Alex Lloyd

Alex Lloyd
Background information
Birth name	Alexander Wasiliev
Also known as	Alex Lloyd
Born	(1974-09-19) 19 September 1974 (age 37)
Origin	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Genres	Pop MOR Alternative rock[1]
Occupations	Singer Songwriter
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Table Music distributed by Inertia
Associated acts	Mother Hubbard, Mad Bastards Trio
Website	www.AlexLloyd.com

Alex Lloyd (born 19 September 1974, Sydney) is an Australian singer-songwriter. His most popular album Watching Angels Mend, which includes the songs "Amazing" and "Green", was released in 2001 went double platinum. His third album Distant Light released in 2003 featured three songs that made the Australian top 40 singles charts. He has also won two ARIA awards for "Male Artist of the Year" in 2000 and 2002.

Early years

Lloyd grew up in the inner Sydney suburb of Balmain, where he attended Balmain High School (now Sydney Secondary College, Balmain Campus). In 1990 at the age of 15 he was a member of a school rock band that won the 1990 Balmain Battle of the Bands and the 1990 Canterbury high schools Youth Rock competition. This mainly blue-rock band evolved into "The Beefs" which began playing in local pubs and clubs and into indie rock band Mother Hubbard. Born Alexander Wasiliev, Lloyd adopted his mother's maiden name "Lloyd" in tribute, following her unexpected death in 1991.^{[citation needed]}

Solo career

His solo career began in 1997 when he started writing songs for his debut solo album Black The Sun and spent time at a songwriting clinic organised by Miles Copeland III, former manager of The Police. Lloyd started producing the album in 1998 and finished the album with producer Ed Buller, a former member of the Psychedelic Furs, who had produced albums by Pulp and Suede.

Black the Sun won a great deal of critical acclaim with Triple J listeners voting it their album of the year. Lloyd won an ARIA award for "Best New Artist" in 1999 and his first award for "Best Male Artist" in 2000.

Lloyd's second album Watching Angels Mend went double platinum in Australia after its release in 2001. The second single, "Amazing", proved to be a breakthrough for him, becoming his first top 40 single in Australia, being the top song on the Triple J Hottest 100 for 2001. It went on to become a number one hit in New Zealand and the most played track on Australian radio during 2002.

Two further top 40 singles in Australia followed in 2002 "Green" and "Everybody's Laughing". Lloyd went on to win his second ARIA award for "Best Male Artist" and was nominated in several other categories.

Lloyd's third album Distant Light was released in 2003. It featured Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey of Midnight Oil on several tracks. It was produced by Stuart Miller, who had also produced Watching Angels Mend and mixed by Tony Hoffer who has worked with Air, Beck and Turin Brakes.

Distant Light was also a success on the ARIA charts. Three singles charted from the album — "Coming Home" in August 2003, "1000 Miles" in November 2003, and "Beautiful" in April 2004. The album has been certified platinum in Australia.

In 2005, Lloyd released a new single, entitled "Never Meant to Fail", which reached the top 30 in Australia. This was released on 25 October in the album that featured his own name as the title. This has been nominated by critics as 'his best album yet' but no official recognition of this has yet been made. Singles which have been released from this album ("Never Meant to Fail", "The Wonder" and "Brand New Day") have had significant airplay on radio stations across Australia.

In 2006, Alex Lloyd performed in the grand finale of Dancing With The Stars, singing his breakthrough song, "Amazing". His performance in the show may have helped with sales of his album, as the album re-entered the albums chart a couple of weeks after the show. Alex Lloyd also released his greatest hits compilation, titled Amazing: The Best of Alex Lloyd, which covers all the singles from the four previous Alex Lloyd albums. The limited edition of the compilation features a second CD of B-sides and rarities.

Alex Lloyd released his fifth album Good in the Face of a Stranger in November 2008 independently through Inertia. August 2008, the album's first single "Slow Train" was released through his official website, and the video clip for the track was animated with 7,000 hand drawn pictures. In March 2009, he released his second single "What We Started" from the album. The album did not chart as well as Lloyd's previous albums, selling close to 15,000 albums; however it was well received by critics.

In 2011, Alex Lloyd began touring with Steve and Alan Pigram from The Pigram Brothers. The trio had worked on the soundtrack for the Australian film Mad Bastards, and the reviews of the music were largely positive. The trio became known as the Mad Bastards Trio and used the tour to promote the film, which was released on May 5, 2011. The tour ended later that month. The Mad Bastards Trio also performed on Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight and also had an interview with George Negus about the music and the film itself. One of Lloyd's songs from Good in the Face of a Stranger, "Slow Train" made it onto the soundtrack, along with songs written by the Pigram Brothers, but the majority of the soundtrack was written as a collaboration between the trio.

The music from the Mad Bastards Trio received a very positive reception, with three nominations for the 2011 APRA Awards including Best Original Song Composed for the Screen ("Won't Look Back" by Alex Lloyd), Best Soundtrack Album and Feature Film Score of the Year. The soundtrack from the film was also nominated for Best Original Film Soundtrack at the 25th ARIA Awards.

Personal life

Alex is married to Amelia Wasiliev and they have three sons, Jake, Isaac and Elvis. Alex took part in Celebrity MasterChef Australia in 2009. He made it into the final four with INXS guitarist Kirk Pengilly, swimmer Eamon Sullivan and model Rachael Finch. However, he missed going through to the grand final, after failing to impress the judges enough with his chocolate swirl croquembouche.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

The song "Peepshow" was released as a video-only single at an unknown date in 1998.

Awards and nominations

ARIA Awards

References

External links

• Alex Lloyd official site
• Alex Lloyd on Myspace
• Alex Lloyd on Twitter
• Amazon artist page
• Undercover news article on the birth of Lloyd's child