Alexander Michael Tahquitz Ebert (born May 12, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter and composer. He is best known for being the lead singer and songwriter for the American bands

Ima Robot Ima Robot is an American band based in Los Angeles, California, that formed in the late 1990s. They have released several albums, EPs, and singles, most notably ''Ima Robot (album), Ima Robot'' in 2003, ''Search and Destroy'' and ''Monument to ...

and

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros was an American folk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2005. The group was led by singer Alex Ebert. The band's name is based on a story Ebert wrote in his youth, about a messianic figure name ...

. On January 12, 2014, Ebert won the

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications out ...

for his musical score to the film ''

All Is Lost ''All Is Lost'' is a 2013 survival drama film written and directed by J. C. Chandor. The film stars Robert Redford as a man lost at sea. Redford is the only cast member, and the film has 51 spoken English words. ''All Is Lost'' is Chandor's sec ...

'' (2013).

Early life

Ebert was born in Los Angeles in 1978, the son of a

psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

, Michael Ebert, and actress Lisa Richards. His father would often take the family on long car trips through the

desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...

. On one such trip, his mother took a video of his father

chanting A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of note ...

in the desert, cradling Alex's baby sister, Gabi, which would one day become a part of the video for the Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros song "Desert Song". His grandfather,

Carl Ebert Carl Anton Charles Ebert (20 February 1887 – 14 May 1980), was a Germans, German actor, stage director and arts administrator. Ebert's early career was as an actor, training under Max Reinhardt and becoming one of the leading actors in his nat ...

, had been Intendant of Deutsche Oper, Berlin; he also was a famous actor trained by

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his radically innovative and avant-gard ...

. His full birth name is Alexander Michael Tahquitz Ebert, as his father took one of his son's names from his favorite climbing rock,

Tahquitz Rock Tahquitz Peak (pronounced , sometimes ) is a granite, rock formation located on the high western slope of the San Jacinto mountain range in Riverside County, Southern California, United States, above the mountain town of Idyllwild. Tahquitz ha ...

. Alex later discovered that Tahquitz is the name of a "demon" in the

Native American language The Indigenous languages of the Americas are the languages that were used by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas before the arrival of non-Indigenous peoples. Over a thousand of these languages are still used today, while many more are now e ...

of the

Cahuilla The Cahuilla, also known as ʔívil̃uqaletem or Ivilyuqaletem, are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the various tribes of the Cahuilla Nation, living in the inland areas of southern California. ...

people. His father influenced young Alexander by playing music by artists like

Patsy Cline Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley; September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) was an American singer. One of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century, she was known as one of the first country music artists to successfully Cross ...

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

, and

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

. He also cites 60s R&B,

Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...

, and

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

as influences, as well as his elementary school (Children's Community School) teacher, a woman from South Africa named Ruth Belonsky. Ebert enjoyed listening to

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

as a teenager, and originally intended to be a

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

. Following a school project on

Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cinema actors of the 20th century,''Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia''

, Ebert developed an affection for film and cinematic studies. His mother supported his budding passion and Ebert consequently was enrolled in extracurricular filmmaking classes. Ebert attended Oakwood School for high school, and then

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It also maintains campuses in Los Angeles and Well, Limburg, Netherlands (Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of Public Speaking, o ...

for a time before dropping out. After dropping out, Ebert directed a short film and wrote several screenplays. He attributes the revival of his interest in professional music to his childhood friends and excessive drug usage during that period of his life.

Career

Ima Robot

Ebert began writing and recording music (primarily rap) with his longtime friend Tim "Timmy the Terror" Anderson in 1997. The duo, occasionally joined by local DJs and longtime friends Oliver " Oligee" Goldstein and Jason "One Three/ComputerJay" Taylor, recorded demos under various names with various other members until they settled on a final name in 1999, ''

,'' which originated from an inside joke between Anderson and Ebert. With Goldstein as an official third member, Ima Robot began recording demos and performing shows around Los Angeles. The band was signed to Virgin Records on 2002. Their first full-length album released on September 6, 2003, was ''Ima Robot'', which featured the singles "Dynomite" and "Song #1." After the departure of Goldstein (and other members), bassist Filip Nikolic joined in 2005. On September 12, 2006, Ima Robot released their second album ''

Monument to the Masses ''Monument to the Masses'' is the second album by Ima Robot. It was released by Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label ...

'' which featured the singles "Creeps Me Out" and "Lovers in Captivity". In April 2007, the band won their independence from Virgin Records and continued to work unsigned under the management of Alexis Rivera of Echo Park Records. The song "Gangster" premiered on the band's

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

on April 15, 2008, with its lyrics posted in a blog entry by the band. In 2010 the band announced the upcoming release of their new album, ''

Another Man's Treasure ''Another Man's Treasure'' is the third album by Ima Robot. It was released by Werewolf Heart Records on September 18, 2010. It was made available on iTunes, and listeners could purchase the album through the band's site, which offered several d ...

'', and released the song "Ruthless" on the Internet. They are now being represented by Anderson's Werewolf Heart label. Ebert was quoted as saying that "most of the songs were recorded between two and four years ago", but that he looks forward to making music with Anderson and Nikolic again. Ebert expressed frustration with the corporate limitations on the band, saying he "pretty unironically ended up feeling like a robot by the end of the process because of the major label thing."

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

After years of his Los Angeles party lifestyle and subsequent drug addiction, Ebert broke up with his then-girlfriend, moved out of his house, and spent some time in rehab. During this time, he developed Edward Sharpe, his

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other ...

