Alex Kapranos

Alex Kapranos

Alexander Paul Kapranos Huntley (born March 20, 1972 in Almondsbury, England) is the guitarist and lead singer of the British band Franz Ferdinand. He was born to a Greek father and an English mother.

Early life

Kapranos spent his early childhood in Sunderland and South Shields, his mother's home town, and spent most summers in his father's native Greece. He has a sister named Anne and a brother, Phillip. Huntley is the name of his father's aunt. His mother insisted on the middle name Paul, because of a long-term crush on Paul McCartney.

In 1980, he moved with his family to Edinburgh, then to Glasgow in 1984. At the age of seventeen, Kapranos attended the University of Aberdeen to study theology. He continued his studies at several different universities, including the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow where he gained a BA in Hotel and Catering Management. He worked as a chef, barman, music promoter, driver, welder and lecturer prior to finding fame with Franz Ferdinand.

Music pre-Franz Ferdinand

Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand playing live at the 2006 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

From the early 1990s, he was a fixture of the Glasgow music scene, running live nights at the 13th Note, most notably The Kazoo Club. While working as a chef, bartender, lecturer in IT at the city's Anniesland College, and other various jobs, he played in some of Glasgow's popular bands, including The Blisters, long-standing ska stalwarts The Amphetameanies, The Yummy Fur and The Karelia (formerly known as The Blisters). He is also known to have contributed to Urusei Yatsura and Lungleg recordings.

Franz Ferdinand

Eventually, after dropping "Huntley" from his name, he formed a new band in 2001 with old friends and new acquaintances called Franz Ferdinand, which has received international attention. The band is comprised of Kapranos, Nick McCarthy (guitar, keyboard, backup vocals), Paul Thomson (drums, backup vocals, sometimes guitar) and Bob Hardy (bass). Eight singles, two albums and an EP have charted in the United Kingdom to date, and their eponymous debut album won the 2004 Mercury Music Prize, two Brit Awards, a Breakthrough Video MTV Award and an Ivor.

Writing

Kapranos discussing his book in New York City

In September 2005, Kapranos began Soundbites[1], a weekly food column for G2 in the Guardian newspaper, which detailed his culinary adventures as Franz Ferdinand traversed the globe on their world tour. A book of the column and unreleased material illustrated by "Fifth Franz" Andy Knowles was released November 2nd in the UK in Hardback and December 26th in the US in paperback through Penguin/Fig Tree publishings.

Sound Bites: Eating on Tour with Franz Ferdinand was read by Alex Kapranos on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week 4-8 December 2006, described as "his account about what he ate while touring the world." [2]

Production

Kapranos is currently producing the third album by British Pop Group The Cribs in Vancouver BC.

Trivia

File:Alex Kapranos.JPG

Alex Kapranos performing at a concert at San Diego State University in October 2005

• He has asthma and is allergic to peanuts.
• He declared 2004: "A good year for: remodernism - for having the gall to suggest that artists can have souls."
• A four feet square oil and acryllic painting of Alex by controversial Scottish artist Bill Blackwood was auctioned off for charity on September 18, 2006 for an undisclosed price. It was an especially commissioned piece for the 'Style At The Galleries' exhibition as a celebration of Glaswegian culture. The picture shows Kapranos about to tuck in the supposed local delicacy, a deep fried chocolate bar with a trailing microphone lead shaped in the guise of an 'F'.
• He is a supporter of English football club Sunderland A.F.C.
• Kapranos plays a Fender Telecaster Deluxe and in recent years has augmented this with a double cut Les Paul Junior.
• Kapranos is currently dating Eleanor Friedberger
• The group play with bisexuality in some of their songs, for instance Michael [3], which Alex has stated is based on a private joke between the band about one of their friends. This has, in part, fuelled the slash fiction community focused on the band. Alex does not mind this slash fiction, even saying "Slackening ties for the girls at slacken_ties" at a 2005 gig at the Scala, slacken_ties being a livejournal community dedicated to Franz slash. He said of slash, "It was pointed out to me at one point and I thought it was very humorous...At first I thought they’d been spying on my private life and then I realised it’s just fantasy." [4]

See also

• List of bands/musicians from the North East

External links

• Franz Ferdinand Official Site
• Filter MAG Interview
• Alex Kapranos talks about Sound Bites to stv.tv