Biography
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Born
4 May 1970 (age 54)
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Born In
Grosse Pointe, Wayne County, Michigan, United States
Gregg Alexander (born 4 May 1970) is best known as the producer/singer/songwriter behind the New Radicals, who scored the international hit "You Get What You Give" in early 1999.
Since disbanding the group in summer 1999, Alexander has written and produced songs for artists such as Ronan Keating, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Enrique Iglesias, fellow ex-New Radical Danielle Brisebois and most noteworthy the song "The Game Of Love" by Santana and Michelle Branch, which earned him a Grammy in 2003.
Gregg Alexander was born on 4 May 1970 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. His father, Tony, was a plumber and his mother, Sharon, a Jehovah's Witness. He also had a brother, Stephen, and a sister, Caroline. Alexander quickly developed into a multi-talented musician after receiving his first guitar at the age of 12. By the age of 16 he signed his first recording contract with A&M. He worked on his debut album with producer Rick Nowels for over two years. However, the 1989 release, originally entitled Save Me From Myself, was renamed Michigan Rain at the last minute. This teamed with bad marketing and the popularity of grunge at the time led to the album being almost completely forgotten.
Three years later, at the age of 22, Alexander tried again signing to Epic in 1992 and releasing his second album Intoxifornication. Unfortunately, the album came about amidst a corporate reshuffling and therefore, like the first, did not receive the attention it deserved. After two failed attempts, Alexander all but gave up on his dream of becoming a singer and settled into writing songs for other artists such as Belinda Carlisle, Melanie Williams and The Bangles, spending his royalty checks travelling around Europe and America. During this time Alexander would often busk in Tompkins Square Park and Central Park and slowly noticed his songs taking on a life-force of their own.
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