ALEX TURNER BY HONOR WILSON

FACTS…Alex Turner is a musician and singer songwriter – he is the lead vocalist for The Arctic Monkeys.

He plays several different instruments;

- Guitar

- Bass Guitar

- Drums

- Keyboard (He had piano lessons as a child)

- Vocals

Turner specialises in several different music genres:

- Indie Rock

- Psychedelic Rock

- Garage Rock

- Post-punk Revival

He is currently signed to the record label Domino.

BACKGROUND TO HIS LIFE… Alexander David Turner was born on the 6th of January 1986 and is now aged 28.

Turner was raised in a place called High Green in Sheffield.

He attended Stocksbridge High School from 1997-2002.

His English teacher once said that in class Turner appeared to be ‘moved’ by the poetry they read.

As a teenager he mainly listened to rap music with his friends. However, due to the breakthrough of The strokes and The Libertines, Turner’s taste in music changed to a more guitar based style. He also then developed a love for The Beatles and wanted to be like them.

Turner’s parents bought him his first guitar for Christmas in 2001.

Once he has finished studying for his A-levels his parents agreed to let him pursue a career in music rather than continuing with his studies and moving on to attend Manchester University to study English. Whilst he was still trying to begin pursuing his music career, he worked as a barman.

MUSIC CAREER – THE ARCTIC MONKEYSThe Arctic Monkeys signed to the independent record label Domino in 2005.

Albums released since they were signed:

1. Whatever People Say That I Am, That’s‘ What I’m Not – this album was released in early 2006 and was the fastest selling debut album in music history. It also reached no.1 in the album charts that year.

2. Favourite Worst Nightmare – this album was released in 2007 and reached no.1 in the album charts that year.

3. Humbug – this album was released in 2009 and also reached no.1 in the album charts.

4. Suck it and See – this was released in 2011.

5. AM – this is the most recent album from the Arctic Monkeys and was released in 2013.

MUSIC CAREER – THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS

In August 2007 Alex Turner announced that he had plans to join forces with Miles Kane, Owen Pallett and James Ford.

The Last Shadow Puppets released one album which was called The Age of the Understatement which was released on the 21st April 2008. This album went straight to the no.1 spot in the 1st week.

They also went and did a small tour to promote the album in 2008.

MUSIC CAREER – SOLO WORK

Alex Turner both wrote and produced 6 songs for a feature film called Submarine. The soundtrack was released in March 2011. The film was directed by Richard Ayoade who was a good friend of Turner and also directed several of the Arctic Monkeys music videos.

LOVE LIFE

Turner was in a two year relationship with Johanna Bennett from 2005-2007.

He then dated Alexa Chung (model and presenter) living with her in both London and New York City from 2007-2011.

Until recently he was in a relationship with an American actress called Arielle Vandenburg from 2011-2014.