Alexis Strum - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Alexis Rebecca Strum is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

actress, singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

and comedy writer.

After a long career in the music industry (see below), Alexis is currently focusing on her acting career, touring the UK as Eva Cassidy's sister, Margaret in the musical 'Over The Rainbow- The Eva Cassidy Story' (2011-12), whilst forging a career as a comedy writer. She is shortly due to co-star as 'Denise' in self-penned comedy short, 'Shoes', directed by BBC's Dermot Canterbury and has recently appeared as misunderstood man-eater, 'Samantha' in Persona, the world's first ever daily drama series app created entirely for the iPhone, directed by Don Allen and Sheena Holliday PERSONA by APP MEDIA. Alexis has also acted in "The Man Who Married Himself" with Richard E Grant and Emilia Fox, co-starred in the film, "Will's Diaries", directed by Charis Orchard, as well as featuring in many short films and several worldwide commercials (Schweppes, Niquitin etc...).

Alexis has also had rave reviews in theatre productions of 'It Started With A Touch', playing lesbian schoolteacher Fay at the Wimbledon Theatre and as Lady Macbeth in 'A Season Before The Tragedy Of Macbeth' at the Camden People's Theatre, for which she was described as, "the excellent Alexis Strum. Her strength and poise gave her character some much needed gravitas" Fringe Review 2010

Prior to her acting career, Alexis was a recording artist- she released singles in the UK whilst signed to Warner and Universal records respectively as a solo artist, provided guest vocals on the song, 'April Fools' with Robbie Williams, sang on dance records for York, Lange and Ed Case as well as wrote and recorded a song on Channel 4's 'The Inbetweeners' soundtrack in 2010. She has also worked extensively as a song-writer, co-writing "Still Standing" on Kylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue

Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...

's album Body , "Nothing Good About This Goodbye" on Rachel Stevens

Rachel Stevens

Rachel Lauren Stevens is an English singer-songwriter, actress, presenter, dancer, television personality and model. She is a former member of the successful pop group S Club, and launched a solo recording career in 2003, releasing seven singles and two albums in the UK between 2003 and 2005...

' album Come and Get It and "Why Not Us?" for top German girlband, Monrose. Alexis Strum was also the singer and songwriter behind Bo Pepper, a puppet-fronted indie pop band/ project, championed by the likes of Perez Hilton.

Pre-contract

Strum was born and brought up in an Orthodox Jewish family in Chingford

Chingford

Chingford is a district of north east London, bordering on Enfield and Edmonton to the west, Woodford to the east, Walthamstow and Stratford to the south and Essex to the north. It is situated northeast of Charing Cross and forms part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest...

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

; her parents are both half-Polish, with Belgian blood from her father's side and Italian from her mother's.

At age 14 she was discovered by Carole White

Carole White

Carole White is a former model, who founded and manages Premier Model Management.- Early life and Career :White was born in Deal, Kent in 1950 but raised in Ghana...

(the booker at Elite Premier model agency who discovered Naomi Campbell) and began a short career as a fashion and beauty model, appearing in The Daily Mail newspaper as one of the 'new faces to watch'.

However, she soon discovered her love of music, and her desire to be a performer after she attended a school concert where a covers band were playing Mudhoney and Nirvana

Nirvana (band)

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

tracks. The very next day she went out and purchased her first guitar. Around this time she began writing and performing her own poetry and at age 17 became the youngest UK Farrago Slam Poetry champion, the award given at Chat's Palace in Hackney.

Turning to music, Alexis formed several local bands, performing Elastica

Elastica

Elastica were an English alternative rock band that played punk rock-influenced music. They were best known for their 1995 album Elastica, which produced singles that charted in the US and the UK.-History:...

and L7

L7 (band)

L7 was an American rock band from Los Angeles, that was active from 1985 to 2000. Due to their sound and image, they are often associated with the grunge movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s.-History:...

tracks, before experimenting with computer-aided production, to emulate the sound of a full live band on her own. She studied English at King's College London

King's College London

King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...