. "I don't want to put too much weight on it, because in some ways it's just a name that I came up with. But I guess if I look deeper, I do feel like I had lost my

identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), an ...

in general. I really didn't know what was going on or who I was anymore. Adopting another name helped me open up an avenue to get back." Ebert developed Sharpe into a messianic figure, saying "He was sent down to Earth to kinda heal and save mankind, but he kept getting distracted by girls and falling in love." Though the band would eventually grow into an ensemble of – at various points – even more than 10 people, Ebert began initial writing and recording completely alone, doing "the horn lines with my mouth or a kazoo on the demos" and "all the background vocals layering imelf, pretending that there were people there." The band began to take shape with the addition of singer Jade Castrinos, whom he saw sitting on an outdoor bench and immediately knew he needed to have a relationship with. Their resultant affair formed the seeds of what would become

. They started writing music together, and became a part of the art and music collective The Masses, which was partially started by some seed money from actor

Heath Ledger Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian actor. After playing roles in several Australian television and film productions during the 1990s, he moved to the United States in 1998 to further develop his film care ...

. While their relationship did not last, the group took off in a big way, and their group soon swelled to more than 10 members, some of whom had been Ebert's friends since he was young. By summer 2009, they were touring the country. Their first album, ''

Up from Below ''Up from Below'' is the first album from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. It was preceded by '' Here Comes EP''. Commercial performance As of July 4, 2013, the album has sold 363,000 copies in United States. Track listing In popular c ...

'', was released in July 2009. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros appeared on the ''

Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...

'' on May 10, 2012, promoting their next album entitled ''Here'', which was released on May 29, 2012. Their third full-length album, ''

'', was released on July 23, 2013. They again appeared on the ''Late Show'' to promote the album, performing the track "Life Is Hard." On their most recent album, ''

PersonA A persona (plural personae or personas) is a strategic mask of identity in public, the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. It is also considered "an intermediary ...

'', Ebert tried to evolve, stating, "In a lot of ways this album does things that are missing." He went on to discuss why the name Edward Sharpe is crossed out on the cover, saying, "There was no character to begin with, so why not kill him? He never really was there. If anything, and at most, Edward Sharpe was a vehicle for me to get to slough off whatever I had become up until that point, and to get back to or sort of allow my pure self to come forth into sort of a clean slate."

Solo career

In 2011, Ebert released his first solo album, ''

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

''. He appeared on '' Conan'' on September 12, 2011, to promote his solo album. On August 4, 2015, it was announced that Ebert would appear as the lead singer on

Avicii Tim Bergling (8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii, was a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. At age 16, he began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first record deal. He rose ...

's single "

For a Better Day "For a Better Day" is a song by Swedish EDM producer Avicii featuring uncredited vocals by American singer Alex Ebert, released as a single in 2015. The track appears on his album '' Stories'' and on his two-track EP ''Pure Grinding / For a Bette ...

" from his album '' Stories''. "Feel the Bern" was added to Ebert's SoundCloud on September 30, 2015. The anthem celebrates the movement surrounding Bernie Sanders and compels people to "Feel the Bern", which was a slogan of Bernie's 2016 & 2020 presidential campaigns. Ebert's second non-soundtrack solo album ''I vs I'' was released on January 31, 2020. Ebert has said that ''I vs I'' is “The most in-my-emotions, emo, self-centered album that I’ve probably ever made, but it’s been part of my process to get back to myself.”

Theatre

Ebert wrote the song "Daddy Knows Best" for ''SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical''. As part of the team of songwriters who contributed to the score (which included

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper ( ; born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her distinctive image, featuring a variety of hair colors and eccentric clothing, and for her powerful four-octave vocal range;Jerome, ...

Panic! At the Disco Panic! at the Disco was an American pop rock band formed in Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2004 by high school friends Ryan Ross (guitar) and Spencer Smith (musician), Spencer Smith (drums), who recruited classmates Brendon Urie (vocals and ...

, and

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...

), Ebert was awarded the

Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town news ...

for Outstanding New Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway) and was nominated for the

Tony Award for Best Original Score The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical or play in that year. The score consists of music and/or lyrics. To be eligible, a score must be written ...

Personal life

Ebert has a daughter with former partner Roehm Hepler-Gonzalez. Ebert began a relationship with actress

Jena Malone Jena Laine Malone (; born November 21, 1984) is an American actress. Born in Sparks, Nevada, Malone spent her early life there and in Las Vegas, while her mother acted in local theater productions. Inspired to become an actress herself, Malone ...

in 2019.

Discography

;With

*''

'' (2003) *''

'' (2006) *''

'' (2010) ;With

* '' Here Comes EP'' (2009) * ''

'' (2009) * ''

Here Here may refer to: Music * ''Here'' (Adrian Belew album), 1994 * ''Here'' (Alicia Keys album), 2016 * ''Here'' (Cal Tjader album), 1979 * ''Here'' (Edward Sharpe album), 2012 * ''Here'' (Idina Menzel album), 2004 * ''Here'' (Merzbow album), ...

'' (2012) * ''

'' (2013) * ''

'' (2016) ;Solo * ''

'' (2011) * ''I vs I'' (2020)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros official website

Ima Robot official websiteAlexander Ebert official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ebert, Alex Singers from Los Angeles Writers from Los Angeles 1978 births Living people American male singer-songwriters American rock singers American rock songwriters American alternative rock musicians Golden Globe Award–winning musicians Grammy Award winners 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American male singers Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros members Singer-songwriters from California