas or Alexander Vincent, is a Canadian-American artist, producer, songwriter, and drummer. He is best known for being a former drummer and vocalist for the pop-reggae group

Magic! Magic! (stylized in all uppercase) is a Canadian reggae fusion band from Toronto. Based in Los Angeles, the band comprises lead vocalist, guitarist/producer Nasri Atweh, guitarist/keyboardist Mark "Pelli" Pellizzer, and bassist Ben Spivak. Ac ...

. In addition to performing for MAGIC!, Tanas has collaborated with a number of musicians including

Justin Nozuka Justin Tokimitsu Nozuka (born September 29, 1988) is an American-born singer, songwriter, and actor of Japanese and Canadian descent. His debut album, ''Holly (album), Holly'', was released in 2007. He has since published four more studio album ...

, Kira Isabella, Benj, Pat Robbitaille, Leslie Pike, and Maneli Jamal. In 2018, Tanas began releasing his own solo music. Tanas currently resides in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Early life

Alex Tanas was born in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada on February 28, 1986, of Ukrainian and Irish descent. He began drumming at ten years old Tanas attended Earl Haig Secondary School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Collaborations with other artists

Tanas wrote, performed, and toured with the

band for a total of six years, where he had the opportunity of opening for

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 ...

. He cites his biggest influences as

Stewart Copeland Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is an American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the British rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with the Polic ...

and David Grohl. Tanas also performed with Canadian musician Kira Isabella and Pat Robitaille. He has also performed with Leslie Pike and Maneli Jamal. Tanas is a frequent collaborator with singer-songwriter Hayley Gene Penner, and has been a co-writer and producer of all her songs. He also frequently collaborates with

Sabrina Claudio Sabrina Claudio (born September 19, 1996) is an American singer and songwriter. In late 2016, Claudio uploaded several songs to SoundCloud, before compiling a select collection as part of her debut extended play, ''Confidently Lost'', which was ...

, as he wrote and produced the songs "I Don't", "Frozen", "Everlasting Love" and "Wait." He has written all songs for singer vōx. In 2014, Tanas co-wrote "Cut Me Deep" by

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977) is a Colombian singer-songwriter. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Latin Music", she has had a Cultural impact of Shakira, significant impact on the ...

with his bandmates from MAGIC!, in which they are also featured on the track. In 2014, Tanas co-wrote "Coming Home", performed by Anthony Hamilton. In the same year, he served as a co-producer and co-writer of "Human Contact", performed by Catey Shaw on the EP titled "The Brooklyn EP." Tanas co-wrote "Consider Me" for R&B artist Allen Stone, which appeared on his album titled "Building Balance." In 2016, Tanas co-wrote and co-produced the tracks "Levitate" and "Lovesick" for

Jacob Whitesides Jacob Michael Whitesides (born November 11, 1997) is an American singer-songwriter from Sevierville, Tennessee. He records his music for Double U Records, of which he is also the CEO.Stassen, Murray (May 29, 2015BMG partners with online sensati ...

. Tanas co-wrote "Heavy Stone," performed by

. In 2017, he co-wrote "Warm in December", performed by Michael Schulte. During the same year, he co-wrote "Bad News" for SOJA. In 2019, he co-wrote and produced "Missing Me" for TRACE's EP titled Like Hell. He also co-wrote and produced the track "Continuum" for Tanerélle. Apart from songwriting, Tanas has also performed drums for artists such as Justin Nozuka, Kira Isabella, Sabrina Claudio, Pat Robitaille, Leslie Pike, Maneli Jamal, and Luis Figueroa.

MAGIC!

Tanas was a member of the pop-reggae group

MAGIC! Magic! (stylized in all uppercase) is a Canadian reggae fusion band from Toronto. Based in Los Angeles, the band comprises lead vocalist, guitarist/producer Nasri Atweh, guitarist/keyboardist Mark "Pelli" Pellizzer, and bassist Ben Spivak. Ac ...

, alongside vocalist Nasri, bassist

Ben Spivak Ben Spivak (born January 4, 1983) is a Canadian singer and musician. He is best known for being a bassist and vocalist in the pop-reggae group Magic! In addition, Spivak has performed with a variety of musicians including Canadian hip hop group K- ...

, and guitarist Mark "Pelli" Pellizzer. While Mark Pellizzer was in Los Angeles, he called Alex Tanas to work on music together, since they knew each other from past collaboration with the Justin Nozuka Band. On his first visit, Tanas and the members of

wrote Stupid Me, Don't Kill The Magic, and Gypsy Woman, and decided to form the band. As a band member, Tanas wrote and co-produced all MAGIC! songs. In February 2022, Magic! announced that Tanas had left the band in a

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

post.

Solo Music

Tanas began releasing his ow
solo
music in 2018. He served as the co-writer and producer of the singles "Same Love", "I Won't", "Other People's Lives", "Free Myself", "Unravel", "Everything", and "Close to You." In 2019, he co-wrote and produced "Miles Away", performed by Kan Wakan. Tanas is also featured on the track as a vocalist. The song was recognized b
Vulture
as one of the best new songs during its release.

Awards and honors

Tanas is the recipient of two

Juno Awards The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's music industry. The Grammy Awards are the United S ...

for "Single of the Year" for MAGIC's song 'Rude', and Breakout Group of the Year. He is
recipient
of the SOCAN Award for songwriting.

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanas, Alex Canadian male drummers Musicians from Toronto Writers from Toronto Living people 1986 births Canadian male songwriters Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Canadian people of Irish descent 21st-century Canadian drummers 21st-century Canadian male musicians Earl Haig Secondary School alumni