, gaining a First Class degree in English Literature. Whilst there she held the position of Music Editor of the University newspaper, 'Roar' and also wrote a fashion/ beauty column in a magazine supplement, the now defunct, 'Insync'. Throwing herself into music and interviewing bands for 'Roar', she attended gigs and began playing her own, exaggerating her experience in order to blag performance spots. After graduating and spending a couple of years working odd jobs and performing here and there across London, she signed her first worldwide publishing deal with Mike Sault at Warner Chappell. She guest vocalled on tracks by Thrillseekers, Lange

Lange

-People named Lange:* Algot Lange, Swedish explorer* André Lange , German bobsledder* Andrew E. Lange , U.S. astronomer* Antoni Lange, Polish poet* Artie Lange , U.S...

, and Ed Case

Ed Case

Edward Espenett "Ed" Case is a Democratic politician and a former member of the United States House of Representatives. Case, a Blue Dog Democrat, first came to prominence in Hawaii as majority leader of the Hawaii State Legislature and for his campaign for Governor of Hawaii in 2002...

until in 2002, Strum signed her first solo record contract.

"Addicted"

In 2002, Strum landed a record deal with WEA records, distributed by the Warner Music Group. There she co-wrote and recorded an electronic

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

-pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

album, some of it written in her own home studio after taking a music production course at City Lit. She also worked with producers such as Xenomania

Xenomania

Xenomania is a British songwriting and production team founded by Brian Higgins and based in Kent, England. Formed after Higgins met Miranda Cooper, Xenomania has written and produced for renowned artists such as Cher, Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Pet Shop Boys, and Sugababes...

. A single release was scheduled entitled "Addicted," with a video added to music television channels, and promo CDs sent ro radio, alongside an album sampler. The single was cancelled due to lack of media support, and Alexis released herself from her contract soon after. The album sampler features the tracks: "Addicted", "Coming On Strong", "Rock This Disco", "Still Standing", and "Nothing Good about This Goodbye"; two of the tracks were later recorded by popular artists: "Still Standing" features on Kylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue

's 2003 album, Body and "Nothing Good about This Goodbye" features on Rachel Stevens

Rachel Stevens

' 2005 album, Come and Get It. The album was also set to include tracks entitled "Still", "Keep Up", and "Rodeo"; these, alongside the album sampler, have been leaked onto the internet.

Writing in the wilderness

Following the disappointment of parting company from WEA records, Strum left Britain to travel alone to Antigua

Antigua

Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...

on holiday. For two weeks, she sat in a hut with no electricity, covered in mosquito nets and trying to plan what she would do next. Still songwriting, Alexis wrote two songs there – "Cocoon" and "Stay Until Summer" – and when she returned home, self-produced them into finished versions. Re-building confidence in herself, she returned to venues she had played at previously, and went back to performing gigs in London, before sending a sample of her work to the management of Billy Steinberg

Billy Steinberg

William Endfield "Billy" Steinberg is an American songwriter. He has achieved most of his success as part of a song writing team, most notably with Tom Kelly. He has also co-written several hit songs with Rick Nowels.-Biography:...

– writer of Madonna

Madonna (entertainer)

Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

's hit single, "Like a Virgin

Like a Virgin (song)

"Like a Virgin" is a song by American singer Madonna from her second album of the same name. It was released on November 6, 1984 by Sire Records, as the first single from the album. The song appears on the greatest hits compilation albums The Immaculate Collection and Celebration...

", Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper

Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...

's "True Colours", and "I Drove All Night

I Drove All Night

"I Drove All Night" is a song written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and made famous by Cyndi Lauper. The song was originally written for Roy Orbison, who recorded it in 1987, but his rendition was not released until 1992, after the song had become a top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic for...

" – requesting a session with him. Together they wrote a track called "It Could Be You". She then called on Magnus Fiennes

Magnus Fiennes

Magnus Fiennes is an English cross-genre composer, record producer and songwriter. He has worked with artists such as Shakira, Pulp, Tom Jones and Morcheeba...

and Pascal Gabriel

Pascal Gabriel

Pascal Richard Marcel Gabriel is a Belgian-born musician based in London. His musical career began in 1977 in the punk rock band The Razors...

, both of whom she had met previously, to add touches to the album she was making. The album was recorded in LA and London.

"Bad Haircut"

By early 2005, Strum had recorded her second album, semi-acoustic, but with left field beats and electro synths ("I don't want to get wrapped up in myself. There's a whole slew of female singer-songwriters going, 'Ooh, I'm so bloody tortured'. 'Oh, I'm in so much pain, la la la'. It's so calculated. Get off the stage", she has said) and signed a deal with Mercury Records

Mercury Records

Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...

