Alex Parks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Alex Parks | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Cornwall, England |
| Genre(s) | folk pop, alternative, indie rock |
| Years active | 2003 – present |
| Label(s) | Polydor (2003-2006) |
| Website | Alex Parks Official |
Alexandra Rebecca Parks (born 26 July 1984, in Mount Hawke, Cornwall) is an English singer-songwriter. She is best known for winning Fame Academy in 2003, her subsequent singles, and the albums Introduction and Honesty.
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[edit] Career
Parks started songwriting at the age of fifteen. At college she studied theatrical and performing arts, and at the same time performed regularly as lead singer in a local band, One Trick Pony. During this period she was introduced to indie, folk and rock music, and began playing guitar. The band eventually broke up, but Parks continued to write songs.
On Parks' behalf, her father submitted an impromptu application to the BBC's Fame Academy in 2003. Parks won the contest, and was given the opportunity to showcase her self-penned song Maybe That's What It Takes to a public audience. The song was released on 17 November 2003 and peaked at number 3 in the UK singles chart the following week. Her debut album Introduction was subsequently released and sold over 500,000 copies.
After the release of her second single Cry in February 2004, Parks withdrew from the limelight for eighteen months while working on her second album Honesty with co-writers/producers Greg Wells, John Reynolds, Peter-John Vettese and Judie Tzuke. The album suffered many setbacks, and delays, with reports that the record label, Polydor, were unhappy with the record and could not hear potential singles. Songwriter Eg White revealed that he wrote the song "Shiver", which was released by Natalie Imbruglia and became a number 1 radio hit, for Parks, but she declined it. Parks revealed on her web site that she spent a week with Greg Wells writing 4 new tracks, all of which appear on the album. Honesty was eventually released in October 2005, preceded by the lead single, "Looking For Water," in October 2005. Fans were infuriated when Polydor chose to release the track as an internet-download only, cancelling the CD release two weeks before it was due to go on sale. The album peaked at #24 in the UK album chart, met with mixed reviews about the record's overall downtempo, more noncommercial sound.
Polydor released the title track, "Honesty", as the second single from the album in January 2006, with it charting at #56. Parks toured the UK to support the album, with gigs in venues in Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham and Cornwall, ending with a finale gig in London's Shepherds Bush Empire on February 10th 2006.
On February 8th 2006, Parks announced that she had parted company with her record label, since both she and Polydor had been unhappy with their relationship. Parks revealed she had received offers from independent labels, but decided to take a sabbatical from the music industry to consider her options. In November 2006, her management team confirmed that Parks remains committed to a career in music.
In late 2006, Parks went to Australia and went travelling across the country for several months, writing updates to her fans telling them of her enjoyment of the experience. In April 2007, she revealed she had returned to the UK and was ready to start work on a new EP of material.
[edit] Influences
Parks' musical influences as a songwriter and performer include Ani DiFranco, Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Jeff Buckley, Tori Amos and Annie Lennox. She has also expressed a strong interest in rock artists and bands, including Jimi Hendrix, Skin, Radiohead, Razorlight and The Killers.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Year | Album | Chart positions | Sales and certification | |||||||
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| UK | Ireland | |||||||||
| 2003 | Introduction
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BPI sales: 600,000+ BPI certification: 2x Platinum Also went Gold in Italy, Germany, Greece and Australia among others. |
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| 2005 | Honesty
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BPI sales: 50,000+ BPI certification: N/A |
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| "—" denotes albums that were released but did not chart. | ||||||||||
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Album | Chart positions | |
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| UK | Ireland | |||
| 2003 | "Maybe That's What It Takes" | Introduction | 3 | 26 |
| 2004 | "Cry" | 13 | 32 | |
| 2005 | "Looking for Water"1 | Honesty | 250 | — |
| 2006 | "Honesty" | 56 | — | |
1 On downloads only
[edit] External links
- Official Site
- Fan Sites
- Forums
- Myspace
- Feature Articles
- After Ellen - The Success of the UK's Alex Parks: a Paradigm Shift for Lesbians in Music?
- BBC Cornwall biography
- Guardian interview, Nov 2003
- Scotsman interview, Nov 2003
- Reviews
- Shakenstir - INTRODUCTION album review
- Guardian Unlimited - INTRODUCTION album review
- Playlouder - INTRODUCTION album review
- Shakenstir - HONESTY album review
- musicOHM.com - HONESTY album review
- BBC Pop/Chart Reviews - HONESTY album review
- Shakenstir - Shepherds Bush Empire gig review, Feb 2006
- Shakenstir - Special Awards for 2006, Dec 2006
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