Background
Winston grew up just outside Detroit.
Winston grew up just outside Detroit.
Classically trained as an opera singer—and a self-taught guitarist, songwriter, and pianist—Winston decided to pursue a career in music after graduating from high school. "I started bands at a pretty young age and played with my friends back in Detroit," Winston stated in a 2013 interview. "I"ve always known that I wanted to do this.
lieutenant was all I was ever interested in doing." Rather than attend college, Winston moved to New York City in 2010, where she began performing as both a solo artist and with bands.
Working with the production duo, The Knocks, Winston released her first European Parliament, The Basement Covers, on independent label Heavy Roc Music later that year. Recorded in GarageBand, the European Parliament received significant attention, particularly in the United Kingdom, where Winston was often compared to Kate Bush, Joanna Newsom, and PJ Harvey.
In reviewing the record, The Guardian noted that "there hasn"t really been a breakthrough United States female from what you might call the alternative/Pitchfork camp, but Alex Winston stands a better chance than most." Two singles, and were released and a music video was made for the latter. These two songs would later appear on the Sister Wife European Parliament, released in February 2011.
In 2011, Winston signed with Island Records, and subsequently re-released The Sister Wife European Parliament as well as a collection of Sister Wife remixes.
Winston"s debut album, King Con, came out on V2 Cooperative Music, a Universal imprint. The album was produced by Charlie Hugall (Florence and the Machine, Editor Sheeran, Crystal Fighters), Bjorn Yttling (Lykke Li), and The Knocks. "Choice Notes," was used as the music bed for a European and United Kingdom advertisement for the Hyundai ix20 and in an ad for TJ Maxx.
Winston"s 2011 track, "Velvet Elvis" was used as the background music to the Google Chrome advert entitled Julie Deane.
She has performed extensively in the United States and in Europe, where she supported Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Gotye, among others She has also played at United Kingdom festivals including Bestival, VFest, and the Underage Festival.
Winston released the single "101 Vultures" on her own Rat Rizzo Records imprint in September 2013. She has scheduled a 2015 Summer Tour to coincide with the "An Intimate Night With Neon Trees" Tour on various dates.
She will run with the Neon Trees from June 6th through June 26th finishing up in Council Bluffs, Iowa at the Stir Cove at Harrah"s Casino, before heading to a solo concert at the New York, New York Mercury Lounge.
Quotations: "I started bands at a pretty young age and played with my friends back in Detroit,".