. They loved the album, but felt it lacked a "first single", so Strum went back and wrote and produced a track called "Bad Haircut". She also started writing a blog for the popular music web site, Popjustice

Popjustice

Popjustice is a music website founded in 2000 and is the work of UK freelance music journalist Peter Robinson, who has worked for NME, The Guardian, Attitude and many others....

, as well as launching her own official web site and MySpace

MySpace

Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

profile.

In August 2005, following a spot at the V Festival, it was announced that Strum would release her debut single and album in September 2005. The two were met with critical acclaim, and album reviews were positive, but once again, Strum was spurned by most radio and television outlets, despite the "Bad Haircut" video featuring up-and-coming actor, Tom Ellis

Tom Ellis (actor)

Tom Ellis is a Welsh actor best known for playing Dr. Oliver Cousins in the BBC soap opera EastEnders and Detective Sergeant Sam Speed in a Life on Mars parody on the The Catherine Tate Show...

. The single was released, but missed the top 40, and plans to release the album, called Cocoon were quickly shelved.

"It Could Be You"

In early 2006, a video to the track she co-wrote with Billy Steinberg, "It Could Be You", was sent to music television, set to a new version of the song to that which had appeared on promotional copies of the Cocoon album in late 2005, remixed by Ash Howes. The song was spurned, yet again, by radio, but television support grew strong, and, although the record company pulled the single release a week before its due date, the video was among the top ten most requested on UK channel The Box for a few weeks. Once again, plans to release Cocoon after the single, were also shelved; however, the single was added to iTunes

ITunes

iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

UK, and the album was also added (by mistake — it was later removed), giving fans the opportunity to legally purchase the songs pre-release.

"Go My Own Way"

In March, shortly after "It Could Be You" had been cancelled, Strum announced via her MySpace

MySpace

blog that she had exciting news, and in April explained that she had scored the theme tune spot to the much-hyped new ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

drama series Vital Signs
Vital Signs (TV series)
Vital Signs is a British television drama series airing on ITV from 2006. It stars Tamzin Outhwaite as a supermarket check-out operator who decides to become a doctor. The series co-stars William Beck, Fraser Ayres, Eve Best, Claudie Blakley, Lucinda Dryzek, Beth Goddard, Alfie Hunter, Brooke...

, starring Tamsin Outhwaite, over more established artists, such as KT Tunstall

KT Tunstall

Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist from St Andrews, Scotland. She broke into the public eye with a 2004 live solo performance of her song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on Later... with Jools Holland...

. The track, entitled "Go My Own Way", is played at the start with vocals, and at the end in instrumental form, and was added in its entirety to iTunes

ITunes

. Strum said that, whilst the track will not be the next single, a new mix of the track will also appear on a revised version of Cocoon.

A new version of Cocoon appeared on iTunes temporarily (alongside other digital retailers in the UK, such as Woolworths.co.uk), in April, featuring both the original and new album versions of "Go My Own Way", the single version of "It Could Be You", and the previously unreleased "The Starting Line". Again, it was shortly removed from sale, after Strum herself was alerted to it, through her MySpace page. At the same time, Strum launched a second MySpace, featuring some new songs she had written to be considered for other artists, having had two songs from her WEA record be taken by A&R men for Kylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue

and Rachel Stevens

Rachel Stevens

.

In May 2006, Strum made an announcement that she would be undergoing surgery, and would be unable to return to work until September 2006, when she had recovered. In September 2006, Strum posted a message on MySpace stating that all was well with her health, and added a note saying that her album will not be released as was planned, announcing a sabbatical; "I have decided after this big lifechange that I need to address my priorities and do something different for a bit - time for a new challenge! Challenge Strum!" In December 2006, a personal Christmas song she recorded for her friends and family was added to her MySpace.

Perez Hilton, a long term supporter of hers featured it on his website www.perezhilton.com and propelled the song's video, made by Paul Rowley of Penny Mix Films, onto YouTube's top videos chart. At the time Alexis blogged, "I won't be releasing any more Alexis Strum records and am gonna concentrate on other things, namely boys and food. Stay in touch!" In March 2007, Strum revealed on her MySpace that her song, "It Could Be You," had been covered by UK singer, Roxanne, who supported Westlife

Westlife

Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...

on tour.

