Alex Clare is a 26-year-old British singer-songwriter from London whose debut album The Lateness of the Hour launched him to stardom in 2011. Clare was influenced by his father's jazz and soul music collection as well as drum and bass, dubstep, and UK garage. Though he began playing trumpet and drums, he focused on guitar and songwriting, performing original songs at open mic nights in London. Clare earned a record deal with Island Records after handing them a demo and had early success when a song became Radio 1's 'Song of the Week,' leading to popularity in Europe. However, he was later dropped by his label until his single "Too Close" was featured in an advertisement and reached the top

1. Alex Clare is a 26 year old British singer-songwriter who has leaped to stardom
this year with his debut album: The Lateness of the Hour which was released on the 11th
of July in 2011 on Island records. Clare was born in Southwark, South-East London and
from an early age he grew up listening to his Father’s jazz and soul music
collection, and this is said to be where he gets a majority of his influences from (the likes
of Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway were said to be his favourites). These interests
eventually lead to interests in drum and bass, Dubstep and UK garage which all play
influential roles in his recent album. In his early life, Clare began by playing trumpet and
drums although he eventually placed focus on guitar and song-writing. Taking part in
many open-mic nights in London and using his own original material in them. Before
gaining critical success, Clare dated singer Amy Winehouse for a year. They met while
he performed and worked at a bar she frequented, The Hawley Arms in Camden, North
London. Alex Clare earned himself a contract with Island Label in the UK after he
handed them a demo and he got to work on an album straight away. His first major
success was when Reggie Yates made a song off of his album his ‘Radio 1 Song of the
Week’ and this was followed by similar success in Holland and Germany. Clare was
then dropped from his record label due to a disappointing performance of the
album, although his fortunes changed in 2012 when his single ‘Too Close’ was featured
on the Internet Explorer advert, and following this use Clare saw the single reach
number 4 in the UK and 1 in Germany. His album grew from here and he released a
further two singles.

2. Style Collage

3. As seen in the collage on the previous slide, it is clear to see that Alex
Clare has a very distinctive dress sense. This dress sense fits in with his
genre of music (indie/Electronica) as he dresses in a very simple
with. Furthermore, Clare has a few iconic signs which are instantly
related to him, and have become a gimmick to his image towards
his fans. For example, his large ginger beard and his baker boy cap
which he iconically wears in the majority of his videos and
appearances live.

4. Recently, music in general is having a major influence from the
electronica genre and sub-genres like drum and bass are becoming
more and more popular. As a result of this, Alex Clare exploited a
mix between many genres including: indie, dubstep, drum and bass
and electronica. This has been seen in many other similar artists
too, for example:
• Jamie Woon
• Emeli Sande
• Ben Howard
• Plan B
• Labrinth
• Maverick Sabre
• Paloma Faith