Alex Kapranos: Difference between revisions
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== See also == |
== See also == |
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* [[bands from North East England|List of bands/musicians from the North East]] |
* [[bands from North East England|List of bands/musicians from the North East]] |
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* [[Handsome Boy Modelling School]] |
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==Notes and references== |
==Notes and references== |
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Revision as of 19:02, 9 November 2006
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. 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.
Music pre-Franz Ferdinand
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, Quinn and The Karelia (formerly known as The Blisters). He is also known to have contributed to Urusei Yatsura 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 Alex, 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.
Trivia
- Kapranos plays a Fender '72 Telecaster Deluxe/Fender Telecaster
- He has asthma and is allergic to animal dander and saliva, along with an allergy to peanuts.
- He has worked as a chef, barman, music promoter, driver, welder and lecturer.
- He declared 2004: "A good year for: remodernism - for having the gall to suggest that artists can have souls." [1]
- In September 2005 he began Soundbites [1], a weekly food column for G2 in the Guardian newspaper, which details his culinary adventures as Franz Ferdinand traverse the globe on their world tour. A book of his soundbites column and unreleased material illusrated by "Fifth Franz" Andy Knowles will be released November 2nd in the UK in Hardback and December 26th in the US on paperback through Penguin/Fig Tree publishings.
- 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 Alex 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 has a sister called Annetta
See also
Notes and references
- ^ from "The triumphs and turkeys of 2004"The Guardian, December 16, 2004. Accessed April 29, 2006