Bo Pepper

In early 2007, it was revealed that Strum was the voice and songwriter behind UK indie group, Bo Pepper. The band consisted of Alexis (aka 'Dolly'), Matt Park (also in Drew McConnell's band Helsinki) on guitar, Remy Mallet on bass and Danny Lenox Wonder Years Conyngham on drums.

Bo Pepper were known for their puppet-fronted videos, made by Paul Rowley at Penny Mix Films, which were an internet sensation, championed by the likes of Perez Hilton, The Sun's 'Bizarre' column and YouTube. The first single, self-released in April 2008 on 'Peppered Records' scored airplay spots on Radio 1 (Huw Stephens), Radio 2, 6Music, Channel 4 Radio and Virgin Radio/ Virgin Xtreme. Another track, "Buses," featured in an online Coca Cola advertisement, and featured on the "UK:ONE the New Music Collection - Coca-Cola Soundwave" digital album, available to purchase via iTunes.

In 2008, Bo Pepper graced the pages of The Sun, The Times, The Guardian, played at SXSW in Texas, supported Pete Doherty and Sparks and recorded an album but Alexis decided to end the project in January 2009. She kept the puppet.

Post Bo Pepper

Alexis was personally asked by Robbie Williams

Robbie Williams

Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...

to record the Martha Wainwright

Martha Wainwright

Martha Wainwright is a Canadian-American folk-rock singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of American folk singer and actor Loudon Wainwright III and Canadian folk singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle...

part on a cover of Rufus Wainwright

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. He has recorded six albums of original music, EPs, and tracks on compilations and film soundtracks.-Early years:...

's song, "April Fools". This has now been recorded but there are no plans to release this track as yet.

Alexis was also featured on BBC NEWS as part of the Indie Ghetto YouTube programme phenomenon where artists perform indie covers of hiphop tracks, alongside Paloma Faith, V V Brown and Kate Nash.

Music For Television/ Synchs

Alexis wrote, produced and performed the song, 'Got A Grip On Me' which appears in the last series (Series 3) of Channel 4's cult hit, 'The Inbetweeners'. This episode aired in October 2010 and follows on from Alexis's earlier TV synch success- she previously co-wrote and performed the theme tune to ITV's Tamsin Outhwaite-fronted drama, 'Vital Signs'. Additionally, she has written a lead track for Louis Walsh's new girl band, Wonderland, released 6 June 2011, tracks for Diana Vickers and has written a catalogue of songs with the likes of Guy Chambers (of Robbie Williams fame), Fernando Garibay (Lady Gaga co-writer) and many others in the UK and US.

Albums

2002: Addicted (cancelled)
2006: Cocoon (cancelled)

Singles

2005: "Bad Haircut" (available on CD, featuring the video and B-sides "Train off the Track" and "Might Be the One", digital download, and exclusive acoustic version digital download)
2006 "It Could Be You" (available on digital download, featuring B-side "We All Fall Down" and two remixes of the album track, "Why Me, Why Now" by Bent and Blu Mar Ten
Blu Mar Ten
Blu Mar Ten is a music production outfit based in London, and is made up of Leo Wyndham and Chris Marigold and Michael Tognarelli.-History:Blu Mar Ten's first track to be released was "The Fountain" / "Lunar" in 1996 on the now defunct Way Out Records. The track appeared on numerous compilations...

, and exclusive acoustic version digital download). A new version of "Why Me, Why Now" has been included on Blu Mar Ten
Blu Mar Ten
Blu Mar Ten is a music production outfit based in London, and is made up of Leo Wyndham and Chris Marigold and Michael Tognarelli.-History:Blu Mar Ten's first track to be released was "The Fountain" / "Lunar" in 1996 on the now defunct Way Out Records. The track appeared on numerous compilations...

's latest album "Black Water" (exceptional records)
2007 "Blink & You'll Miss It!" EP (as part of Bo Pepper, featuring the songs, "Blink & You'll Miss It!" "Love Or Die!" "Children" and "Good Cop, Bad Cop")
2007 "I Haven't Got You Anything (This Christmas)" single
2008 "No-One But Yourself To Blame" single
2008 "Steppin' On My Toes" single

External links

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